Hepatitis C (Hep-C), Scleroderma, or Lupus? What's my diagno Posted: 04-26-07 23:44pm
I was diagonosed with systemic lupus and
hep c last june. almost a year now.
because of liver damage dr's are scared to
treat the lupus and some say that the
lupus is keeping the hep c virus so active
in my liver - like out of this world
active. liver biopsy shows significant
scaring and dr said maybe a transplant
down the road may be necissary. my problem
is this. my doctors can't make a firm
decision on the lupus, ana is positive,
but not enough, joint paint, fatigue, etc
is all symptoms of both lupus and hep so
no one of my doctors is willing to make
definite diagnosis, which wouldn't be
terrible except no one of them no how to
treat me! In the meantime I can't work,
I'm depressed and another symptom that
seems to bother me the most is the
shortness of breath - sever. CAT scans
show alot of scaring which is untreatable
or the way it was explained, nothing will
make it better. What do I do? In the
meantime I've been turned down by
SS/Disability. My condns keeps getting
worse
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DoctorAnswer
Doctor Answer
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General Q&A Answer A2684 Posted: 05-09-07 02:29am
Hepatitis C is not easily diagnosed
because of its atypical symptoms. On the
other hand, Hep-C can be easily proven :
one only need look for anti-HCV antibodies
or viral DNA in the blood. An infection
with the Hepatitis C-virus (HCV) can be
overcome with full recovery in 30% of all
cases. The other 70% of most cases develop
chronic hepatitis with an unfortuntate
final prognosis: liver cirrhosis or
cancer.
SLE (systemic lupus erithematosus) is not
that easily detected or diagnostically
proven. Lupus is a chronic inflammatory
autoimmune disease that attacks almost all
the body's organs. There are several
diagnostic criteria ,both clinical and
laboratorial, that are used for diagnosing
lupus. In some [atypical] cases, lupus is
difficult to prove. Lupus can also damage
the liver but not as severe as during
Hepatitis C.
Scleroderma is also a chronic inflammatory
autoimmune disease with an unknown
etiology, or cause. Some clinical and
laboratory diagnostic criteria for
scleroderma exist, but scleroderma is
harder diagnose than lupus. Sometimes even
a skin biopsy is requested to confirm
scleroderma.
You can consult a rheumatologist for an
expert opinion.
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