Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Hepatitis / November 2006
Has anyone here???????
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David Knutsen - 19 Nov 2006 20:56 GMT I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the test three times and it showed positive three times. I went to the local infectious disease doctor and he told me that I was not a good candidate for the drugs because I felt fine. I saw him twice more after that with the same answers. I then figured that I would just forget about it as it was not causing me any discomfort or trouble. I have not been back to a doctor since then (4 years) and still feel fine. I drink alot of cranberry juice and lemonade, I watch my intake of proteins and carbohydrates, use lemon/pepper instead of salt, don't drink alcohol, and have upped my intake of green, red and orange vegetables. I'm 51 years old, work 5 days a week and rarely get sick, even the slightest of colds. So, has anyone here ever heard of anyone else pretty much just blowing off their diagnosis and changing their diet and surviving this disease?
BTW I also take milk thistle tablets and eat a good amount of black licorice. David
greyhackles - 19 Nov 2006 21:14 GMT >I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks >later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >licorice. >David Simply put, statistically the majority of people infected with HCV will die from some other cause. That said, such statistics don't provide much "quality of life" metrics; it's possible to suffer various deleterious effects from HCV in the meanwhile. And there is the paradigm where one "feels fine" right up to the point that the accumulated liver disease provokes a straight-line downward plunge to outright failure.
At the very least, you should have a full set of liver function tests performed, if not an actual liver biopsy, to better understand your current condition. And I would be hesitant to proceed with a doctor that believes your "feeling fine" precludes treatment...
Cheers - and good luck.
/greyhackles
Cactus Jammies - 19 Nov 2006 21:40 GMT Request a biopsy from your doc, and a quantitative blood test on the number of virus copies in your system. There is risk associated with the Hep C virus, no matter what you feel like, no matter what your LFT's indicate. The condition is asymtomatic to at least 80% of those of us that are chronically infected. There should be no arguments, actually. Besides finding out how many copies of the virus is in your blood system, done by quantitave analysis of your blood work, you have to have your level of fibrosis determined as well as if you suffer from associated Fatty Liver which influences the progression of stage and degree your disease.
hope this helps, sorry to have to welcome you, David.
cactus jammies ============
>>I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two >>weeks [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > > /greyhackles anonymousone - 20 Nov 2006 00:33 GMT > >I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks > >later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > /greyhackles Good advice.
Burke Gilman - 19 Nov 2006 21:48 GMT > I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks > later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > licorice. > David I know of people in all stages of the disease who just blow off the diagnosis, regardless of their dietary status. I call such behavior denial. -bg
Dwight - 19 Nov 2006 23:36 GMT > I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks > later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > licorice. > David I did for several years. Then I found out I had Cirrhosis and a lot of other problems. Now, I've been through two rounds of treatment without any luck, my liver is damaged beyond repair (regeneration), I have the stamina of an 80 year old (on good days), and life is a bowl of cherries. Go ahead and put of treatment until your body can no longer handle it, from what I hear transplants are a walk in the park, of course it you don't get rid of the virus, it will just come back any way. BTW, I'm only 50. If this scares you a little bit, I'm sorry, I meant to scare you a lot. Treat it while you are at a stage where you can best fight it. I found out I had non-A non-B hepatitis 20 years ago when I went in to give blood. Good luck
Dwight (wish this damn bug had a name and a treatment when I was first diagnosed)
Waterspider - 20 Nov 2006 00:32 GMT >I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two >weeks later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > licorice. > David Your "infectious doctor" is an a.s, and an ignorant one at that. Find another one, a.s.a.p.
There is no relationship between how one feels and how good a candidate he is for treatment.
You need a liver biopsy to determine the extent of liver damage that you might have. As greyhackles said, there is often little or no relationship between how you feel and how f.cked your liver is, until the bitter end.
Keep doing all the good things you're doing, but don't ever forget that it will NOT combat your hepatitis c-- the only thing that's ever been proven to succeed in killing the virus is peg-interferon and ribavirin treatment.
The usual amount of time for a hep c infection to cause serious damage, i.e. cirrhosis, to the liver is 20-30 years. I suspect you're in that timeframe, so it's time to take charge of your health, and your life. Don't wait any longer. Some don't survive the liver transplant wait-list, and most who do will tell you it's not where you want to go.
Good luck,
Waterspider
(52, cirrhosis, completed treatment five years ago, no more hep c)
kjoh - 20 Nov 2006 03:17 GMT Hello Knustsen. All those things you do for your general health are important and might help you live longer or feel better for as long as you live. But for those here who are very ill with hep C the idea of dealing with it by drinking lemonade and eating black licorice is laughable. Seek treatment.
kj
P.S. ping Spidey: Hi chica! Even though I have followed this group for almost 2 years, I was unaware that you have cirrhosis. Bummer. Can I ask you about it? When were you diagnosed?
Waterspider - 20 Nov 2006 05:48 GMT > Hello Knustsen. All those things you do for your general health are > important and might help you live longer or feel better for as long as you [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > almost 2 years, I was unaware that you have cirrhosis. Bummer. Can I ask > you about it? When were you diagnosed? Hi Koko!
