Hepatitis C Support Group

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.

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pharaoh88 07/02/2012

I've just taken the 20th shot and I'm feeling a little tired. Is it Hemoglobin?

I did a CBC test yesterday and HGB was 11.1 (11-16.5), This means it's normal, but I'm feeling weaker than last week when it was 10.5.
So, I did the test in another lab and HGB came lower 10.2 (13-17)!!!

I know that every lab has its own 'Normal Range', but this big difference in the range and in the HGB levels is making confused.

I don't know whether my HGB is normal or really low. Did this happen to anyone before?

PS. I did the second test after about 4 hours from doing the first. Does these levels (HGB, WBC and so on) change so fast?

betsy88 07/02/2012

I have a son who gets a lot of blood work. I am convinced that if you watch anyone's labs closely enough, you would see constant variation. That is just a lay persons opinion. Your hemoglobin is low enough to make you feel lousy but not into the scary numbers yet. I am sure that your doctor will want to watch it though. At the end of my treatment I starting feeling really lousy and was convinced that my hemoglobin had dropped again into the 8 - 9 range. Turns out it was at 10 but my WBC had dropped to 1.3. That actually has a similar side effect in terms of fatigue.

Sarpsis 07/02/2012

The old anemia...I have been battleing it too. Mine dropped too fast was the problem. I started at 13.5 and dropped to 10.2 in a few days. My doc reduced my Riba to 400 from 1000 a day and it has started creeping back up. I'm now t1.8, and am feeling a bit better. At least Casper and I no longer look like twins!

Betsy broght up a good point though, maybe one of your other tests aren't very good. I know all the rest of mine are real low and I think that might be causing some fatigue issues for me too.

CassyKate 07/02/2012

I think beingon these meds for 20 weeks is tiring. It starts to build up.
If your HGB drops below 10 you could reduce riba I suppose.
Are you doing the 24, 28 or 48 week journey?

pharaoh88 07/03/2012

Yes, that's a good point. I've been searching about Basophils yesterday, because I have no Basophils at all, all I know about it now is that it's part of WBC.

When HGB dropped to 9.1, I reduced riba from 1000 to 800.

And I'm doing the 48 week journey.

Thanks everybody.

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