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What Causes Tiredness And Unexplained Weight Loss?

Posted on Mon, 16 Jan 2017

Question: Hi Doctor,
Recent days, my mother health is not good as expected at the age of 44. She is not facing any major illness, but i could see notifiable changes on her physical condition like tiredness, losing weight suddenly. I know that my grand mother had Hepatitis-B and suspecting the same with my mother also as it can be inherited from parents. So am planning to examine my mother regarding Hepatitis-b . So could you please guide me on what all tests required and correct me if my assumption is wrong.

Note : She generally suffering from burps as she is having gas trouble. Apart from this, she don't have any major illness so far.

Regarding My 3 months old Kid : Now he is taking vaccination as suggested by pediatrician at the time of birth. On November 7 th, he has taken rotavirus dose-1 and dose-2 should be after one month. i.e December first week. Some how due to unavailability of stock, treating nurse at my village postponed to January 1st , i.e next month. Is that fine with gap or is it strictly recommended exactly after one month of dose-1. Could you please guide me on this also.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Answered by Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Blood for HBsAg needs to be tested.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

I have gone through your query and understand your concerns. Hepatitis B is tranmitted either through blood or through sexual route and so I do not expect transmission from your grandmother to your mother unless it occurred at your mother's birth. Had your mother been born with Hepatitis B, the scenario would have been entirely different. However, you can feel free to get her investigated. That will help in clearing your apprehension. The requisite test is blood for Hepatitis B surface antigen or HBsAg. This is in assumption that your mother has not been vaccinated for Hepatitis B (in case of vaccination the test will give a false positive result).

In case of your child, the delay in vaccination would not be a cause for concern. It would be acceptable.

Let me know if I could help further.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (13 hours later)

Hi Doctor,

Thanks for addressing my query. Still am not clear with last point that "in case of vaccination the test will give a false positive result". Am not sure whether she had vaccinated for Hepatitis B or not at birth. Suppose she had already vaccinated and if am taking her for investigation with respective to HBsAg test then as per your comments i may get false positive result. In such cases how am i able to confirm whether she is suffering from Hepatitis B or not. Please guide me on this.

Thanks in advance.

Answered by Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (12 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Multiple things need to be kept in consideration.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back.

You need to ask your mother whether she had been vaccinated for Hepatitis B in her adult life. Vaccination is not supposed to have been available around the time of her birth.

A detailed pattern about testing is mentioned at:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/177632-workup
and also at
http://patient.info/in/doctor/hepatitis-b-pro

Let me know if you have queries thereafter and I would guide you accordingly.

Regards

Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar