First off you don't have a confirmed diagnosis yet so I am NOT going to confirm you have hepatitis that is what a doctor does with tests and I am NOT a doc.

What I can tell you is that hepat-itis means liver-inflammation. Many things can trigger this but to understand more about the causes you need to understand what your liver does.

The liver does the following things:
1.) Recycles the hemoglobin off your red blood cells (RBCs) which die every 120 days but you make like 5 million RBC per minute so this is a huge job in itself.
2.) Filters toxins out of the blood
3.) Processes VITAMINS ie D your skin makes into 25 hydroxy-vitamin D3 (once kidney processes it further it is a message to gut to absorb calcium)
4.) Processes most MEDICATIONS you take
5.) Processes HORMONES ie sex hormones
6.) Makes bile to help emulsify FAT so you can absorb it (used for skin, brain, cells, some hormones)
7.) Works in conjunction with the pancreas to break down SUGAR and store it
8.) Makes enzymes (chains of amino acids aka PROTEINS)
etc, etc,

So the liver can easily get over worked and damage done to it effects its ability to do the above, and more, tasks. Viruses can attack the liver to cause inflammation (most people think of this when they hear hepatitis). However alcohol, drugs and autoimmune problems can cause issues with inflammation too. I would think certain bacteria could damage it but I digress. I don't know all the medications that could cause problems, obviously the CRAB MS drugs can, here is a list of other meds I looked up.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001273/

Best wishes to you in FINALLY getting treatment for your pain,
EP

Oh the following are things I have read in research that help Liver health but you would want to discuss these things with your doctor.

* Change Medications if one you are on can cause abnormal liver enzymes.
* Stop smoking/ drinking alcohol
*Low Carb / Low sugar diet (Note I am NOT saying a NO sugar diet but a low sugar diet)
* Eat lean meats

* Spinach /Kale
* Artichokes
* Milk thistle
* NAC
* B Complex vitamin
* Fish oil (Omega 3 fats)
* Eat more veggies and fruits

Best wishes to you in working with your doc to find things to help your health,
EP

Thank you soooo much for this info...!!! I will post this in my email box & then write down the list of stuff for eating, etc... That was really helpful!!! And, that was one of the things that I really really needed to know! Or many of the things!? LOL :)

Problem with food stuff is that when I got my SSI, they cut my FS! I only get 76 a month now & it barely buys any food at all!!! With todays prices!!! And, I'm burdened with sooo many bills that there's nothing left over for anything else!

When I talk to the CP center here I will ask if they know of anybody who can help with that end of things!? OR THIS END OF THINGS! Because if i can't take care of it, then I may not be around for it to matter anymore!?

Doc said that it is the combination of the severe itching in my arms, the elevated enzymes & the bad pain in my rt side that is making them worried!!! ME TOO!!! I'M SCARED TO DEATH & FREAKING THE HELL OUT!!!! ALL THE STRESS THAT I'M UNDER & FEEL RIGHT NOW IS NOT HELPING!!!!

I have also been having severe intestinal discomfort, diarrehea, & appetite is all screwed up!?

The pain med just makes my intestines go all to hell!!!! And, makes me itch like freaking crazy!!! So I can't really take it hardly any more!!! So I don't know what I will do for pain!?

At this point!? I feel sooo badly that I need to be in the hospital I think!? But I can't! And, don't want to go!!! All I know is that I just feel really really badly!!! And, I doubt my existance from one moment to the next!?

Biggest problem with eating is: I feel so badly & so tired, & have to do soooo much with the little that I have that I don't feel like cooking or doing dishes! So I just skip eating a lot because of that! And, anymore!? I dont' even want anything that I have here to eat! I'm completely turned off by it!

I need different pain meds, but don't know how I'm going to get them changed!? Working on it! But docs don't want to do anything!?

My PT friend said that she just does not understand why they have not caught this earlier!? Or why they are not paying enough attention to the high glucose level either!?

And, I could tell that she was just upset & worried about it/me in general! Probably beating herself up too!? It does make me mad that I have been complaining about certain things for a long time now, & that it has been egnored until now! She was very very upset about that too! I know that she loves me & is afraid, just like me!

