There is no set symptom pattern with hepatitis C. For some people symptoms are severe enough to significantly and consistently affect their quality of life whilst other people experience none at all. Sometimes they will be vaguely noticeable, but for many people they come and go and the severity varies. People who have cleared the virus with treatment often only realise that they were experiencing symptoms in retrospect when they are feeling better. Symptoms related to the chronic stage of the disease can include:
- Fatigue with non-refreshing sleep
- Depression
- Short-term memory problems
- Difficulty concentrating
- Mood swings
- Digestive problems
- Joint and muscle aches and pains
- Headaches
- Flu-like symptoms
- Discomfort or pain in the liver area
- Abdominal pain.
- Itching
To read an article written by Professor Graham Foster on symptoms click here
Research has tended to focus on looking at liver damage rather than symptoms or associated extra-hepatic illnesses (illnesses outside of the liver). And it is only recently that the medical profession has started to accept that symptoms and associated illness are indeed caused by the virus, although the reasons for them are not totally understood yet.
These symptoms are referred to by doctors as non-specific symptoms when they don't relate directly to liver damage or any of the associated illnesses the virus can trigger. The cause of many of these non-specific symptoms is not clear, but there is some evidence to show that hepatitis C may infect neural tissue and this could at least be part of an explanation for some symptoms.
One study has confirmed that fatigue, depression and feelings of anger caused by HCV are more severe and more intractable than when these symptoms are experienced by people with non liver-related chronic diseases.
Brain fog (confusion and impaired memory) has been reported by many people with HCV. A study amongst people with chronic hepatitis C and those who had cleared the virus showed greater cognitive impairment amongst those with chronic HCV infection. HCV has been found in cerebrospinal fluid and it is believed this might be linked to brain fog, but more research is needed to pin this link down.
The study, although small, revealed several things that suggests an underlying mechanism for cognitive impairment:
- those with HCV demonstrated greater cognitive impairment than those who had cleared the virus
- The choline/creatine ratio on MRI brain scanning was higher in this group and a significantly higher ratio was found in the white matter and basal ganglia of the brain in people with hepatitis C as opposed to hepatitis B
- Autopsied brain tissue showed HCV replication
- HCV was found in the cerebral spinal fluid of 8 out of 13 individuals with hepatitis C
