Hepatitis C diagnosis is often difficult in the early stages as there are no or very few symptoms in the beginning. Many hepatitis C patients find out about the illness even after a decade. While some develop chronic hepatitis C, which stays for a lifetime, there are also patients who get better in less than a year. The following are some of the main early warning signs of hepatitis C that you need to look out for.

Loss of appetite and nausea
Loss of appetite is linked to a number of illnesses, making it difficult for people to often look at it as an early symptom of hepatitis C. Patients with the illness may experience very low or no desire to eat even if the person’s favorite food is presented to them. The emptiness in the stomach can lead to nausea. However, hepatitis C patients may also experience nausea, even when they have eaten. Both these symptoms may present themselves independently in many cases. For a lot of people with hepatitis C, keeping the food down may be difficult and the discomfort associated with it is not limited to nausea, ending up in vomiting. 

Swollen belly
A worsening liver condition can lead to the body holding the excess fluids in the arms, legs, and stomach. This is caused due to a worsening liver condition. Liver cirrhosis is a common cause for ascites in patients with hepatitis C, also characterized by a low flow of blood to the liver. This may also be accompanied by pain in the stomach and even inflammation in some cases.

Jaundice
This is one of the most recognizable early warning signs of hepatitis C. Jaundice is characterized by high levels of bilirubin and causes yellowing of the eyes and skin. Although it is important to note that all cases of jaundice are not indicators of hepatitis C and should be taken into consideration, along with other symptoms. High levels of bilirubin is a clear indicator that the liver is not completing its function of clearing the bilirubin. Sometimes abnormal levels of bilirubin can also result in dark urine.

Exhaustion
This is a very apparent symptom but is often missed as one of the early warning signs of hepatitis C as it often gets attributed to other reasons. Tiredness is a result of the body fighting the infections. The feeling of tiredness is not linked directly to the living conditions in some cases, as it may also be a result of other conditions like depression in some hepatitis C patients.

High temperature
This is among those early warning signs of hepatitis C which occur within a few weeks to six months after the patients are infected. A body temperature greater than 100.4 F, combined with other symptoms of the illness, calls for the tests for hepatitis C.