Hepatitis C Blood tests positive - Hepatitis Message Board

Nina1959 · 08-06-2008, 05:33 PM

Is it possible to have blood test indicate that you have Hepatitis C but it not be in fact Hepatitis C? My husband had all the signs of Lymnes disease, rash, fever, neck ache etc. (which has also 20 % chance of liver function problems) but the family doctor told him the blood results showed not lymn but that he has Hepatitis C (high antibodies, etc). I know its not unusual for lymne not to show up the first time. His blood count also was off but he has spherocytosis, so that is not out of the ordinary either. He has had several operations in the last few years, back surgery, kidney stones surgery twice, hernia, etc. Since he is not in the usual higher risk group, the doctor suggested he got the Hep C in the 70's from a transfusion. If that were true wouldnt it have shown up in one of the previous blood tests for the recent surgeries? Can Hep C be diagnosed by blood test alone, or does it only suggest? He has a sonogram tomorrow and a specialist apt. next month. To be cautios blood was drawn from me this morning. Looking it up on the net I have seen both statements, that its clearly diagnosed by blood tests and on others that blood tests only indicates that it may be but could be other things.

harka · 08-07-2008, 12:32 PM

Hi there,

It is very difficult to make the diagnosis of Lyme disease from the symptoms you've suggested because they are VERY non-specific. There are many hundreds of conditions which can have the exact same symptoms.

The hepatitis C blood test is a very specific test meaning that, if the test is positive, there is almost NOTHING else it could be.

When a person is exposed to hepatitis C through blood-blood contact, 90% of people become chronically infected with it. You can go for years without any symptoms, though it can do substantial damage during that time usually to the liver leading to cirrhosis.

Would this have shown up on other blood tests previously? For hepatitis C specifically no. Generally, you don't do a hepatitis C test unless you are specifically looking for it. You MIGHT have noticed some abnormalities on routine tests being done, i.e liver enzymes being elevated, but often one's blood work can be totally normal. The other issue is with Hep C is that you can have periods of time where the liver is inflamed from the virus and the bloodwork would be abnormal, but this can be asymptomatic and is thus never found on bloodwork because the patient doesn't seek medical attention.

Just a question: you mention you think your husband may have Lyme disease. Did you think that because you searched his symptoms on the internet, or because a doctor actually suspected that in the past?

Nina1959 · 08-08-2008, 03:18 AM

Thank you for your post and the information you gave. We believe he has lymes (even if he also has Hep C) because that was the doctors opinion previous to receiving the blood test. He had the symptoms, fever, rash/ flu like symptoms/ stiff neck/head ache (still has the neck /head ache) and we understand that lymes does not always show up on the first blood test. We are exposed to ticks regularly in our yard and where we camp. He had a ultra sound on his liver yesterday and although the tech who gave it claimed she was not one to diagnose, she said it looked good to her. I hope that is a positive in all this. Thanks again.

buzzlightyear1 · 10-28-2008, 07:07 PM

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QUOTE=Nina1959;3679009]Is it possible to have blood test indicate that you have Hepatitis C but it not be in fact Hepatitis C? My husband had all the signs of Lymnes disease, rash, fever, neck ache etc. (which has also 20 % chance of liver function problems) but the family doctor told him the blood results showed not lymn but that he has Hepatitis C (high antibodies, etc). I know its not unusual for lymne not to show up the first time. His blood count also was off but he has spherocytosis, so that is not out of the ordinary either. He has had several operations in the last few years, back surgery, kidney stones surgery twice, hernia, etc. Since he is not in the usual higher risk group, the doctor suggested he got the Hep C in the 70's from a transfusion. If that were true wouldnt it have shown up in one of the previous blood tests for the recent surgeries? Can Hep C be diagnosed by blood test alone, or does it only suggest? He has a sonogram tomorrow and a specialist apt. next month. To be cautios blood was drawn from me this morning. Looking it up on the net I have seen both statements, that its clearly diagnosed by blood tests and on others that blood tests only indicates that it may be but could be other things.[/QUOTE]

pjs009 · 10-31-2008, 12:32 PM

Hepatitis can manifest in many different ways, including the symptoms you presented. If he was tested for lymes and was negative, and tested positive for HepC - then it is probably the hepatits that is causing his problems.

You mentioned you were tested for Hep as well, did you get the results back?