I hate it because it is just more stress for her too! Her dad had a HA-2 back to back! He did survive, had surgery, then went to a rehab facility & is coming home this week! Her husband is out of work again & is having very very serious problems himself! So she already has her hands full!

On the one hand I don't want to say anything to her because she has enough to deal with!? But on the other hand, so do I! And, sometimes I just need to talk to a good friend about what is going on with me! Because I am going through all of this by myself! And, it is very very difficult!!! And, I just can't take it anymore!

Well! Talking too much now! Need to go!

But thanks for the info.!!!! It really really means a lot to me!!!!

Oh ya! Added question? Could that blow to my ribs & side have caused my liver to be inflammed now??? I mean!? Is that a possiblility???

Hi Paint,
I've always had high readings on my Liver, my mom died of cirrhosis of the liver. Lipitor drove my levels very high. My doc said he thought alcohol was the biggest problem so I quit drinking any alcohol for a year and it still was high doc said most likely the meds and did some sort of a DNA test and found that I have a gene or whatever they call it and he said it means I am at high risk of liver damage, I remember reading up on it and did'nt like what I read. The CT scan and MRI also shows I have a fat ring on my liver and my last tests the enzymes were double the max but had come down quite a bit. I was surprised they have me on Rebif as it raises the levels also. The Thursday before Fathers Day I had a very dear friend die because of her liver and like my mom she died from cirrhosis of the liver, she was 43 and was not elegible for a transplant because she would not stop drinking. Like EP said the liver does a lot for your body and if you know what is causing the elevations and elimanate what is causing it the Liver will heal. If I remember right the Liver is the only organ that will heal itself. Like the Sclerosis in the MS Cirrhosis means scarring of the liver
Good luck and keep on top of it
Take Cre
Dve

I can't offer any help with your problems Paint, but I wanted to tell you that I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. I know you haven't posted here in a long time, and you have been missed. God Speed. Lynne

Thanks Dave & Lynn!I dont' know what is making my elevanted!? But my intuition says that it's the pain meds, & major AB's that I've been on! And, that it's also from that blow to that area! I think that I bruised my liver really bad when I fell!? And, that it did some damage!? And, that liver has been trying to heal itself, but that due to the meds that I've been pounded with it's not been able to process them & heal at the same time!?

So I'm thinking that a very good liver de-tox will be good! Lots of rest! A good healthy diet! And, no meds that are not life & death right now! And, I need a different pain med for sure! Because I KNOW that it is causing me major major problems!!! I really really get real sick when I take it! But w/o something else to take right now I am sometimes forced to!? But am going to try really hard to get them to change it!?

Patch maybe??? I don't know!? But I do know that this is twice now that it has been elevated since I have fallen. And, that my rt side has been in major pain, almost non-stop every since!? And, I can't hardly breathe at all with it a lot of the time!

And, I am sooo very sorry about your friend!!! And, about your mom!!! And, that you too have this problem Dave!!! I feel sooo very bad for you Dave!!! Your just too good of a person to have to go through all of that! But most of us here are good people & don't deserve any of the shit that we are asked to go through!

If you are thinking liver detox...you may want to look into the info in reply #2 and COFFEE enema.

Yeah I know YUCK but I have read, in several places now, how this helps the liver among other things. It used to be done much more often but a few decades ago it was taken out of the medical textbooks, I think to make room for all the new research. It is not too expensive and might be worth researching. If you think it is something you want to try..then discuss it with your doctor or not.

Good Luck,
EP

I know that when I love to drink coffee, & do here & there, but when I do it sure works like an enema!!!! LOL LOL LOL Makes me shit my brains out sometimes!? LOL :) Sorry! But it does! LOL :) But I sure do love it! But in the mouth though! Not in the butt! LOL :)

I am sorry about what you are going through. It is also a bummer that you went through so much to find out what you had. I do know that the MS therapy drugs can cause liver numbers to go out of wack. But you don't say about whether you are on any interferon drugs. I do not know anything about MS itself causing liver enzymes to raise.

