Hey All, I think I have a biiiiig problem. In 1995 or '96 I was diagnosed with the Hepatitis C virus. I was told that many people have it in Egypt and not to worry as long as it is not active. The more I read, I discovered that it is much more serious than that. What happens is that it turns active after a number of years, eats away at your liver and you don't feel it and all of a sudden you have liver cirosis and either you get a transplant or you're gone. I was lucky in 2004 and received "Peg-Intron" a new generation interferon which gave me excellent results. It cured me and all my tests were negative. The problem is that I recently had a test at my rehab after my last binge which lasted for 7 months and ended the night of Feb. 26, 2007, only an antibodies test, and it was positive. Does anyone know if I have it again or not? Some say that as long as you were exposed to the virus, you will always have antibodies but not necessarily the virus. Does anyone know? I am afraid to go to the doctor again. I just can't seem to do it at the moment. I'm 46 days clean today. Thank God. Love, Magellan
not proffesionals here but sorry to hear you are experiencing a life alter event you might be able to get that treatment again maybe you just caught it again call you doctor and talk to him/her if you are worried but thank you for sharing my thought are with you
I've had it about that long also Magellan I have never had treatment but the stuff you got is good my brother inlaw just had that and he's never felt better and his is nearly undetectable also.
Theres no cure, basically it goes into a type of remission far as I know, it may have resurfaced from your using again you gave it life back by running down your immune system maybe, get it checked if you can don't let fear get in the way of your good health.
Magellan, I got infected with Hep C many years back when I shared needles. Maybe, it's been 7-8 years now since I got it. I did not give much thought to it until 2 years back. Because I started getting excruciating pain in my liver sometimes, and that troubled me. Also I would wake up feeling totally exhausted and tired, as if I have worked non-stop for 10 days without break. I started taking a herbal capsule twice a day that contains a herb called "Phyllanthus Niruri" and felt better as a result. My liver pain ceased. My fatigue vanished. Later on, after my marriage, I had to move to another city, and so I lost touch with the doctor who supplied me with those capsules in my hometown, and so stopped taking this herbal medication for the last 10 months or so. As a result, now I get this pain in my body and limbs and the frequency is increasing now. I plan to take a liver function test, genotyping and also the viral load count now, and also explore the town to find out if I can get hold of that herb capsule here...
Generally, my experience has been that as long as I stay away from drugs and alcohol, maintain a healthy nutritious diet (avoid red meat), do some physical activity daily like a walk in the evenings, get a minimum of 7-8 hours sleep in each 24 hours, chances are that I can arrest these symptoms and live long, maybe not get affected by the Hep C at all...
What you shared about testing negative in between, however, was news for me. I was told by my hepatologist that Hep C is incurable, only treatable...
But I believe, as I said above, if we take care of our health and hygiene on a daily basis, then there is nothing to fear about Hep C. There is no need to panic even if you test positive again... It's not lethal by itself... It can only harm us if we neglect our health... Just my experience...
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"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
I have had the same side effects as you mention Tahir , what scared me the most was the sharp stabbing pains in the liver, it's been quite awhile since i've had them I believe that is the Cirrhosis or hardening of the liver due to scaring.
I take milk thistle often now, I would get the stabbing pains and take the milk thistle and the pains would subside so I started taking it regularly and they've gone away totally now.
Hey Tahir, Thank you for the valuable information. Glad to know that I am not alone. Regarding testing negative, not only did I test negative after testing positive in PCR "qualitative" but viral load was 0 in PCR "quantitative" after having a very high count. It does go away Tahir, completely. There are also alternatives like the 'herbs' you mention and other forms of medication, but none more effective than "Peg-Intron". It is a very heavy medication and I don't know if I can go through it again but when I think of the consequences, then it's worth it. Take it if you can and I hope you get well soon. Love, Magellan
Thanks Megellan for sharing about Peg-Intron. I will explore about it, and good to hear that it has been very effective on you. And thanks for sharing and so giving me an opportunity to share about this problem too. Never alone, never again...
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"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
