Hepatitis C Symptoms
Introduction
It has been found that many people who are infected do not feel any hepatitis C symptoms and therefore may not know that they’ve have been infected by the disease. However, if a person is infected, the incubation period for hepatitis C is from 2 to 6 months after the virus has entered his/her bloodstream. After this period, infected victims will begin to notice various changes.
The presence of Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C usually makes its presence known by the appearance of certain conditions that are listed below:
- Clay colored stool
One of the functions of the liver is the release of bile salts in the stool which gives your stool a brownish color which is the normal color. However, your stool may have a clay color which shows that your liver may be infected by the virus causing your liver to produce less bile causing the color of your stool to turn a clay color.
Also, the flow of the bile from your liver becomes blocked. When the production and flow of bile from the liver is hampered, your skin may turn yellow, a condition called jaundice.
- Dark urine
The emission of brown urine from your body is one of the first telltale signs that you are infected by the Hep C virus. As you already know, the Hep C virus is essentially the inflammation of the liver which can cause scarring of your liver. In addition to Hep C, there are also hepatitis A and B.
If you notice that you are emitting dark urine, you should immediately approach you doctor so that you can discuss the problem with them.
Even though it’s difficult to know whether you have acute hepatitis C or not, it usually happens that you may be carrying the virus for years without you knowing that you’ve been infected. Normally, the incubation period is from 2 to 6 months but even after incubating, no symptoms may show for a long time afterwards.
When they do appear, they may show symptoms such as fever and muscle pains, fatigue and jaundice that can produce a yellow color to your skin and eyes. Most people infected with acute hepatitis C will show low-grade fever, fatigue including other symptoms that can make it possible for an early diagnosis to be made by your doctor.
Studies disagree about whether the hepatitis C virus itself causes fatigue. But two things are clear. If you have scarring of the liver, called cirrhosis, you’re more likely to get tired. And taking interferon, sometimes a part of treatment, can rob you of energy. But if you go through treatment and get cured, your fatigue will get better.
Jaundice can show up soon after you’re infected with the hepatitis C virus. You may notice that your skin and the whites of your eyes look yellowish. This happens when your liver doesn’t work well enough to break down a chemical called bilirubin. If too much of it builds up in your blood, your skin can turn yellow.
Fatigue is the most commonly encountered symptom in patients with liver disease, and it has a significant impact on their quality of life. … Specifically, experimental findings suggest that fatigue associated with liver disease likely occurs as a result of changes in neurotransmission within the brain.
- Pains in the joints
Body joints are the bones that connect one another to form the frame of the body and they provide support to the movements that you make every day. Injuries suffered damages caused to your joints will inhibit your ability to move about freely.
One of the symptoms for hepatitis C pains of the joints which can be mild in its irritation or very uncomfortable and may well prevent you from moving about. There’s a good chance acute Hep C will disappear after a few weeks or linger for weeks and months after becoming chronic.
The quality of life you enjoy may be adversely affected by even short-term pain and swelling of the joints. In order to cure the condition, you should go for medication, physical therapy or other treatment solutions.
- Loss of appetite
When you are first infected by Hep C, you may actually feel no symptoms whatsoever and in fact only about 25% of those who are infected actually feel any symptoms of infection. These symptoms include decreased appetite, jaundice or nausea among many other symptoms.
When you lose your appetite, it means you don’t feel the urge to eat like you once did and this can lead to further health issues due to the loss of desire to eat. Some of signs that indicate you have lost your appetite is not wanting to ear, unintentional loss of weight and you don’t feel hungry.
Sometimes, even the idea of eating food may make you feel a nauseous feeling and you might even start to vomit after eating some food. Hepatitis C has been listed as one of the causes of loss of appetite among a host of other causes such as pregnancy, chronic kidney failure and heart failure.
It has been established that infection by the Hepatitis C Virus or HCV brings with it a pronounced chance of the victim being subject to a nauseous feeling or nausea. Nevertheless it’s not yet known that there’s a relationship between the onset of abdominal pain as being the main cause of nausea.
While it’s strongly suspected that abdominal pains may be the cause of nausea in Hep C infected persons, more etiological studies are needed to establish this causative relationship. So for now it’s not possible to say for certain that abdominal pains are in fact the cause that produce nausea in a person infected with Hep C.
Many people infected with acute Hep C and progress to the chronic Hep C level are oblivious to any feelings of the Hep C virus or asymptomatic to such symptoms right through the disease’s progression from the start until it gets serious.
Others however have indicated that they’ve experienced symptoms such as nausea, muscle pains, pains of body joints and fatigue.
It is known that stomach pains that are caused by the Hep C virus may actually take the form of ulcers.The ulcers may be caused by an acid condition or allergies or even from some bacteria. It’s true that sometimes the body may be producing too much acid which may start damaging body tissue from its toxic properties and give rise to cancerous growth.
The main reasons for high acid production may be from strong stressful situations or because of the presence of bacteria in your stomach. Whatever the cause, you need to consult a doctor if you experience the onset of stomach pains.
Most of the millions of people who now carry the Hep C virus do so without knowing that it’s living inside their body. Nevertheless, some have informed medical experts that they have experienced one or more symptoms including stomach pains.
The Hep C virus enters the human body through the bloodstream into which it was introduced by a victim through a sexual encounter or was inadvertently injected into an unknowing recipient. It will incubate for 2 or six months and thereafter inhabit the body for weeks or years without being noticed by the host.
However, some infected people infected with acute Hep C have come forward saying they’ve experienced weird issues such as vomiting and fatigue within the first six months of being exposed to the diseases.
Conclusion
When you start noticing any of the above changes, be reminded that they are the Hepatitis C symptoms and there’s no need to panic. The first thing you should do is to prepare yourself for an appointment with your doctor so you can reveal your new experiences and the doctor will help you deal with your condition.