Hi,
I'm (now) 27 years old Male, gymnast.
In early 2010 i was diagnosed with acute HBV. I've had an aggressive course and i've spent a week in the hospital.
I was feeling better, week after week. Doctors monitored me regularly (blood tests) and after approx. 4 months i was told everything was OK, the virus cleared out and they expected i'll fully recover. They also told me, I am immune to HBV from now on.
DRINKING ISSUE:
Before i was infected with HBV i was regularly consuming alcohol (avg. twice a week). My doctor told me that once i fully recover, alcohol consumption (unless abused) should not do me any harm.
Since i was feeling much better, I started to consume alcohol again (4-5 months after i was hospitilized).
When i was consuming alcohol, I was really having bad hangovers, even after just a few beers.
I assumed my liver didn't fully recover yet and i simply needed to give them
more time. Although i always "recovered" when i stopped drinking, i was stupid enough to start drinking again once i felt better. I was living like this for 2.5 years. At some point, i've noticed that things are getting worse.
I needed much more time to recover.
- Nov 1st 2012:
I was sick for 14 days after drinking alcohol. I had to quit all sport activities.
At that point i have decided i will NEVER drink alcohol again!
- Dec 1st 2012:
I wanted to start with my training again. After 2 hours of medium training,
i got sick and i had to bed rest for a few days. This is the first time my eyes and abdomen got bloated
a little bit ,which never happened before. I needed 3 months for all
symptoms to go away. I finally felt better, at least i THOUGHT so.
- Feb 20th 2013:
I started with my training again. Although i've done an easy training, i felt exhausted.
I thought i just need to give my liver some more time.
- Apr 15th 2013:
I started with my training again and I exaggerated a bit and I got VERY sick after working out and i had to bed rest again. I was bed resting for OVER A MONTH, because only that gave me relief from my symptoms.
Sure, during that time, I went out for a short walk once or twice a day, but even that was a huge effort.
I was feeling very similar to how i was feeling in 2010 when i was hospitalized.
These are the symptoms i've had for the first 3 weeks when i got sick after the last work-out:
- I started to feel discomfort in my whole abdomen
- eyes and abdomen bloated
- difficulty breathing
- darker urine than usual
- increased heart beat
- a few times i was even nose bleeding, which normally never happens to me
PRESENT DAY:
In the last two weeks, most of the symptoms went away. I'm finally starting to feel better.
Abdomen and eyes are less bloated, urine is brighter, general feeling is better and I believe i'll be able to return to my normal life in a week or so (without any sport activities of course).
If i touch my liver (below right side of the rib cage) it feels soft as it should be, which gives me hope.
I'm have an appointment with my doctor next week finally. I couldn't do it earlier because of the insurance problems, but please let's not go there.
QUESTIONS FOR YOU GUYS:
The symptoms i have had could indicate liver failure, which of course i hope is not the case.
1. Based on the events i have described above, what do you guys think is going on?
2. Could it be that alcohol consumption combined with heavy work out triggered hepatitis B reactivation?
(wikipedia says it is possible). If it got reactivated, is it possible it will go away again?
greetings,
Steve