First - good to hear our expectations wrt biopsy are confirmed. Being such a
short timer there was no reason to expect much worse.

Second - could it have been "Ferritin" that wasn't too high instead of
serotonin? (that serotonin would come up in a discussion of HCV would be like
outta left field for me :-)

Third - good for Katie! - if an eye opener for you. I think she understands
what she's up against here: a generally ignorant medical community, at least
wrt HCV and treatment thereof.

Stress is where you look for it :-) I have no doubt you'd like to be in
charge, but if you can let Katie lead for awhile it'll be better for all. If
Katie can stay on top of things she'll be *so* much better off than leaving
her fate up to the tender mercies of doctors and kinda-doctors. And with you
playing goalie in case something gets by Katie, she should be in peachy shape
going forward.

Cheers

/greyhackles

mom, with all respect to you, the doc is stupid in the area of knowledge
of patients with hcv and iron overload via hemachromatosis. i am living
proof of that and know others with the same condition. serum
iron/complete iron profile, ferritin and alt should be the blood tests
conducted. as for hereditary hemacromatosis, that test is presented at
an D.N.A. diagnostics lab. this blood specimen is cared for and handled
in a very specific way. it is a best way that iron levels are not
elevated for the most best chance for meds to work on hcv. some docs are
not "hip" on this. you cover Kates well being about this. also, you can
have hemachromatosis and not be iron loaded. (carrier) it gets deep just
keep paddlng.... land ahead! Randy

Mom, getting Katie to ask about hemochromatosis was a wise decision. If
she has it, it is easy to treat and shouldn't cause any damage. If she
has it and doesn't treat it, it can cause a lot of damage. Between the
hep-c, hemochromatosis, and drinking I did a number on my liver before I
knew there was anything wrong. I quit drinking and get my iron levels
checked frequently now. Since I found out about all the problems and try
to manage the ones that I can, my liver has been holding it's own. I've
had cirrhosis for at least 15 years now and from my last biopsy my liver
doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Hope I can keep saying this for a
long time to come. As always, my best to you and Katie.

Dwight

general practictioner? wrong doc. iron removal comes via several
ways.... chelatin with special drug with binds with seum iron is slow
and costly. phlebotomy is best easiest safest and fastest. liver plus
excess iron plus hcv = liver doc. there are only a few regular m.d.'s
capable of managing hcv plus hemachromatosis.  did the liver biopsy show
iron within the kueppfer cells, or was there no iron present in the
liver(excess) and jst slightly elevated in the blood. Randy p.s. excess
iron can cause pituatary gland probs, pancreas/diebetes probs, and more.
not too fast into hcv meds until this iron issue is proven
correctly.........

I'm back!  

Group: alt.support.hepatitis-c Date: Fri, Feb 16, 2007, 7:38pm (CST+1)
From: mom@nospamplease.net (Mom)
Hello everyone,
It's freezing in Virginia. We had an ice storm the other day after snow
and have about 7" of frozen solid snow. It's fun.
Katie got her results today from the biopsy. First the good
news.............no liver damage! Her viral load however is high. She
said it is around 8,715,000. That seems pretty high to me? The doctor
said this could affect her chances of SVR.
He also said the iron level was a little high but serotonin wasn't. Not
sure what that means but he seems to think it is nothing to be concerned
about. After Katie persisted he agreed to have her tested for
hemochromatosis.
This was actually a practioner but he said he as never heard of
co-infection. Katie insisted that it is possible so he asked the doctor.
The doctor said in 13 years he has never seen it but has heard it is
possible. He said it is rare. I suggested to Katie that maybe people
just didn't know they were co-infected because the dominant genotype was
the one that showed up on the test not both? The doctor told her he
could do further tests if she likes. I told Katie I thought she should
let them do the tests rather than go through the wrong duration of
treatment and have to start over. Same with the iron test. She agreed. I
hope she does it now.
The thing that worries me is if it weren't for Katie's own research on
Hep-C I think the doctor would have just let these things go and went
ahead and started her on treatment.
Katie said they really take their time with her and every time she goes
there are only one or two people in the waiting room. She thought this
was great. I have to wonder myself??????????
I am trying to "gently" advise her and make suggestions but with all of
you knowing me do you know how hard it is for me not to just go to the
doctor with her and ask him these questions myself?? I am proud of her.
She did bring up all of the concerns I brought to her attention and that
she learned on her own through research but it is still hard. I am doing
much better though you all must admit. (patting myself on the back).
As always...............any input is greatly appreciated.
Mom
///////////
Horsefeathers!!!  ahahahahahhahaa!!  Naw, that viral load isn't too
high.  It's in the medial range.  I wouldn't be too freaked out about
seeing numbers in the millions.....increased liver damage hasn't been
equatted with higher viral load anyway.  NO liver damage?  Shucks, Mom.
It's got to have been 4 or 5 years since you first came to us as the
'worried mom'.  Surely Katie has a few more years before she'll begin to
show liver damage, and if it's low-grade liver damage, repairable when
she finally kicks the virus.  
Like you said, good momma, is that it's Katie's call as to whether she
does tx, or not.  In a few years, the tx for hepc will have a higher
success rate and probably be an easier regimen to tolerate.  Treat or no
treat?  It's a 'no-brainer', for me.  Of course, I've been told I don't
have any brains to begin with.  :-)        
elmo
Hi Katie!!

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum

I am doing much better though you all must admit. (patting myself on
the back).
As always...............any input is greatly appreciated.
Mom
///////////
Yes, you sure are.  :-)
elmo
(patting mom on the butt)

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum