Question: Hello...I am actually posing this question for a friend of mine, who suffers from health anxiety. About one month ago she was diagnosed with a sinus infection and prescribed amoxicillan for it. While on the amoxicillan she developed bad headaches and also a skin rash. She followed up with her doctor, who diagnosed an allergic reaction to the amoxicillan and gave her steroids and Benadryl and ordered a panel of blood work.

Her bloodwork came back normal with the exception of her three liver enzymes which were elevated; I’m attaching a copy of a portion of the bloodwork showing those elevated enzymes. Upon follow up with her doctor, her doctor is sending her for repeat blood work three weeks after the last bloodwork was done, as well as testing for hepatitis C. My friend is now extremely anxious and worried about liver damage and/or hepatitis C (she was immunized for hepatitis B). She drinks one to two glasses of wine a night and is not taking any prescription medications other than Xanax. She has never used IV needles and therefore no contaminated needles, etc.

Do you feel her levels are very worrisome and do you feel they could be due to the allergic reaction and/or antibiotic (her bilirubin was normal)? Also, do you feel there is much chance of it being Hepatitis C? Finally, would it be okay for her to continue to take Xanax prior to her repeat bloodwork in one week (she has stopped drinking alcohol)!

Thank you for your kindness and expertise!

Hello Dr. Sundryal! I sent your reply to my friend and she cannot thank you enough for your reassurances.

You mentioned hepatitis C can be passed via inter course...she has had unprotected sex...does that raise the risk of Hep C or change the answer to your question much? I understand that’s it’s mostly transmitted via blood to blood contact...?

Thank you again so much!!

Hello again Dr. XXXXXXX ..thank you again so very much for your reassuring response!

I passed it along to my friend (this honestly is for a friend!) and she was relieved to hear that it doesn’t appear to point to Hepatitis C and that hep C is usually not contracted via sexual intercourse. She did have one last theoretical question though...when she had prior routine blood work done back in 2013 and also in 2015, all results were within normal range (I presume this included the standard liver function tests). If, theoretically, she had been exposed and had hepatitis C for some time, do you feel it would have shown in her bloodwork in those prior years, with elevated liver enzymes or bilirubin, etc.?

Thank you again immensely for your kindness, expertise and compassion!