Hello, my name is Stephanie and I live in Wellington nz. I contracted HCV in the USA in 1996ish in because I didn't know that bleach did not kill the virus. Anyway my life changed and I got clean in 2003, but picked up the bottle, finally getting sober in 2010.
I did treatment interferon and ribavirin in 2012- unsuccessful.
For the last 3 years I have had a full on job and moved around for work a lot.
Nov 2014 my AFP was elevated. My blood work was stable and as it was at the time of quitting alcohol:
GGT AST ALT IN THE 90s, normal Alk Phosphate, low album 32
This year I have had an ultrasound, ct scan, fibro scan, and blood tests. The results were fatty liver, something to follow up in the bile duct (CT SCAN) Additional biliary uss awaiting. Fibro scan Kpa: 16.6. I am under the care of a gastro specialist.
This year my blood work has gone very badly, despite my lifestyle choices improving:
GGT 186 AST 130 Alk Phospahte 100, low album 30
On Friday I have had an insulin test HbA1c at 56 (no real diabetic symptoms) recommended to retest in 3 months.
AFP stable at 19. Was at 22. (0-10 normal range)
One possibly related /unrelated thing my ears are ringing terribly. It's like my body's alarm isgoing off in my ears for the last 6 weeks.
My eyesight has deteriorated rapidly in the last year. Put it down to being 44, and high iPad, screen user.
Any advice, recommendations, will be greatly appreciated. Health care in nz is overall pretty good but languishing in I don't know what is awful. I'm grateful I'm resourceful and keep my own records. I just don't know what it all means, and I'm scared.
Thanks everyone who replies
Stephanie
Written by
Estiebargle
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Cutting out salt would not have any impact on improving or elevating albumin level. It would only help to avoid any fluid retention but albumin at 30 is not anywhere near low enough to cause fluid retention in my opinion. ( but i may be mistaken.....)
Hi
Your Liver is inflamed is what the bloods indicate, which is probably the Hep-c. although you don't state how much you were drinking. Hep-c normally takes along time to scar the Liver, 20-40 years. It could well be the combination of heavy drinking and the virus that has caused the damage.
The Fibroscan Kpa: 16.6 indicates F3 Fibrosis which is fairly heavy scarring of the Liver not quite full blown Cirrhosis but you need to kill the virus pretty soon. Time is running out for you to recover your Liver function. Cirrhosis is progressive and cant be cured, its leads to Liver failure.
raised enzymes can also make the Liver appear stiffer than it should on Fibroscan by up to 2kpa, so hopefully you will really be in F2 Fibrosis. If you can clear the virus the Liver can heal or atleast the damage will stop or slow down.
That is super helpful. I had a biopsy in 2010 stage 2 fubrosis. I was a very heavy drinker 2+ bottles wine per day. Now totally abstinent 5 years. But now Nafld.
Ok so it's crunch time, time to address my other self destructive behaviours and lose the weight.
Hi there. I got sober in 2008 and completely clean. I had Hep C for over 20 years, but it had not seemed to have done anything.
At 3.5 years sober I put on a ton of weight..made no sense. Finally went to hospital after three months, because the weight gain caused chest pain, I thought I was having a heart attack.
Two hospital stays and one doctors appointment later I was given the bad news. I had cirhossis....alcoholic, hepatic and fatty liver. The us doctor called it the the trifecta.
The weight was fluid..all fluid. I had ascites.
They would drain up to 21 liters every 10 days. No kidding. The hep c was killing my liver, and me.
It had laid there slowly doing what I thought was nothing for twenty ee years of horrible liver disease later, and being told I was dying, point blank. I was given the new Harvoni treatment, which got rid of the hep c..it's the new miracle drug..lol..YAY! And one month ago I got a new liver....which is working awesome!
Find out as soon as you can what's going on. I just celebrated 7 years clean and sober in September. By the grace of a higher power.
Today is a good day for me....but I'm in the UK and have the best doctors in the world, I think..
Yay from another friend of Bill & Bob .. Diagnosed last October but thankfully for me that even after having the virus for about 50 years fibroscan score 7.4 which i understand is good result - start treatment in May.. thankfully i stopped drinking in 1998 or may have been a different story .. sending love & healing light 🤗
As Ralph says, with your Fibroscan score and elevated AFP you need to discuss with your docs treatment to get rid of the virus. As standard interferon/riba treatment didn't work it's worth discussing an alternative treatment protocol with newer drugs if they are available in NZ.
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