HCV can have many different symptoms at different times during the course of the infection, or it can have no symptoms at all. It is important to remember that the number and severity of symptoms suffered bears little relationship to the amount of liver damage the disease is causing. Below is a list of symptoms that HCV -infected people may suffer. Almost no one suffers all of them, and of course these symptoms can be symptoms of many other diseases besides HCV. No one should conclude that because he has felt some of these symptoms at one time or another, he is therefore infected with HCV. The diagnosis of HCV requires at least a blood test, and usually other diagnostic tools, and the tests require careful interpretation.

• Flulike symptoms-malaise, chills, fever, indigestion, loss of appetite, diarrhea
• Pain in the upper right side of the abdomen beneath the rib cage where the liver is located
• Stomach bloating
• Pain in the joints
• Mood disturbances, mental fatigue or dysfunction, or frequent or continuous headaches
• Chronic or acute periods of exhaustion, and poor sleep patterns
• Bad reactions to alcohol or fatty food
• Fluid retention or puffy face
• Itchy skin
• Swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, or groin
• Frequent urination
• Blood sugar disorders
• In women, irregular menses,problems related to menopause, and lower libido
• Chest pains
• Dizziness or vision problems
• Numbness in the extremities

Although these symptoms may occur at some point, very few people notice anything wrong when they first get HCV -even the usual symptoms of hepatitis (jaundice, nausea, and so on) occur in fewer than 5 percent of people who contract HCV. It is extremely rare that anyone dies of an acute HCV infection, although there have been reports of such cases. For the most part, HCV is a chronic condition whose subtle and slowly developing signs make diagnosis difficult and misdiagnosis common. But almost everyone who contracts the infection does eventually develop symptoms of some kind.

Roughly one-fifth of patients will suffer cirrhosis within the first twenty years after infection. For some the damage will stop at this point; for others the damage to the liver gradually gets worse. At the end, when liver disease takes its toll, the patient will suffer from jaundice, accumulation of fluid within the abdomen, bleeding in the esophagus, and mental confusion. Liver cancer is also a risk for hepatitis C infected patients.

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that children who are infected with HCV are more likely to recover than adults. The study examined 458 children who had undergone heart surgery in Germany before blood was routinely screened for HCV. Fifteen percent were infected. After twenty years, however, the disease had cleared completely in half of these people, and among the other half very few had any liver disease. This contrasts with the 20 percent or so of adults who manage to clear the infection completely. No one knows why infected children recover at higher rates than infected adults, and no one knows whether these kids will suffer higher rates of liver disease as time goes on.

Most adults infected with HCV -about 70 percent experience some liver dysfunction. This can be a very gradual progression of disease, so gradual that the patient grows old and dies of something else before the liver seriously deteriorates; or it can progress within a few years to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death. What accounts for the very variable progression of the disease may be genetic, may have something to do with lifestyle or environment, or may have multiple causes. No one knows for sure.

Tagged under:diagnosis Diseases fatty food frequent urination hcv infection irregular menses jaundice malaise menopause mood disturbances

Share This

Filed under: Diseases