Worried about possible Hepatitis infection!!! Please help!

[Rick1975]

Hello. I'm hoping somebody can give me some words of encouragement to ease my severe anxiety. Exactly 5 weeks ago, I had a high risk sexual encounter with another man. I was the receptive partner. 2 days later, my face began to feel warm with an occasional burning sensation at times, and this lasted for approximately 10 days until I checked myself into the ER due to extreme panic. They gave me an IV of Ativan, and my flushing went away. This was my only symptom at the time, and has not come back since, though my anxiety has almost been as severe since then. Since then, I've had 2 HIV RNA tests done from Labcorp on the 10th and 20th day post exposure, and both tests came back negative. Also on the 20th day, I was tested for all other STD's, including Hep A, B, and C, also of which all came back negative. I also had CBC done at all looked normal. ALT and AST were at 15 and 16. On day 29, I had HIV 4th generation done at Labcorp and it was also negative. I'm over my HIV scare. But on the 24th day, I began to have a sore muscle feeling which started on my left side, and then worked it's way to the right side. It feels like my oblique muscles are sore. I will admit that I haven't worked since this began due to my anxiety, and have done nothing but sit in my bathtub or lay on my couch. A few days after the stomach muscle pain began, I went to my doctor, he checked my liver and he noticed he was a little enlarged. Knowing this along with my sore stomach muscle pain has me terrified once again with thoughts of hepatitis!! My doctor thinks my enlarged liver is from 20 years of heavy drinking and not from an early hepatitis infection. I've seen so many doctors in this last month and they all say I am being paranoid and that my anxiety is causing my body to have these aches and pains. If anybody can give me a little reassurance, that would be wonderful... And thank you so much.

[Sara_MHModerator]

You've had excellent advice and support from our forum member  Do follow your doctor's guidance regarding drinking and liver issues and seek treatment for your anxiety. As your concerns are not Hepatitis related, we are now closing this discussion. We wish you the best of health.

***  thread closed ***

[Rick1975]

Thank you Flyinlynn for your reply. I've dealt with severe anxiety and depression before in my life and it is always brought on by life threatening events, such as this. Do you know if Hepatitis B or C symptoms can appear as soon as 2 days after possible exposure? Also, if the flushing I experienced in the first week WAS due to Hepatitis, then is it possible that my ALT level would already be higher than usual when I had a CBC done at 3 weeks post exposure? Could my Negative 3 week test for Hepatitis B & C possibly be reliable and a good indication that I'm not infected with Hepatitis? Thank you so much once again!!

[flyinlynn]

To ask about hep b you should ask in that forum.

This is the hep c community which is basically a support group for people dealing with living with and treating hep c.

Hep c does not have symptoms for the majority of patients. When symptoms do develop it is after decades of infection and the symptoms would be those of liver disease.

Hep c is a very slowly acting illness and only becomes life threatening after several decades of infection.

Only about 20% of patients who have been infected for 20 years time will advance to cirrhosis meaning 80% will not. So hardly a medical emergency. And not really a life threatening condition unless you have been infected for over 20 years.

Hep c is now easily cured for 98% of patients.

I was infected with hep c for 37 years and was diagnosed with cirrhosis over 9 years. I have been cured of hep c for 2 years.

Again your doctor has said you are fine.

Are you on any treatment for your anxiety? Getting treatment could greatly inptove your quality of life. Or you can continue to worry and obsess about things that likely won't happen that many people have lived their entire lives dealing with. Your anxiety is causing far more damage to your life than only of these illnesses you so greatly and unnecessarily fear.

In the case of hep c you are worrying about a difficult to contract, easily cured illness that takes a very long time to cause damage.

If you want to test for your own peace of mind wait 24 weeks and test for hep c antibodies to have total confidence in your results as it can take up to 24 weeks for those with compromised mine systems to develop enough antibodies to hep c to reach detectable levels.

If you are concerned about hep b or hep a for that matter maybe you should look into getting vaccinated for them that would take that off your list of illnesses to unnecessarily obsess about.

[flyinlynn]

Oh yeah I forgot to add you could also save yourself a lot of worry a grief by practicing safe sexual practices.

[flyinlynn]

Believe your doctor about your liver. Drink less.

See a doctor to treat the illness you do have anxiety