Should I be concered

My husband finished his 12 week treatment of Solvadi and Olysio about a month ago and was undetectable for the hep c virus and will be getting another viral load test in Sept. to see if he is still clear. During the last 2 weeks the old tired feeling has been creeping back in as well as the 4 hour naps in the afternoon. He says he is very tired and his legs feel heavy when he walks. He has little interest in doing very much and the scary part for me was when he confused my ex husband with my son. We could not get him to wrap his head around that he was confusing the two of them. Also his last blood work showed alt is in the normal range but ast is slowly been going up out of the normal range. His bil is 2.1 and meld score is still at 12 same as when he started. He also is a smoker but lately has developed a strong dislike for them which is good but also seems a little strange. I don't know if this is a hep c issue or just his cirrhosis and am not quite sure if I should call his doctor or wait it out a bit. Any input would be helpful and much appreciated. Thanks

Yes I did the hand flap test today and he passed and he seems pretty normal mentally but is complaining about be so tired. He was told by his hep c doctor that in his opinion he has a depression problem so maybe we should look into that also. Thanks so much for your quick reply. Also they have never given him an ammonia test as far as I can see.

Thank you I will.

Yes he sees a hepatologist who is the head of the hepatology department at the Cleveland Clinic.

Post Edited (mollygirl) : 7/14/2014 1:30:01 PM (GMT-6)

Molly

The thing you didn't tell us was the state of his liver prior to treatment...he has a MELD Of 12...so not that bad, but is he cirrhotic? Did he have a biopsy? Though his Hep C may be cured, it is possible his liver is not good and the tiredness continues. The miz's husband is still needing transplant though his Hep C was treated successfully.

Let us hear from you,

Mama Lama

Hi Molly -

As you probably already know, your husband is with an outstanding hospital, Cleveland Clinic, so you do have the right team involved and this makes things much easier for your own state of mind concerning his complicated health issues.

And, based on just what you've listed about his liver disease status, he's cirrhotic. His doctors are right about the risk/reward balance here wrt the biopsy - no need for that, things are quite clear from a clinical standpoint. Doing the biopsy would do nothing in regards to altering his treatments or providing understanding in his diagnosis.

With all the indications of advanced portal hypertension, they wisely have him on beta-blockers. Has he had his first bleed yet? His varices are quite advanced. Pay attention to his bathroom activities as well here too. I'm unusual in that I tend to have my bleeding episodes via the rectal route, not in the typical esophageal region as most do. Sometimes the blood left in the toilet could be very alarming - I don't like to watch that Alien movie anymore, lol.

Molly -

It's amazing he's still able to work construction but be careful with this. You should discuss this with his hep as soon as possilbe (by fax if needed, just so he's aware of it).

If your husband is lifting heavy objects or straining with positional activities, etc., his blood pressure will be spiking and this is bad when you have known varices already. He could trigger a bleed by just lifting something a little too heavy, or even something he's lifted without problems in the past. I'm surprised your hep didn't mention this to you?

Post Edited (bblbt) : 7/15/2014 8:11:54 AM (GMT-6)

Thank you so much for your concern. We have our own business and have hired help for any heavy lifting. He mainly runs our backhoe and does finish work on the concrete that he pours. We have discussed the type of work he does with his doctor and he said just use common sense and leave the heavy lifting and work to others which he does. I've tried to get him to sell everything but he's not liking that idea too much. He's the type of person that has to have something to do even if he feels like crap.