Numbers about hepc I don't understand

[Canady74]

went to the doctor about a month ago and had some blood work done. He told me my liver enzymes were high took more blood and called me in two days saying I have hepc.since then I had two more done one came back with a number of 11.6 I'm not sure what that means can anyone help me. I had a bunch of blood work done today including liver enzymes, A and P, and a quantitive test done. I'm kind of lost with all this anyone that know anything about this stuff please help.

[Canady74]

Ok so I don't have to worry about liver damage at this point? Also would nausea and epigastric pain be due to my body trying to fight infection. I am so new to this and never knew anyone that had it until now so I am very nervous and just want as much info as i can get to educate myself and others of the disease.
Thank you

[flyinlynn]

Hep c is a very slowly acting virus. In general it takes decades to cause liver damage of course if you do things like drink alcohol you will accelerate the damage. They say that only about 20% of people over 20 years time will develop cirrhosis.  But if you have not been infected very long and don't drink a lot or take too much Tylenol yes likely you do not haveany or just very little liver damage.

I had hep c for 37 years and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis after being infected for 30 years. I have had cirrhosis for 8.5 years now. I was cured last year of hep c using one of the new drugs so if you are infected there are treatments now available that will eridicate your hep c infection if you are infected.

Most people with hep c do not have symptoms although many do report feeling tired a lot. I would ask your doctor about your nausea and pain but I personally believe it is not related.

[fretboard]

Your ALT and AST is a little bit on the high side, that's not terrible, it's just a bit high.  Different company's/ labs use different U/L (normal) ranges.  One thing you can do is get a copy of your blood test printout so you can see the ranges on the right hand side of your numbers.  I just added a pic of an old blood test so you can check it out.  Take a look at my profile and pics so you can see what I'm talking about.  You will want to find out your genotype and viral load to find out your options are as far as tx goes.  I'm sure that's where your doctor is going with more blood work.  Ask more questions when you need to and someone here will help you.  good luck!!

[Canady74]

You guys are awesome thank you so much

[SurfsideGal]

Hello Canady. The 11.6 is the signal to cutoff ratio and it is used to indicate whether or not your antibody test is a false positive. Yours falls in the range of the antibody test likely being a true positive. I don't know what the A and P is. Do you possibly mean AFP (alfa feto protein)? That is a marker for liver cancer although many people with hepatitis C have raised levels of AFP and it really is not a very helpful test. I wouldn't worry about it. The quantitative test is what patients call the viral load test and if it comes back detected, that means it is a definite that you have the virus. Due to the fact that your liver enzymes are elevated and your signal to cutoff is relatively high, it appears that you do have hepatitis C. As Can-Do has told you, if you have to be diagnosed with this virus, now is a great time as treatments are quite easy and very successful,  Wishing you lots of luck.

[Canady74]

Thanks surfsidegal that was very helpful. I have another question my ALT is 79 and my AST is 58 is this good or bad? Just got results from mychart and dr hasn't contacted me yet. I'm just wondering if this is bad do you think its looking more like I am positive with hepc minus the quanitative test? You guys are so knowledgeable and i just want to thank you in advance forbeing there for people like me who need answers and don't know where to start.

[SurfsideGal]

My best guess is that you do have the virus and the quantitative test will confirm that for you. Your ALT & AST are only slightly out of range. Docs don't worry unless they rise above 400-500. It just shows you that there is some inflammation going on because liver enzymes are leaking out of the liver tissue. That is normal for HCV patients. Also, seeing that your ALT is higher than your AST, is a good sign that you do not have late stage disease (cirrhosis). When the ratio of AST to ALT is greater than 1:1 (AST being higher) there is often significant liver damage. When your quant comes back, if it is very high in the millions, do not worry. It does not mean you are sicker than someone with a lower viral load. Quant (viral load) is just a way to confirm a patient is actually infected with hepatitis C.

[can-do-man]

My guess is that so far you have tested positive for the antibodies and that is what the 11.6 means as that number would be over the range. So he has ordered the other test to see if you have the actual virus. Some people carry the antibodies only as around 20 to 25% clear the virus on their own.

If you do have the actual virus try not to get to worried as it is better to find out now then years from now. Ridding ones self of Hep C has never been easier... You will be just fine, wishing you the very best.

[Canady74]

Ok thanks for the info. Will share the info of the test results when I get them.