My step mother got hepatitis from a blood transfusion. They didn't figure it out until she jaundiced. But she got better and she lived with it for many, many years so it is something that you can live with. I don't remember her complaining about pain from hepatitis. She had a lot of back operations and had pain from that. I think that with her the only thing that she could do for her hepatitis was eat well. She had been a drinker all her life so she had to cut that out, but she was on so much pain meds it didn't really matter. She kept smoking all her life but didn't smoke much. Anyway, she took pain meds even with her hepatitis. Her back pain was so bad that she had to.

They should pay attention to the glucose levels. Keep asking questions until you get answers. Take a list of answers and make sure that they answer all of them.

Also, sciatic nerve pain can be alleviated by Physical therapy. I got PT for my sciatic nerve pain (I tried chiro and that didn't work) but the exercises helped a lot. Also, it helps to sleep with a pillow under your knees. The exercises took all the sciatic nerve pain away.

Best of luck to you getting answers. And EPagain is right, the food is really important. If you can't buy the best, at least eliminate the processed meats and bad meats.

Yes! I think that maybe I should give a quick list of what I do or am on, or not on!?

I dont' drink! Don't smoke! But with all the stress I sure have wanted to!!! LOL :) Was seriously considering taking it up until now!? Still want to because of the stress & now I'm further pissed off that I can't do that now without adding more! LOL :)

I dont' take any MS drugs!

Just mostly have taken pain meds PRN & usually no more than twice a day! And, I don't even take it all somedays! And usually just one at bedtime if I'm hurting so that I can sleep! It zonks me so, I try not to take it much during the day unless I just have to!?

I usually eat range fed chicken & beef! I love fish & would probably eat it 24/7 but I can't afford it! Fish is expensive!!! And, I love the good fishes!!! Or seafood! :)

I know that there is at least one doc who put took their patient off most of their meds, then went with better ones for the liver & put their patient on Milk Thisle & their liver is doing great now! It made all the difference! Milk Thistle really helps the liver & helps it to process things a lot!!! I definately want some of that!!! It's good for a lot of things!!!

And, I think that I will try to come up with the money & put myself back on UDO's Greens! It's great!!! Smells great! Doesn't look great! Looks like a glass of runny poop! LOL :) But does not smell like it! When you drink that every day you feel like a million bucks!!!! Your supposed to drink it 3 times a day but it sure boosted me on just once a day!

It has tons of greens--kale, spinach, etc... & some herbs like milk thistle in it!

Flaxseed, sunflower seed, seseme seed, rice bran,barely grass, alfalfa, carrot, sprouted soybean, tomato, oat grass, rye grass, red beet, cinnamon, stevia leaf, peppermint, ginger, bilberry leaf, bee pollen, chorella, dulse, spirulina, burdock root, hawthorn berry, kale, kelp,milk thistle, licorish root, parsley, red clover, yucca, Enzyme blend, lemon grass, beet juice, American Ginseng artichoke, ginko, psyllium, slippery elm, dandelion--great/fantastic for sinusitis! Didn't have an infection for ages when I took that! Rosemary, sage, thyme, grapeseed extract!

It's like greens on steroids!!!! LOL :) It really gives you a boost & makes you feel great! But you have to take it everyday long term to get full benefits! But if your going to have surgery I would go off of it two weeks before surgery! Just to make sure there is no interaction between the ginseng, ginko, etc... & the anestesia!?

I didn't see a doc for three years after doing that! Then, major money issues got me not doing it so much & my health issued returned! And, also drink Spiru-Tein every day! I love it for a meal supplement! And, I love the chocolate & in regular milk!

Also, there is a juice mix that you take a shot glass of everyday! I think that it's called Acai Splash--Get it at the Vit..Store! it has acai, gogi, blueberry, raspberry, cherry, noni???, blackberry?, & some major super berries in it!

You can get all of this at the Vit.. store! It will cost a little bit, but it will last you a month to 3 months, depending on how much you use it!?

Anyway!? Maybe this list of what I am on, or doing will help!?

Doc said that they didn't think that I was taking enough pain meds or enough dose to cause that!!! Didn't think that it was my meds! But I think that it is, only because of the fall!? I think that it got bruised/damaged & that it's just not processing as good because of that!? But I don't know for sure!

Will get test results of Hep tomorrow! And, will have US Tue... & should have results by Friday!?