I contracted hep c in'69, but was not diagnosed until 1996. Since my diagnosis, I have been on interferon which-the treatment was worse than the disease. Then I receceived a liver transplant in early 2006: after three months the virus became very active and I went on a combo treatment of interferon and ribovarin. It seems to have been affective thus far. Although there is really no cure for hep c, hopefully the virus will remain dormant and immeasurable. I have read an awful lot about HepC - better to know what you are up against- and ask the doctor the appropriate questions. If anyone else here has HepC and would like to discuss your situation or if you have any questions you would like to have answered, we can do it at this thread or you can PM me. Hoping that I can be of some help.
Hey my mum has Hep C and her liver isnt that good. If you ever want to know anything just ask, it would be good for her to talk to someone else with the same condition. hope your okay bud x
Hey fellow transplantee! I had a liver transplant in 2005! I was acute though (2 weeks from the time I became jaundiced to the time of my transplant), and don't have hep c, so my situation was quite different. But it's always nice to meet other recipients! Good luck to you!
Sorry to hear about your mother- I hope she is doing ok: Do you have any idea on what condition her liver is in? Has she started any type of treatment? The condition of her liver will determine how successful the treatment for the HpeC will be. If she needs anybody to talk to- she should try and find a support group. And she can also contact me and I will try to help her any way I can. It is really too bad that alot of people really don't have any empathy for patients with Hepc. One of the reasons is that you don't really look sick, even though you feel like shit. HepC is a silent killer. I have had mine for over 30 years, but I was not diagnosed until 12 yrs ago. Pax
I am really surprised that you received your transplant as soon as you did. Your liver must have been in really bad shape. I had to wait close to 4 yrs for mine- because my blood type is rare . I hope you are not having any rejection problems and I hope you are staying away from alcohol. But if you are smoking pot it will definitely help. I think that the reason why my wait for a new liver was not that bad was because of my medical use of cannibis. Hoping that your second liver is going to be your last transplant. Pax
Oh I never drank to begin with..I hate alcohol. I was immediately bumped up to 1A status when I got to the hospital, because with the condition it was in, I was given less than 7 days to live without a transplant. And I'm glad to hear pot will help
no it is not an estimate because it is contracted through blood transfer. like- blood transfusions, iv drug use , and tattoos. these are the most common ways of contracting hepC. There are also a couple of other ways that you can get HepC- like using the same tube for snorting and the way that I contracted it- which is communal living. the sharing of razor blades and allowing toothbrushes to touch each other. One of the people who lived in this commune has died of HepC, luckily no one else has it but me. Pax
pax have you looked into the use of colloidial silver to help manage viral count? i know that the interfearon treatment is hell! hope everything goes well for you from hear on! you to strawberry!!! peace!
sorry to hear about your ex: hep C is such a silent devil- you can have the virus for 30 years - and the symptoms may not appear until the liver is in stage three or four cirrhosis and is on the verge of failing. That's one of the reasons you should be very careful about taking herbal remedies. There are alot of herbal remedies that claim to flush out all the toxins from the liver which may be good if your liver is not cirrhosed- but once your liver is cirrhotic the blood does not pass thru very easily - and portal hypertension can ensue. When you force alot of blood thru your liver it will be bypassed into the portal vein and it can leak- causing internal bleeding and ascites. So- be careful about herbal remedies. Please check with your hepatologist first. PAX
I used to work as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor at a methadone clinic and as you can imagine a lot of patients had Hep-C. There was one guy. He had Hep-C and had no detection of it after inferon treatment. He ate whole foods during the entire treatment and used marijuana to treat the side effects. he told me to pass this on to anyone with Hep-C, so I am glad I finally got to! My uncle passed away in his sleep from complications with Hep C and diabetes. I wish I knew then what i know now. I think iw ould have been able to help him.
Thanks for the thread Pax-Man. As I said, the treatment was indeed hell. I thought I had it beat but after 3 months it had rebounded. My viral count is around 8,000,000. So far my liver funtion is good - my bilirubin had been high for years. My platelet count is low - around 70 but the liver is not fatty nor does it show signs of cirrosis. Maybe we could pm occationally. Or stick to your thread, whatever. It would be nice to talk to someone about it sometimes. Hope your liver is holding up well - hope my maintains. I mostly travel in the old hippie circles of Hip Forums. Former hippie you know. I wish I could have had week during my treatment - but I don't have access anymore and my wife would have freaked. If I have to go through it again I may have to fight for it. Peace and Love - Dudley
I got Hep when I was 16, My bro in law had it and gave it to all of us, both my sisters myself and their one yr old baby boy. I guess I had it the worst, I was comatose for 52 days, and a skeleton of my former self. Both my sisters have Hep-C and one has completed the inferon series and has been in remission almost 9 yrs. My other sister is in the middle of the treatment now. She also has type 2 diabetes and is not likely to recover. I havn't shown any signs, but like Pax has mentioned, you don't know until it has reached cirrohis. As far as herbal supplements, it is best to find a creditable health care provider that has experience with Hep-C, then to read a book that generalizes. Supplements are a source of nutrition in it's condenced form, making more nutrients available to be absorbed and utilized. Most Herbs will induce elimination and pull toxins from the tissue and dump in the Liver to be cleaned and eliminated. A release of toxins could clog up a already taxed Liver and could develop further complications. Eating soft foods will ease a lot of the process of elimination, and juicing could also help provide nutrients without having to digest and process whole foods. Helichrysum Oil applied over the Liver has had some success and will not tax the Liver as it is topical. Bright Blessings for us all and may we heal and be well. sh
That's interesting - How would you apply Helichrysum Oil over the liver. Why were you comotose if your liver does not suffer from cirrosis? Are you still positive for the virus? Sorry about all the questions - it's just good to talk to someone who is afflicted like me. As I said earlier - my liver functions are still within normal range though I have had Hep C for probably 40 years - I would have gotten it in the early seventies since I have not been involved in that kind of risky behavior since. I found it when I tried to give blood in 1989. It will be a desparation move it I have treatments again! Good luck and peace. Dudley
there is ways of curing it without pharmecutical meds. know a dude who has. will get back to u wen i know full details. my dad has it to. but he wont listen to me when i try and show him alternative medecine. inteferon is so evil. turns beautiful people into psychopaths. sad sad sad state of affairs. love love love
Dudley- I am sorry to hear that your interferon treatment was not successful. Before I had my liver transplant my liver values were also within normal range. But my liver biopsy indicated that I was in stage 4 cirrhosis. My bilirubin was also not that far out of line, but my platelets were very low, always below l0,000. We are on the metric system here in Canada so the values may be different. The biggest problem I had before the transplant was bleeding varices [in my esophagus]. I had to get the veins banded [scoping] every three months. This went on for about two years--truly the shits. I finished my interferon/ribovarin treatment about a year and a half ago. I have no viral count after 6 mos and now I'm waiting for the results of the last test. Hopefully I will be viral free. If you have any questions at all- feel free to ask in this thread or PM's - it doesn't matter to me. My heart goes out to you: I know how shitty you must be feeling. Chronic fatigue is no picnic. We'll talk more later. PAX
Thanks for the words man. Actually I don't have fatigue - only during the treatment - which was god awful. If I didn't know I was infected, I wouldn't know I was infected (sounds kinda like a Yogi Berra quote doesn't it). Jeez - I kind of hate your liver function was normal until the biopsy. I was counting on that to clue me in as to my condition. I had a biopsy about 5 years ago and it was ok. Stay cool - Love and Peace - Dudley
