One thing, do the treatment without reservations. Side effects can be
serious but follow the necessary blood work to monitor blood cells and you
should be alright. Do not drink anymore or especially while on treatment.
You will loose some weight while on treatment, because it raises your
metabolism a bit and you won't feel like eating most of the time. Take
aspirin for pain or Tylenol. Good luck!

I did the treatment 2 and 1/2 years ago and was cured. Went through hell but
it was worth it.

Chez

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 12:13:20 GMT, "Glenn  Shehorn"
<drdigger@earthlink.net>, in message ID
<AlLbe.179$7F4.29@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>, in the newsgroup
alt.support.hepatitis-c wrote:

The first thing is to stop drinking now - as in immediately.  If you
need medical assistance with this then seek it.  Alcohol is just about
the worst thing to mix with the hep c virus.  Before deciding when or
whether to treat the virus with the "two ingredients" (interferon and
ribavirin), you will need a liver biopsy.  This will give an idea of
how damaged (or not) your liver is. Your doctor will also arrange for
blood tests to see how the liver is functioning.  The rest can be
decided upol after the biopsy result has come back.

Glenn -

The first thing to know is that what's known about HCV isn't complete,
and that you may feel like you're hearing guesses.  That's because you
are - educated guesses, but there's a lot of missing information.  
Luckily, that's changing every month since there is so much research
being done based on how many people are showing up with it after having
it for a long time.

As others have said if you have HCV you can't drink alcohol in anything
but the smallest amounts, and if it has damaged your liver then you have
another reason to avoid it.  Your doctors will most likely want you to
have a liver biopsy (which is essentially shoving a big needle into your
liver and taking a sample) to see if there's any damage.  Not drinking
is VERY important.  The virus acts much faster in people who drink.

The treatment is no fun - it's six months or a year depending on
genotype.  Current treatment involves taking shot of interferon once a
week and taking pills twice a day.  It's not guaranteed to work, but you
may not have an option depending on the state of your liver.  There are
a number of people here who are on treatment or who have completed it (I
did six months) and the thing to keep in mind is that for just about
everyone it's doable.  

As far as it being serious, it is.  You have to look for certain bad
things happening and treat them seriously.  Dangerous?  Depends on your
definition of dangerous.  It's a medical treatment that for some people
causes serious side effects.  Most people it doesn't.  Most people
continue working, some people remain very physically active.  A few
people develop severe side-effects.  I think that heavy drinking when
you have HCV is more dangerous by far.

A doctor saying it was "dangerous", based on what I know now, would make
me wonder how much experience they have with it.  I'd ask, and ask about
the possible side effects, and how they would deal with them.

A lot of people here have a lot of experience and can help you sort out
what you're hearing from your doctor and what questions to ask.  They're
also a very supportive group, I couldn't have gotten through it without
the support I got here.

Keep us updated...

Gordo

You'll need another blood test to determine your genotype, and a biopsy to
determine the extent of liver damage. If you have to, be pushy to get this
done and get treatment started; the sooner the better in terms of a
successful outcome. Quit drinking, immediately, and lose weight. Alcohol
accelerates HCV liver damage and overweight people have a reduced chance of
success with treatment. Your treatment will most likely be pegylated
interferon (by weekly injection) with ribavirin (pills, daily) for 24 or 48
weeks (depending on genotype). Individual experience with treatment varies,
and although it's a bitch, it is do-able for most. Good luck, keep us posted
and ask lots of questions. The only stupid questions are the ones you don't
ask, and we've all be where you are. Good luck,

Waterspider

Some doctors won't even consider treatment until you have 6 months of
continuous sobriety. If you need medical detox...by all means get it. If you
can't stop on your own you may consider Alcoholics Anonymous.
Life is good
Mark

You need to get educated - right now.

Read this document. It is one of the best HCV primers I've seen.

http://www.californiahcvtaskforce.org/pdf/HCV%20Clinical%20Pathway%20S.F.Version4.PDF

If after reading it you have questions/concerns/whatevers, bring them here,
and folks will try to help you along.

Have you had a biopsy yet?

Cheers

/greyhackles

Glenn,
I don't think there is much that I can add to what everyone else has
said.....except....glad you found us, sorry you have to be here though.
Keep coming back.

Susie