Aa
Concern for kids and husband
Just found out I had Hep c. Kinda freaked out right now and not understanding how or when I could have contracted it. I had a blood test a year ago and it was fine. My doctor did say that I show no signs that my liver has been affected at all, so I guess that is a good sign. My concerns are can my kids or husband get it? I have read that passing it through sex is possible but vary rare. Is this true? I have been with my husband for 11 yrs and his blood work came back negative for hep c. What steps should I take for prevention for them? My doc also said since there are no signs of damage to my liver that the only thing to do now is have my blood work done bout every three months. He said I am dormant and that my body seems to be taking care of it for now. Any suggestions would be greatly apprecitated.
That's a good thought Pro. I had assumed (there's that word again) kerbar was given a HCV RNA by PCR therefore the diagnosis was conclusive. I still cringe every time I see someone post that the virus is dormant or the doctor told them not to worry because the virus is dormant.
Trinity
Trinity
ditto to the above comments. You need a better doctor.
Did you get a viral load test? That would tell you whether you have the vrus or just the antibodies. How about a test to determine Genotype?
There are a couple other websites : HCV Advocate, the old Janus7 website ( name is changed now but still a lot of good info.
I was married almost 30 years before I had found out I had contacted HCV 31 years before. My wife and 2 kids are both negative.
Did you get a viral load test? That would tell you whether you have the vrus or just the antibodies. How about a test to determine Genotype?
There are a couple other websites : HCV Advocate, the old Janus7 website ( name is changed now but still a lot of good info.
I was married almost 30 years before I had found out I had contacted HCV 31 years before. My wife and 2 kids are both negative.
"Just found out I had Hep c" -What exactly did your doctor say, did he say you "had" or "have" Hep C? What type of blood tests did you have done? There is a huge difference in what these tests look for. Perhaps by "dormant" your doc ment you had been exposed and tested positve for antibodies?-big difference between antibodies and an active viral infection. I think you need to clarify what your test results were, before jumping to conclusions.
just a thought
just a thought
gastroenterologist - they specialize in disotders of the digestive system. Do you live in a remote area? How far away from a major city are you?
Hi -
I was newly diagnosed this summer and like you, know absolutely that I somehow contracted it through an unknown source in the past 10 months - ish. My heptologist wanted to delay treating to see if I would clear on my own. While my viral load is just 52, it is still a viral load and he feels it is prudent to go after it while it is most vunerable, and while I have the best chance of beating it in a shorter period of time. I was checked and have no liver involvement at all, but they never used the word "dormant." They said "benign," meaning I have the virus, but have no damage and minimal viral load. For me, being or having recently been acute, and there's discrepancies how long you can be acute, it is not advantageous for me to wait for new drugs. The better "cure" rate for me is to deal with it sooner than later.
From what I have read here, there are many different thoughts about when to treat. All I can say is, I gambled and lost, but there was no harm done and I am still in a very good place to eradicate the hepatitis. I agree with Deb though, that it is essential to hook up with a teaching hospital or a good liver specialist who will guide you in the right direction.
Good luck to you
I was newly diagnosed this summer and like you, know absolutely that I somehow contracted it through an unknown source in the past 10 months - ish. My heptologist wanted to delay treating to see if I would clear on my own. While my viral load is just 52, it is still a viral load and he feels it is prudent to go after it while it is most vunerable, and while I have the best chance of beating it in a shorter period of time. I was checked and have no liver involvement at all, but they never used the word "dormant." They said "benign," meaning I have the virus, but have no damage and minimal viral load. For me, being or having recently been acute, and there's discrepancies how long you can be acute, it is not advantageous for me to wait for new drugs. The better "cure" rate for me is to deal with it sooner than later.
From what I have read here, there are many different thoughts about when to treat. All I can say is, I gambled and lost, but there was no harm done and I am still in a very good place to eradicate the hepatitis. I agree with Deb though, that it is essential to hook up with a teaching hospital or a good liver specialist who will guide you in the right direction.
Good luck to you
I really wish doctors would stop using the term dormant when referring to hepc. The virus does not lay dormant in the body and then suddenly appear. If have have hepc you have active virus and with that can come liver damage. If you think you've only had hepc for a year then your doctor is probably correct about no liver damage yet. With most people, it generally takes a long time, years and years for the the virus to damage the liver.
Slightly elevated liver enzymes does not mean your liver is not coming under attack. It means there is little cell death happening to the liver at the time your blood work was taken. The possibility exists that you may have been infected for years so you really should see a specialist as in a GI who has treated many with hepc or a hepatologist.
Vertical transmission (mother to child) happens to about 5 percent of newborns. You can have your children tested, usually after about the age of 18 months.
Monogamous couples are not advised to change their sexual practices if a partner has hepc. You should not share personal items such as toothbrushes, nail clippers where blood transference may occur.
It freaks everyone out at first but the more you know the better off your are. My suggestion is to educate yourself about hepc, see a specialist and develop a strategy on how to move forward.
Trinity
Slightly elevated liver enzymes does not mean your liver is not coming under attack. It means there is little cell death happening to the liver at the time your blood work was taken. The possibility exists that you may have been infected for years so you really should see a specialist as in a GI who has treated many with hepc or a hepatologist.
Vertical transmission (mother to child) happens to about 5 percent of newborns. You can have your children tested, usually after about the age of 18 months.
Monogamous couples are not advised to change their sexual practices if a partner has hepc. You should not share personal items such as toothbrushes, nail clippers where blood transference may occur.
It freaks everyone out at first but the more you know the better off your are. My suggestion is to educate yourself about hepc, see a specialist and develop a strategy on how to move forward.
Trinity
Preferably you need a heptologist but if you aren't in a place where you can get to one of them you need a VERY Qualified GI doctor with a large thriving practice of hepc patients. Most all of the 'regular' doctors just know what was printed in books and have no idea of the VAST steps the medical community has recently made in regard to this disease.
Without a biopsy of any sort it is highly unlikely he has a clue what is going on with your liver. If he is looking only at your liver enzyme tests well they aren't conclusive as to what is happened yesterday or the day before only the day they were taken and they can change all of the time.
We go from stage 0 which would be no inflammation to stage 4 which is cirrhosis (and cirrhosis has it's own grading stage to determine how bad it is). Most people have no clue they have this disease until symptoms show and that is generally in the late stages of liver damage. Like I said I was diagnosed at stage 3 and had no idea about it until then.
Find a good doctor and find out exactly where you stand. It can take 20 years to get to stage 2 then take only a few years to get to stage 4. It's not something you can just ignore and hope will disappear but the good news is most people with die WITH the disease and not OF the disease.
You just to make sure you fall into the second class!
Without a biopsy of any sort it is highly unlikely he has a clue what is going on with your liver. If he is looking only at your liver enzyme tests well they aren't conclusive as to what is happened yesterday or the day before only the day they were taken and they can change all of the time.
We go from stage 0 which would be no inflammation to stage 4 which is cirrhosis (and cirrhosis has it's own grading stage to determine how bad it is). Most people have no clue they have this disease until symptoms show and that is generally in the late stages of liver damage. Like I said I was diagnosed at stage 3 and had no idea about it until then.
Find a good doctor and find out exactly where you stand. It can take 20 years to get to stage 2 then take only a few years to get to stage 4. It's not something you can just ignore and hope will disappear but the good news is most people with die WITH the disease and not OF the disease.
You just to make sure you fall into the second class!
Thank you for the imput. I don't know how he knows that there is no damage to my liver. All I have had done is blood tests. What kind of doctor do I need to see now? And what are the stages and the seriousness of them. I haven't had any symptoms whatsoever, so again I don't know what to expect.
I dont know what he would mean by dormant - you either have hepc or you dont, if you have it the virus is active, not 'dormant'. The only real way to know if you have liver damage is to have a biopsy done. You need to get a doctor that specializes in hepatitis because primary care doctors dont know anything about it at all most times.
Many times blood work comes up absolutely normal but unless you have been specifically tested for HCV you wont know you have it. I had no idea I had it over 20 years until I had some funky bloodwork finally come up and then insisted on being tested. I had no signs or symptoms in all the years I had the disease and by the time my biopsy was done I was stage 3 out of 4.
Not saying these things to cause you alarm but I really dont know how your doctor would know any of these things without the proper tests being done.
Prevention for your family dont share things like toothbrushes, nail clippers anything that could pass blood to blood infection because that is how you get the disease.
PS Most folks will never know exactly where, when or how they got this disease the only thing that is important is finding out you do have it so you can make sure to take care of it you need to.
Good luck.
Many times blood work comes up absolutely normal but unless you have been specifically tested for HCV you wont know you have it. I had no idea I had it over 20 years until I had some funky bloodwork finally come up and then insisted on being tested. I had no signs or symptoms in all the years I had the disease and by the time my biopsy was done I was stage 3 out of 4.
Not saying these things to cause you alarm but I really dont know how your doctor would know any of these things without the proper tests being done.
Prevention for your family dont share things like toothbrushes, nail clippers anything that could pass blood to blood infection because that is how you get the disease.
PS Most folks will never know exactly where, when or how they got this disease the only thing that is important is finding out you do have it so you can make sure to take care of it you need to.
Good luck.
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