Symptoms can be dormant but it can still be spread sexually.

Just to be clear Dave, is this type of question not allowed on the board?

Hi Odat,
The best bet would be for your man to take a medical doctors opinion.

However, Id also like to share some experience and knowledge with you.
It is my hope that you will get him to read this,,, please ??????

Ok,,,, so here it is !!!

It is the year 2008 and Im happily living in England.
Im doing my masters degree in a great college,, Im well connected with the NA Fellowship there, Im doing service,
my family back in India is well settled, they are waitin for the completion of our new apartments and I have great and lovely girlfriend.

Then one day, I went in to the University clinic for routine annual checks. They take blood and do tests. I ask them to include HIV, Hep.A,B,C
and other.

I went to the clinic few days later with a bit of anxiety. The lady doctor called me in and said
"No HIV" and i jumped for joy. Though Ive never been a promiscous individual, I was in fear because of surgery Id had.

Then she said solemnly "Im afraid you have Hep.C and will have to be treated".
I talked with sponsor, shared at meetings, even confided with mom and friends.
As I learned, it would be a three year commitment.
The first 6 months would be for mental preparation and testing to see if the virus clears by itself and if not to determine viral load.
Inspite of fervent wishing and prayer, it did not and I became ready for treatment.
This phase required even more mental preparations. Two events occured; one was my girlfriend and men decided to part and my first year in university was coming to close. Mental preperation was very necessary now as I was confronted with the treatment itself; and intereferon therapy that would be painful and weakening, to say the least.

The next six months was the treatment itself. It began and I went through the most difficult experience in my entire recovery. There I was in a strange land, living on my own and having to study, cook and look after myself and this treatment with 5ml of a pegulated dose of Interferon each week backed up by Ribovarin capsules was devastating. But the NA Fellowship, family and friends and God took me through the rough seas and happily, at the end of 24 weeks I was cleared of it.

Im greatful to the N.H.S of UK for their fab care, especially my nurse.....she was fantastic and motivating all the while. Being clean helped a lot in the treatment and I never had using thoughts. There was also contact with a famous researcher there and on my sponsors guidance, I looked at the source.
These are my findings;
1. Hep.B is transmissible through sex and it hasnt been proven conclusively that Hep.C is sexually transmissible. I most probably got the C virus during the course of an invasive gall bladder procedure I had to go through,n or maybbe ot it from shared needles in my using and it stayed dormant. But once again, this is not a definite conclusion. What is definite however is that the Hep.C virus is transmitted via blood to blood exchanges between partners. And unlike the HIV virus which can only thrive in warm blood, the Hep.C Virus (HCV) dosent die easily and can even survive outside the body for long months. Recovery is my responsibility, and seeing as medicine is not an exact science (never was) we cant take chances.

The best bet would be to adopt safe sex practices and take real good care.

My sources of information are : Hep.C portals (www.hepccenter.org/talal.php; http://www.globalinitiativescharity.com/;globalhepc.net), National Health Services.U.K (www.nhs.uk/conditions/Hepatitis-C; www.nhs.uk/hepc/; www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Hepatitis-C/Pages/Prevention.aspx)

-- Edited by Raman on Friday 10th of August 2012 04:44:26 AM

Angell wrote:

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Just to be clear Dave, is this type of question not allowed on the board?

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 this board has always been pretty open as to content.  But I have to agree with Dave, that giving medical advice is not what we are qualified to do.

Recovery suggestions is what we can provide.

The bigger question for me is why would anyone go to ANY internet forum to ask life and death questions about infectious diseases??

Maybe you haven't had heard that the internet is full of people pretending to be something they aren't.

Youre right Angell.
No one is pretending,, least of all me.
Im an addict. And ive been thru 3 years of hell in the treating of my hep.c.

I belive very sincierly in the therupetic value of one addict helping another.
And if i were to share what i went thru, then i maybe motivating another suffering addict.
Seems like when one addict shares about the necessity for hep.c treatment no matter what the outcome,
the message is more effective than from elsewhere.

It is my sinciere wish and my fervent hope that Odats man reads this !!!


Doctors opinion is primary...there is no arguement about it.
But having been in a hep.c support group run by NHS UK, i had training as an interventionist
on what to share with prospects so they consent to being treated.

My records show that ive been a motivation for at least 10 addicts,,so those are my credentials too.
So, I have every right to share.......