hepatitis

HEPATIITIS

wikepedia

this article in the above link provides a thorough review of the liver

hepatitis is inflammation of the liver from many causes

many times hepatitis is discovered by routine labs done on a chemistry profile that many of you have done at your doctors office

commonly those numbers are only slightly elevated
eg
mine stayed slightly elevated for a couple of years

the causes of this are infection autoimmune diseases alcohol fatty liver drugs other diseases like cancer etc 

the most common infections are the viral hepatitis a b c d e
nowadays most kids are immunized against a and b as are many adults
im immunized against these two
hepatitis c is a sexually transmitted or from blood and body fluids
its a common finding in iv drug users
its now treatable with a very expensive medication
there is no vaccine for it yet
all adults should be screened for it with a simple blood test
if you have ever donated blood then you have been tested for viral hepatitis 

many folks have hepatitis c and dont know it
i use to screen folks even older folks and would occasionally find folks who had it
not treating it can lead to eventual liver failure

alcohol is a common cause of elevated liver enzymes
it starts with slightly elevated liver function tests 
it can become a chronic liver disease or can become liver cirrhosis
both can lead to death or liver transplant or liver cancer

some folks especially women can develop alcohol liver disease with only mild alcohol intake

nash like my name stands for non alcoholic steatohepatitis
is basically fatty liver 
its a common cause of liver failure or chronic liver disease in the united states
basically fat gets deposited in the liver and kills liver cells
another good reason to control your diet your weight your cholesterol your triglycerides

recently there have been an increase in pediatric hepatitis in the united states
half of the cases also have a virus infection called adenovirus
many of the cases have had covid
most have not had the covid vaccine
90% recover and 10% develop liver failure
some need a liver transplant
a few have died

when my liver enzymes were slightly elevated i had serial enzymes done regularly to make sure they didnt worsen

since them i no longer drink alcohol and i have normal cholesterol and triglycerides and i maintain a normal bmi weight and i eat a mind diet
my liver enzymes are now normal

i only drank 1-2 glasses of wine at night and rarely had more than that
my enzymes became normal before i quit drinking wine
i am on medicines to control my fats in my blood
i am on the diet mentioned above

i was screened for hepatitis c and hiv
i was not screened for hepatitis a or hepatitis b since i was immunized against both

they also slightly increased the lower limits of normal for the liver enzymes so my tests also are now normal because of that

these folks who have mild elevated liver enzymes may not have any symptoms at all
they should be monitored and have a basic workup mentioned below

so 
if you have these elevated liver enzymes you should have some baseline evaluation done
starting with a good history and examination looking at diet history alcohol and drug history and sexual history

many times follow up labs return to normal
changes like i did may make them go down
they can be a warning though that something else is going on or that how you are living your life is the cause
dont ignore them

hepatitis in kids is not common
usually you will know they are sick
they may have fever nausea vomiting may have yellowish skin and yellow whites of the eye
youll know they are sick

adults with mild elevation are usually asymptomatic

so
usually these enzyme abnormalities can be corrected by taking care of your health

the organicgreen doctor