I just found out that I have HEP C what can I do?!
Question: Just found out that I have HEP C, what can I do, what should I exspect, what are treatments like ect...?
Answers: Just found out that I have HEP C, what can I do, what should I exspect, what are treatments like ect...?
First of all, I am LISENSED in Hepatitis C and can tell you that the answers given are FALSE. It ANGERS me to NO END to hear people tell those who have been diagnosed that there is no cure. Once a person has a sustained viralogic response POST one year after treatment, as long as you stay away from the risk factors, you will not have active HCV infection, it is resolved, meaning it is inactive. Yes, there is always a chance of reactivation towards any virus, but in the case of HCV as long as you refrain from risk factors the chance of it coming back are very minimal.
Now that I have CLEARED THAT UP, you can do quite a bit!
Diet:
No vitamins containing iron. No mega vitamin therapy. Vitamin E and A in excess can cause damage to the liver.
No red meats- it contains iron and protein from meat sources are hard for someone with digestive diseases to process.
Certain greens like spinach have iron in them as well. Eggs do too.
Minimize or eliminate sodium.
Use real sugar in small amounts, do NOT use artificial sweeteners- these are chemically made. You can try Stevia found at GNC which is not sugar, but it is sweet.
NO alcohol. NONE.
Limit your intake when it comes to over the counter drugs and minimize your intake of prescription medications like pain pills ect.
Eat fruits, grains, veggies. Fish, chicken, turkey. Limit your fish to once a week at proportion size.
Drink green tea, coffee, water, clear liquids. Do not drink tea or consume anything with caffiene in it if you have panic attacks.
See your gastrointerologist, he will be able to tell you more, and PLEASE ask your doctor about Interferon. Do not let others scare you into thinking treatment is horrible. Most feel okay on treatment minus the couple of days after injection.
Drink plenty of water on treatment, this will lessen the side effects (if you have any) greatly!
Do NOT fall victim to urine therapy, colon cleanses, MMS, electro therapy or anything that sounds too good to be true. It can cause more harm than many think. I tried several "cure alls" before I even knew what was wrong and then some after and it didn't do any good whatsoever.
Treatment:
As long as your on the right anti-depressant, maybe an anti-anxiety medication (not all take both) and are drinking lots of water (as close to a gallon a day) you will do just fine!
I actually felt better on treatment, but I have had side effects of HCV since I had hcv- Doctor says year of transmission was no later than 1975- the year I had a jetshot vaccine at the age of 8. A year later, spider nevi showed up on my chest/neck and no one knew what it was until I was diagnosed at age 34. You might feel sort of flu-ish for a couple of days after your injection. Many work on treatment, others just take it easy during treatment. Genotype will give the doctor the course of action. Genotype 1's go on treatment for 6 months and if they respond, they go on another 6 months (48 weeks total). Same goes for genotype 3's. For those with less common genotypes 2's and 4's, they seem to respond favorably. Very few of these types relapse.
There were a couple of times where I was nauseated and vomitted....I had a horrible headache. It was thought that maybe some of the interferon got into the bloodstream- which can make you very ill. Always pull back on the syringe- check for blood. If there is any, you hit a vein...throw the needle out and try again. I found that injecting myself in the legs was perfect for me. Infact, many who are overweight should try to inject the medications where there is less fat- this will guarantee all the dosage will go where it is supposed to.
Your doctor might treat aggressively at first then taper down.
NEVER begin treatment unless you have had a biopsy. This doesn't really hurt all that much. It is more like lots of pressure and before it hurts too bad, it's over with! :o) I had three prior to treatment and I donated a piece of liver tissue through biopsy a couple years ago.
I was grade and stage 2.2 before treatment and last biopsy showed a decrease in liver damage by half leaving me to be a 1.1 and it has probably reduced more since then.
Hep c is incurable. I found a web site that can answer your questions better. I am sorry honey that you contracted it because it effects your liver.
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/29...
My husband has hep c and he just started going through the treatments which will last 11 months. You will probably not have any symptoms that even tell you that you have the disease. My husband had it for about 40 years and just found out he had it about 8 years ago. He got it from getting a field transfusion while in Viet Nam. They don't usually find it when they do routine blood work, it requires a special one. It affects your liver, keeps it from getting rid of the poisons in your body....etc. First of all, don't drink alcohol, don't do drugs. This really over loads the liver and now it's just trying it's best to do it's normal job. Alcohol damages the liver anyhow. Be very careful not to let anyone come into contact with your blood, or use your personal hygine items. It is strictly a blood to blood disease. They say you can use bleach to clean up any blood drops that contain Hep C, but now our doctor has given us a flyer booklet that says there is no proof that bleach kills the virus. It can live outside the body for 4 - 5 days. It is incurable. Even though you get the treatment and your viral load goes down to 0, the disease becomes inactive. You will always have the virus, it will not leave your body. There are some doctors that will tell the patient that after 6 months to a year of having 0 viral load , that they are cured. This is not true. It can become active again from other illnesses or even from stress. A liver transplant will help you if your liver is badly diseased, but your viral load will eventully go up and the disease becomes active again. Take care of yourself. The treatments can help. Depending on what type you are, 1 - 6 will determine how long you have to undergo treatment. The treatment consists of a weekly injection of interferon, and taking 6 capsules of ribavirin a day. You may have severe skin break outs, thinning of the hair, fatigue, flu like symptoms, nausea, loss of appitite, weight loss, depression and the list goes on. But today the treatment has a 60 -90% chance of reducing the viral load to 0 and rendering the disease inactive. It used to only have 10 -30% chance of doing it. And the side effects are less intense. Used to be people on the treatment were so sick they couldn't even go to work. Today, they have a much easier time of getting through it.
Email me, we can discuss alot. Spouse got it in the Army from a tattoo... can tell you much as I know, but not here, not enough room