16 year old recently diagnosed with hep c

[Danielle7]

Hi, my name is Danielle. I'm only 16 years old, 17 next friday (woot woot :D). I have been recently diagnosed with hep c and am scheduled for my biopsy. I am genotype 1A. I most likely caught this virus from IV drug use. I am a recovering roxicodone addict. I'm very scared.. I dont know whats ahead of me.. what to expect ? Whats going to happen ? Will I never recover and eventually kill myself by destroying my liver ? HELP ):

[Danielle7]

I do plan on starting treatment after I get back from my trip. Im goin to up state NY for a horse camp the rest of the summer (starting the day after my bday, july 9). My doc wants to do the interferon and ribavirin. Are you planning on doing the same ?

[Danielle7]

Happy Birthday (:

[nygirl7]

Danielle make SURE your doctor includes one of the new drugs if you can - the new PIs make the odds so much better for a geno 1, up from the old days with just interferon and ribavirin only having a 40% - 50% chance of winning to now when it is 75-80%. If he doesn't know about them then find another doctor.........run fast!

That is huge.  I had geno1a and 1b (I'm telling you I was a good awfully good at doing drugs ;) and beat them both with regular treatment cause they didn't have the new drugs out yet when I treated but if they had I definitely positively would have added one. For me I ended up having to treat for 72 weeks because I didn't respond quickly enough........you dont want to have it happen to you.  Get all the odds on your side and beat those critters up good!

So you are July 9th well that's just as good as July 8th at midnight we will both be on the same birthday ;)

[Danielle7]

Okay I'll definitely ask him.

And no, my birthday is July 8th, I was saying July 9th is the day i fly out to NY. So we will have the same birthday (:

[nygirl7]

hahahahaha it IS a great day, we are special :D

[kirk8]

Yes, I’m supposed to start in Aug. and u will need to take one of the new drugs telaprevir or boceprevir in addition to interferon and repairing. Dr told me that I wasn’t a candidate for treatment before these new drugs came out; so I’ve had some time to get in the best physical shape possible for treatment.  I found out what I had to do from blood tests.

These tests can b very helpful. I found out I had high iron so I stopped eating as many stakes and started eating more chicken. This is important because too much iron is toxic too the liver. I also learned that I have a fatty liver from drinking so I cut back and then quit. It took a while but I got all my liver enzymes back in normal levels and I lost weight because hep c hides in fat cells.  The thinner you are the better chances u have of clearing the virus during treatment.

Have a good trip and happy birthday to u both. My birthday is July 16.