Hepatitis C is when a virus is attacking the liver. This can lead to swelling over a period of time.
Most of the time, people do not even realize that they have the disease until it is too late to save the liver. There are a few tests that the doctor will give a patient to find out if they have hep c. The first set of tests are the liver function tests. These tests are done to measure a certain amount of proteins in your blood. The liver should be producing the protein albumin. The second set of tests are the bilirubin tests. These tests will check for the levels of bilirubin in the blood. The third set of tests would be a liver biopsy. The liver biopsy is a type of surgery to remove a small piece of the liver tissue to look for signs of damage.
Hepatitis C Symptoms:
Most people do not even experience any symptoms of Hepatitis C so there are only a few symptoms. The first symptom of hep c is pain. This pain comes from the liver, which is on the right side of the abdomen underneath the rib cage. The second symptom is jaundice. Jaundice is when the skin and the whites of the eyes turn yellow due to liver failure.
The third symptom is dark urine. This means that the urine is the color of cola or tea. The fourth symptom is pale stool. This means that a person's stool could be gray colored. The fifth symptom is vomiting. The vomiting could cause a variety of other symptoms like dehydration, weakness, headache, and irritability. The last symptom is diarrhea. This could make someone lose their appetite if there are afraid to eat and get sick from eating.
Hepatitis C Treatment:
There are only two main treatments of hep c. The first hepatitis c treatment is antiviral medications. The antiviral medications are a Hepatitis C treatment because they can clear the virus from the body. People will usually take these medications over a series of a few weeks. The second hepatitis C treatment is a liver transplant. A liver transplant is an effective hepatitis C treatment when the liver is extremely damaged from the hep c. The damaged liver is removed from the body and replaced with a healthy liver. Even if you are a transplant, you will still have to take some of the antiviral medications because it could attack the healthy liver, too.
Hepatitis C Causes:
There are only a few things that cause Hepatitis C. The first cause is the sharing of unclean needles or heating spoons. This usually happens when a person is using drugs. The second cause is non sterilized equipment. This equipment could come from a tattoo parlor, body piercing, or acupuncture. The third cause is unprotected sex. This means that a person comes in contact with the blood of a person who is infected with Hep c.
The blood can come from a cut, open sore, or menstrual blood. The fourth cause is from childbirth. This happens when an infected mother has a baby. The fifth cause is a blood transfusion. This means that the blood was not screened before it was given to you. The sixth cause is shared equipment. This is usually the equipment that people use to snort cocaine through their nose and it starts to bleed.