I had a biopsy before being prescribed tx, it's a requirement here. Oddly, my shithead gp told me that it was just routine, that I shouldn't worry about it because I looked fine. I looked fine???? motherf..ker, that's the kind of medical professionalism that makes me want to commit violent crimes! <insane cackle>
Actually, I'm not sure if it's bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis. I've had conflicting interpretations on the biopsy result. However, I won't obsess about that, and I'll not bother with another biopsy for further information <g>
Hope you're doing well,
Spidey
john - 21 Nov 2006 17:01 GMT (52, cirrhosis, completed treatment five years ago, no more hep c)
Waterspider, I was unaware you had cirrhosis.Sorry to hear that.Do the doctors know what condition your liver is in now after 5 years or being hep-c free? Will your liver totally heal and be cirrhosis? john
> >I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two > >weeks later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > (52, cirrhosis, completed treatment five years ago, no more hep c) Cactus Jammies - 21 Nov 2006 17:24 GMT John, Glad you are clear, that is really good news. What are you doing to treat or live with the Cirrhosis?)
cactus jammies ---------------------------
> (52, cirrhosis, completed treatment five years ago, no more hep c) > [quoted text clipped - 59 lines] >> >> (52, cirrhosis, completed treatment five years ago, no more hep c) john - 27 Nov 2006 23:25 GMT (52, cirrhosis, completed treatment five years ago, no more hep c) Waterspider, I was unaware you had cirrhosis.Sorry to hear that.Do the doctors know what condition your liver is in now after 5 years or being hep-c free? Will your liver totally heal and be cirrhosis? john Cactus Jammies, I am sorry my email wasn't clear at all.I cut and pasted that first line from waterspider and was asking her about cirrhosis.I am on week 47 of my second treatment and this time i cleared at week 12 but ill keep you posted.As far as my biopsy it was vague, definite bridging fibrosis but not conclusive about cirrhosis.stage 3...........sorry about the confusion...........john
> John, > Glad you are clear, that is really good news. What are you doing to treat [quoted text clipped - 64 lines] > >> > >> (52, cirrhosis, completed treatment five years ago, no more hep c) Russian - 20 Nov 2006 05:04 GMT > use lemon/pepper instead of salt.
> So, has anyone here ever heard of anyone > else pretty much just blowing off their diagnosis and changing their diet > and surviving this disease? Absolutely.
Lemon/pepper is a known 100% effective cure for Hepatitis c.
Many of us are taking a year's worth of peg-interferon and ribavirin therapy - because we can't tolerate lemon/pepper.
<rof,l>
(Sorry... couldn't resist... and I see others already gave you the good info.)
rhanson - 20 Nov 2006 08:59 GMT David~
I felt fine too and had no clue that I had Hep-C. I went for two years knowing I had it and did nothigng about it. I guess I wasn't ready to deal with it yet. I don't know you but my guess would be that if your posting this you may be kinda worried and maybe it is time to have your viral load checked again. If anything else it would offer you peace of mind.
RHanson
>I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks >later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >licorice. >David elmoemerson@webtv.net - 20 Nov 2006 13:24 GMT Knowing your viral load isn't near as important as knowing the condition of your liver. The prudent thing to do would be to get yourself to a specialist that will order a liver biopsy. The results of that test and knowing your genotype should be the major determinates in any decision to treat, or not. In this day and age, biopsies are a relative cake walk, comparable to having dental work (pain-wise). elmo ////////// David~ I felt fine too and had no clue that I had Hep-C. I went for two years knowing I had it and did nothigng about it. I guess I wasn't ready to deal with it yet. I don't know you but my guess would be that if your posting this you may be kinda worried and maybe it is time to have your viral load checked again. If anything else it would offer you peace of mind. RHanson David Knutsen wrote: I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the test three times and it showed positive three times. I went to the local infectious disease doctor and he told me that I was not a good candidate for the drugs because I felt fine. I saw him twice more after that with the same answers. I then figured that I would just forget about it as it was not causing me any discomfort or trouble. I have not been back to a doctor since then (4 years) and still feel fine. I drink alot of cranberry juice and lemonade, I watch my intake of proteins and carbohydrates, use lemon/pepper instead of salt, don't drink alcohol, and have upped my intake of green, red and orange vegetables. I'm 51 years old, work 5 days a week and rarely get sick, even the slightest of colds. So, has anyone here ever heard of anyone else pretty much just blowing off their diagnosis and changing their diet and surviving this disease? BTW I also take milk thistle tablets and eat a good amount of black licorice. David -- //////////
http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile
http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum
Paul - 22 Nov 2006 01:45 GMT On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:56:55 GMT, "David Knutsen" <david_knutsenyourpants@mchsi.com>, in message ID <ry38h.152069$aJ.92334@attbi_s21>, in the newsgroup alt.support.hepatitis-c wrote:
>I went in to donate blood one day ( I have a rather rare type) and two weeks >later I got a letter saying I had been diagnosed with Hepatitis-c. I had the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >licorice. >David David. I won't be as kind as the others on here. Your doctor is a dozy c.nt who should be struck off the medical register until such time as he learns to do his job with some degree of competence. I felt fine with HCV but a biopsy revealed that I had some fairly substantial damage. Wasn't about to keel over but was certainly a good idea to treat without leaving it too many years.
Your doctor has caused you to hold back on medical treatment that you may need. It's also true that you may not need it but he had no way of knowing that without you having a biopsy.
Waterspider - 23 Nov 2006 03:51 GMT > On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:56:55 GMT, "David Knutsen" > <david_knutsenyourpants@mchsi.com>, in message ID [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > may need. It's also true that you may not need it but he had no way > of knowing that without you having a biopsy. Well said, Paul.
"dozy c.nt..." hahaha!
Paul - 23 Nov 2006 17:57 GMT On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:51:15 -0800, "Waterspider" <waterspider@moonlight.net>, in message ID <12ma6lppcbfi0b@corp.supernews.com>, in the newsgroup alt.support.hepatitis-c wrote:
>Well said, Paul. > >"dozy c.nt..." hahaha! Yes. We have one of those in my area too. He's been masquerading as a gastro for some years now. I may end up losing another friend in the near future thanks to his arrogance. I may have lost him either way though.
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