Computer illiterate

[rjv2]

how do i respond back to you guys?

[Bill1954]

Hi again,

So sorry to hear of your plight. For others that are interested, you have another post with pertinent info here:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Scared-and-more-scared/show/1400894?personal_page_id=1896260#post_6389571

in your case, minimally they should follow with AFP and ultrasound or other imaging biannually; and good luck with the pending CT results; hopefully there won’t be anything remarkable there.

What position is your specialist taking now in terms of future therapy? How long did you treat the GT-3 originally, and which meds were utilized? Were you on flat or weight based ribavirin?

There are new meds pending approval for HCV; these are the ‘protease inhibitor’ class drugs that will be used in conjunction with interferon and ribavirin. However, they might not be overly effective for GT-3; at least the one closest to approval appeared largely ineffective for genotype 3 in trial. Still, I’d discuss these with your doctor, and get his/her take on them.

Without more data, it appears that if you’re now cirrhotic, it’s still compensated disease. This suggests that additional therapy might be possible, whereas with more advanced cirrhosis, this might not be feasible. Any thoughts on perusing more treatment, perhaps using a different tact?

Good luck; let us know how the CT results are, and also what becomes of the follow up with the GI or hepatologist follow up.

Take care,

--Bill

[rjv2]

Thank you Bill. I found your response to be informative and helpful.  I got the results from my ultrasound. Impression: Echogenic appearance of the liver. Findings suggestionCirrhosis.(not new news!) My spleen is not enlarged. No ascites seen. It did say there is extrahepatic dilatationof the common bile duct prob from my cholsecystectomy (Gall bladder removal), age and upon doing a little research, I found this can alsobe caused by opiates. As I mentioned, I've been on pain management.  I'll get the results of my abd. ct scan tomorrow.  I did not get cirrhosis from alcohol. I received a blood transfusion in 1985, contracted hep c as a result, which in turn progressed to cirrhosis.  I've had endoscopy, labs , and reg follow up appts.  I've had the AFP and it was within normal limits. It's time for another one.  

[Bill1954]

Hi there,

If you scroll down a bit, you’ll see a box just below this message. You can type a reply in the text box, hit the green ‘post comment’ button, and it should attach it to the thread. This is a good one to play with; go ahead, and try it here.

Welcome to the discussion group,

Bill