What disease could it possibly be?!
Question: i have this friend who experienced this ff signs and symptoms. maybe you could help me out what disease my friend could possibly have:
-had edema,
-enlarged tummy
-yellowish eye
-some back pains
*other info
she had several blood tests, one is test for hepatitis, but she was negative to all strains; she had chicken pox, but signs and symptoms were seen even before she had a pox.
Answers: i have this friend who experienced this ff signs and symptoms. maybe you could help me out what disease my friend could possibly have:
-had edema,
-enlarged tummy
-yellowish eye
-some back pains
*other info
she had several blood tests, one is test for hepatitis, but she was negative to all strains; she had chicken pox, but signs and symptoms were seen even before she had a pox.
The edema could be due to either heart disease or advanced liver disease causing low albumin levels (hypoalbuminemia).
The enlarged tummy could be due to ascites (free fluid in the abdomen, almost always due to liver failure, but other causes include certain cancers, constrictive/restrictive pericarditis, ...)
The yellowish eye is called "scleral icterus" and is due to jaundice, again due to live failure.
Back pains are non-specific, but may be due to associated conditions (e.g. chronic pancreatitis causing the back pain and liver cirrhosis causing the liver problems, and both due to heavy alcohol use).
However there are many causes of your friend's liver problem and checking for hepatitis alone is certainly not enough. Your friend needs to see a hepatologist/gastroenterologist as soon as possible. He appears to be seriously ill and there is real urgency here.
The most probable diagnosis here is end-stage liver disease/liver cirrhosis and the underlying cause is not yet clear.
Some of your friend's symptoms may be reversible (at least partially) and friend may wind up needing a liver transplantation, which in turn depends on many other factors that are as yet to be determined.
sounds like Jaundice.. her liver isn't functioning for some reason. She should go to webmd.com and look at symptoms.. it sometimes good to help the doctors on some path since they aren't always up to date with all the latest discoveries.
How old is your friend? Her symptoms fit the profile for someone with right sided heart failure. The enlarged tummy and yellowish eyes are indicative of liver problems/failure. The stomach becomes ebnlarged when the belly retains fluid due to liver failure. It's called ascites. People with right sided heart failure also get pe3ripheral edema (arms and legs)....
Remember, I'm not a doctor and I haven't examined your friend. This is just a guess. I would continue to seek professional medical help until you find out what is wrong with your friend.