{"id":15780,"date":"2019-03-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/condition-hepatitis-c-hepatitis-c-symptoms\/"},"modified":"2019-03-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T00:00:00","slug":"condition-hepatitis-c-hepatitis-c-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/condition-hepatitis-c-hepatitis-c-symptoms\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Hepatitis C Symptoms Everyone Should Know About"},"content":{"rendered":"
Would you know if hepatitis C were setting up shop in your liver? Most people with this blood-borne infection haven’t a clue. Hepatitis C symptoms are often vague or non-existent. Sometimes symptoms surface only years down the road, after the liver has taken a beating.<\/p>\n It’s possible you might develop mild, flu-like symptoms<\/a> the first time you’re exposed to hepatitis C. But most “acute,” or recently acquired, infections go undetected, doctors say. Experts say roughly 20% of people who are infected clear the virus from their bodies without treatment. But most people go on to develop a chronic infection.<\/p>\n Hepatitis C can live quietly in a person’s body for many, many years. “But it’s not <\/i>doing nothing—it’s replicating,” says Amy Jessop, PhD, director of the Hepatitis Training, Research, and Education Center (HepTREC) in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Doctors have no way of predicting whose disease will remain asymptomatic and whose will provoke mild-to-severe symptoms, says Aaron Glatt, MD, an Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) spokesperson and chairman of the Department of Medicine at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York.<\/p>\n The most onerous hep C symptoms usually signal impaired liver function or scarring of the liver (known as cirrhosis<\/a>), but the absence of symptoms doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. “A lot of patients are asymptomatic even though they have significant long-term illness,” Dr. Glatt says.<\/p>\n That’s why experts say you should never wait for symptoms to appear. If you think you may have been exposed to the hep C virus, talk to your doctor about getting tested.<\/p>\n RELATED: 7 Celebrities on Living With Hepatitis C<\/b><\/p>\n Someone newly infected with hepatitis C may develop a mild fever<\/a>. But most people do not have a strong immediate reaction to the virus, notes Jessop, who is also an associate professor of public health at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.<\/p>\n Low-grade fever can also be a symptom of chronic infection<\/a>, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.<\/p>\n Initially, you might feel tired as your body tries to fight the virus. If the infection becomes chronic, you might have periods of fatigue or just a general feeling of being wiped out.<\/p>\n “It’s kind of there all the time at low levels,” Jessop says.<\/p>\n Blaire E. Burman, MD, director of the hepatitis C treatment clinic at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, says her female patients tend to report fatigue more often than men.<\/p>\n RELATED: 14 Reasons You’re Always Tired<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Sore joints? It’s not uncommon with hepatitis C. Studies suggest the achiness, which can affect either the small or large joints, is a consequence of the body’s normal infection-fighting process<\/a>.<\/p>\n “People notice it in the hands and wrists<\/a>,” Dr. Burman says.<\/p>\n The liver doesn’t have nerve endings that can sense pain, but the capsule of connective tissue surrounding the liver does, Dr. Burman explains.<\/p>\n With acute hepatitis C infection, sudden liver inflammation can stretch that outer layer of tissue, causing pain in the upper right part of the abdomen, she says.<\/p>\n “You should not have abdominal pain with chronic hep C,” she adds.<\/p>\n When you’re sick with a viral infection, you don’t really have much of an appetite. Same with hepatitis C.<\/p>\n Loss of appetite<\/a> can be a symptom of both acute and chronic Hep C.<\/p>\n RELATED: 5 Surprising Facts About Your Liver<\/b><\/p>\n Nausea and vomiting are among the non-specific symptoms of acute and chronic hepatitis C.<\/p>\n When your liver isn’t working well, that’s when more severe symptoms, like vomiting, typically occur, Jessop says.<\/p>\n When your body breaks down old red blood cells, it forms a yellow-orange pigment called bilirubin. Excess bilirubin in the blood causes jaundice<\/a>, a yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes.<\/p>\n Hepatitis, including acute and chronic hep C, is one of the common causes of jaundice.<\/p>\n “If anybody thinks they have jaundice, they should get to the doctor right away, because it’s a sign that your liver’s having trouble,” Jessop says. Skin symptoms may be less noticeable in someone who is dark-skinned, she adds.<\/p>\n RELATED: 8 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Hepatitis<\/b><\/p>\n Normally, bilirubin binds with bile in the liver and gets excreted. It’s a large part of what gives your stool its dark brown color.<\/p>\n But if you have a liver problem such as hepatitis C, you might have pale or clay-colored stools<\/a>.<\/p>\n High levels of bilirubin excreted in urine is another sign of jaundice. Instead of yellow or straw-colored pee, it could be as dark as cola.<\/p>\n Dark urine alone doesn’t necessarily mean you have a hepatitis C infection, though. “There are many other things that can cause a darker urine,” including dehydration, Dr. Glatt says.<\/p>\n RELATED: What Your Pee Color Says About Your Health<\/b><\/p>\n Technically, it’s called ascites—an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen. A large belly can be a complication of long-term, untreated chronic hepatitis C.<\/p>\n Here’s what happens: Severe liver scarring puts pressure on the blood vessels supplying the liver with blood, causing fluid to leak from the vessels and pool in the abdomen.<\/p>\n If you’re living with chronic hepatitis C, you might be more likely to experience depression<\/a> compared with the population in general.<\/p>\n Dr. Burman says it could be due to the physical toll of fighting a chronic viral infection. Or the fatigue and malaise that accompany it. Or even the stigma of the disease. The exact relationship remains unclear.<\/p>\n RELATED: 10 Health Conditions That Are Linked to Depression<\/b><\/p>\n People with hepatitis C often report difficulties with attention, concentration, and recall<\/a>. In other words, they feel “a little brain-foggy,” as Jessop describes it.<\/p>\n Researchers have proposed several possible causes of cognitive impairments in chronic hep C. It might be that the virus directly impacts the brain, for example, or it could be a secondary effect of the infection-fighting process.<\/p>\n Fever<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Fatigue<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Joint pain<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Abdominal pain<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Loss of appetite<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Nausea and vomiting<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Yellow skin or eyes<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Pale stools<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Dark urine<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Swollen belly<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Depression<\/b> <\/h3>\n
Brain fog<\/b> <\/h3>\n