i have for the last year had all the symptoms of hepatitis. my dr wont do the test for it because he said my liver enzimes were normal,but i read that sometimes it can take up to a year for that to be abnormal. my husband just got his blood test back today and now his dr wants to do a heatitis work up on him because his alt and ggt were high. my question is can you catch hepatitis a,b and c from eating food that a person infected with it cooks? the reason i ask is before i got all these symptoms we went to the beach and i ate oysters that were very undercooked(yuck).we had never ate there before.and days later i got all these symptoms.and now my husband has to be tested for it. i dont know what to think. all i do know is when my husbands other test come back if he has it im going to my dr and show him the results. thanks for any help

i have for the last year had all the symptoms of hepatitis. my dr wont do the test for it because he said my liver enzimes were normal,but i read that sometimes it can take up to a year for that to be abnormal. my husband just got his blood test back today and now his dr wants to do a heatitis work up on him because his alt and ggt were high. my question is can you catch hepatitis a,b and c from eating food that a person infected with it cooks? the reason i ask is before i got all these symptoms we went to the beach and i ate oysters that were very undercooked(yuck).we had never ate there before.and days later i got all these symptoms.and now my husband has to be tested for it. i dont know what to think. all i do know is when my husbands other test come back if he has it im going to my dr and show him the results. thanks for any help

About catching hep from food, the answers (in brief) are A: yes, it happens at times, B: unlikely but possible, C: no.

A is dangerous but not usually chronic--that is you get it, some people get horribly ill, some do not, but then its over. B and C can both have an acute and a chronic phase--they can last, in other words. C in particular is often (not always) "silent" in that the acute phase may be unnoticed.

As to the enzymes being the barometer for whether to do a simple hep antibody test, this is close to stupid. The doc knows zip about hep. You can have hep, in fact you can have very advanced hep, with no enzyme elevations at all. It is not usual, but it is not rare, either. The antibody test for any or all of the three heps is cheap and easy (just a tube of blood) and fast. Why do you have to discuss it further with the doc? If he won't do it, go to your husband's doc, or your local health clinic (you don't need highly sophisticated or personal care to get your blood drawn. In fact even in many doc's offices, its a nurse or phlebotomist who draws the blood anyway, and its always a lab somewhere that runs the test. So a health clinic is perfect for this purpose.)

Get tested.

Sean

thank you for your reply.my husband has his test next tuesday,so im going to see what happens there.because if he has it then then i can show my dr or his the results and say ive had these symptoms for a long time now.also my husband drinks some not all the time but has been for a long time.could that be one of the reasons for the elevated blood counts? thanks

Alcohol is hard on even a healthy liver. The more, and more often, a person drinks alcohol, the more likely that there will be negative effects on the liver and over all health. Most people drink moderately and the liver adequately compensates for the moner and temporary effects. A glass of wine has been associated with medicinal properties in some studies.

A lot depends on what else is going on with a person, health-wise and lifestyle-wise, when we try to attribute any particular effect of alcohol consumption. Like anything else some people are more affected by it than others and genetics and host factors can influence this greatly.

We know hep c (and a and b, for that matter) in combination with alcohol consumption can lead to a serious liver crisis, Same for tylenol use and alcohol in an otherwise healthy person. Very heavy alcohol alone can ruin a liver over even a few years time in some individuals. And, in the USA, about 30% of persons would be diagnosed with a fatty liver due to poor nutritional choices, alcohol use and obesity. In every case liver enzymes are likely to be elevated or high.

At the point where liver enzymes are high or elevated, alcohol should be discontinued as there is risk of increased damage to the liver from its use solely on the basis of alcohol's effects on the liver.

So, regardless of what comes from your husband's tests, clearly his continued use of alcohol is a bad idea. It complicates whatever is going on and it complicates finding the problem . It could be the alcohol alone.

If your husband has difficulty accepting the need to stop drinking, I will provide a link to some resources you might find useful. (The moderators here do not allow unapproved links)

There is also more informatikon on fatty liver and other topics on the website below my name.

I hope this helps,

thanbey



www.hcop.org

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