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Elevated Liver Enzymes/Negative HCV RNA Twice?
In 2007 I broke up a fight at the school I work at and one of the girls involved bit me. The nurse requested I go to the Dr. to have it checked and the Dr. sent me for a Hepatitis scan. The initial scan came back positive for Hep C so he sent me again for the HCV RNA and that result came back negative.
About a month ago I went to the Dr. for my sinuses and he sent me for routine blood work. My blood work looked great except my liver enzymes were high. AST 120/ALT 155. He sent me for more blood work and said it is customary with those results to have the hepatitis scan and a lyme disease scan. I got the results back from him last night and I was positive for lyme disease antibodies (short term I think he said) and again for the Hep C. He now has referred me to a liver specialist because of the high AST/ALT count. My appt is not until the middle of Dec (unless the specialist looks at my blood work and thinks I need to come in sooner) and I am a natural worrier.
To give some background, I have been an athlete my whole life and i still routinely work out. I am 31 years old and am in good shape. I drank in college on weekends at parties the same as any other student and after graduation I would go out with my friends on weekends to the bar and have a few drinks each night. In the last few years I have cut down on drinking significantly. I usually have maybe 5-8 beers a weekend, give or take a weekend here or there. At the time of my initial positive test and then negative RNA test in 2007 I had been dating my now wife for about 6 weeks or so and have not been with anyone since. In addition, I have never injected any drugs. I do however, have 6 tattoos.
Some questions I have are...
A) is it possible to again test negative on the HCV RNA test?
B) Could the lyme disease have been what raised my AST/ALT levels?
C) Has anybody been in this situation before?
D) What can I expect from my visit with the liver specialist?
About a month ago I went to the Dr. for my sinuses and he sent me for routine blood work. My blood work looked great except my liver enzymes were high. AST 120/ALT 155. He sent me for more blood work and said it is customary with those results to have the hepatitis scan and a lyme disease scan. I got the results back from him last night and I was positive for lyme disease antibodies (short term I think he said) and again for the Hep C. He now has referred me to a liver specialist because of the high AST/ALT count. My appt is not until the middle of Dec (unless the specialist looks at my blood work and thinks I need to come in sooner) and I am a natural worrier.
To give some background, I have been an athlete my whole life and i still routinely work out. I am 31 years old and am in good shape. I drank in college on weekends at parties the same as any other student and after graduation I would go out with my friends on weekends to the bar and have a few drinks each night. In the last few years I have cut down on drinking significantly. I usually have maybe 5-8 beers a weekend, give or take a weekend here or there. At the time of my initial positive test and then negative RNA test in 2007 I had been dating my now wife for about 6 weeks or so and have not been with anyone since. In addition, I have never injected any drugs. I do however, have 6 tattoos.
Some questions I have are...
A) is it possible to again test negative on the HCV RNA test?
B) Could the lyme disease have been what raised my AST/ALT levels?
C) Has anybody been in this situation before?
D) What can I expect from my visit with the liver specialist?
Just wanted to update you guys after my visit. You guys def. gave me some helpful info. All blood tests came back normal except my AST/ALT were still mildly elevated (although Dr. said slightly lower than last time). He said one of the autoimmune tests he gave me came back with a slight positive so he is giving me 3 more LFTs over a course of 6 months to monitor me. So no Hep C but who knows whats up with me now....
What SYDSDAD1111 is saying if you were ever exposed to Hep C and you were one of the lucky 15-20% that cleared on their own, you will always have the antibodies show up on tests. As long as the PCR test comes back negative you do NOT have an active virus and no need to worry.
If you test negative on the 2nd PCR test then you should look elsewhere for the abnormal liver enzymes. Many things can cause elevated LFT's, alcohol, meds, etc.
Best of luck
If you test negative on the 2nd PCR test then you should look elsewhere for the abnormal liver enzymes. Many things can cause elevated LFT's, alcohol, meds, etc.
Best of luck
above is from the cdc,you can go to any hep c site, research site , or even any doc to confirm...once your body has been exposed to the virus,it produces antibodies and those antibodies will remain,no mater if you've cleared the virus or not,thats how vaccines work hep a hep b you get vaccinated your body produces antibodies to protect you and they remain with you. just with the hep c the virus figures a way to avoid them or bypass them and render us exposed to the damaging effects of the virus
Reactive or Positive Hepatitis C Antibody Test
• A reactive or positive antibody test means that
Hepatitis C antibodies were found in the blood
and a person has been infected with the
Hepatitis C virus at some point in time.
• Once people have been infected, they will always
have antibodies in their blood. This is true if even
if they have cleared the Hepatitis C virus.
• A reactive antibody test does not necessarily
mean that you have Hepatitis C. A person will
need an additional, follow-up test
• A reactive or positive antibody test means that
Hepatitis C antibodies were found in the blood
and a person has been infected with the
Hepatitis C virus at some point in time.
• Once people have been infected, they will always
have antibodies in their blood. This is true if even
if they have cleared the Hepatitis C virus.
• A reactive antibody test does not necessarily
mean that you have Hepatitis C. A person will
need an additional, follow-up test
Thanks for the info guys. It def. helps. SYDSDAD, I'm not being sarcastic or a smartalec at all when I ask this, but how do you know that I will always test positive on the initial hep scan? I know sometimes just reading something on a computer screen can make one read into the statement different than another. I was just wondering where you get your info from? Thanks again for the responses!
"The diagnosis of Lyme disease should be considered for any patient from an area of endemicity who presents with a nonspecific illness and abnormal LFT findings, regardless of the presence of a rash. The abnormal LFT findings are usually mild and generally improve or resolve within 3 weeks after the initiation of appropriate therapy [3]. "
"B) Could the lyme disease have been what raised my AST/ALT levels? "
"Abnormal liver function test (LFT) findings generally indicate mild hepatocellular injury. Patients with early disseminated Lyme disease are more likely to have abnormal LFT findings than are patients with localized disease [3]. The results of 3 different studies that evaluated abnormal LFT findings in patients with Lyme disease are compared in table 2. However, elevations in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels may indicate Lyme disease—associated myositis in some patients and may not be related to underlying hepatic injury. "
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/9/1206.long
"Abnormal liver function test (LFT) findings generally indicate mild hepatocellular injury. Patients with early disseminated Lyme disease are more likely to have abnormal LFT findings than are patients with localized disease [3]. The results of 3 different studies that evaluated abnormal LFT findings in patients with Lyme disease are compared in table 2. However, elevations in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels may indicate Lyme disease—associated myositis in some patients and may not be related to underlying hepatic injury. "
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/9/1206.long
Hi I was just having this discussion on another post a positive antibody test is followed by an HCV RNA PCR test to detect a viral load, if this test is "undetected" this usually means you have cleared the virus on your own and your not chronically infected now having said that most docs do a follow up PCR test to rule out lab errors (false +/-) or a undetectable amount of virus at time of initial testing, the frequency of this retest they request varies but it could be several to 6 months. A positive antibody test will always come back positive your antibodies are there for life so do not ever do another one unless you want to freak yourself out. You need another PCR test to rule out an active viral load since you didn't have a follow up.so yes another negative rna pcr test will pretty much rule out any further fears of chronic infection and you can move on to other things that are causing your elevations
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