I know someone who had Hep C from 1983 and was a very big drug user dhydrocodiene,temazepam,diazepam,heroin i mean bottles full of them dailly all full of chalk,they musta been battering his liver to shreds.Anyway 25years later he starts to swell up to 25stone from 17 stone n its all water they found out he had hep c and had had it atleast 25 years,the doc said he wouldnt last the night several times wen waiting on a transplant but always pulled through,then he got word there was a liver for him he is 6ft4 and as far as im aware the liver has to be of a similar size to the one he had he got his transplant in 2005 and is now healthy as a teenager no Hep in his body at all he got diabetes after his transplant and had it for 6months and that dissapeared i didnt believe him but seeing is believing he no longer uses insulin and iv saw his BBV results all neg,so miracles do happen in the medical world,so the lady who had it for 7.5 years then cleared may well be telling the truth.I also have a few friends who have had it and caught it early and its now gone because of the new treatments so there is always hope!
I really don't understand the purpose of your original post. Regardless of its veracity, it really makes no difference. As you say, it cannot be proved or disproved. It is all hearsay at best. There is no evidence or facts presented that could possibly provoke any additional understanding or discussion of the problems we deal with here. It is simply anecdote at best (and I do mean the very best).
Why did you post this question? Did you not consider that it might provoke irate responses from those who come here for information and dialog? I can't help but think this is why you you posted it.
Tell me I am wrong.
Respectfully,
Not irate, just curious, Walrus
Now I remember exactly why I don't post on the forum much anymore. Trying to clarify a thread with clear comments, and references to several studies turns into a misinterpretation, over-reaction, and personal exortations having more to do with various poster's points of view, or mistaken understanding of the terms and studies referenced. I have no horse in this race, and only wanted to clarify what the odds of SC are for most chronic carriers..(very slim)....where's the fire?
DD
There's no disagreement that spontaneous clearance (SC) does happen. We know stats for SC seem to range from 15%-30% post-exposure, but beyond that, it gets murky: what makes for spontaneous clearance, and more importantly, exactly WHEN it happens is still not well understood. Literature seems to support that >90% of spontaneous clearance happens within 6 months to 12 months from exposure (most of this data collected from people who are symptomatic during the acute phase) but it's the time frame really is conjecture rather than hard fact. Since most people don't know when they were infected, how do we really know when they cleared?
I think what most literature DOES point to is that the further out from 6 months after exposure, the less likelihood of spontaneous clearance. Those who become 'chronic' usually don't become undetectable just by cutting alcohol and drugs. However, just as there are rare cases of 're-activation' (guy posted recently here of his daughter's previous hcv svr now positive for vl after bone marrow transplant), there are surely rare cases of very delayed cases of spontaneous clearance. My thinking is the further out in time you go, the less likely more remarkable any SC -- if indeed there were well documented SC after 5 years attributed to nothing other than lifestyle changes, it would be a case not for casual conversation but for the medical journals.
Having read through this whole thread I have to respond as to why people might immediately object to claims of "spontaneous healings" - of any sort. Sure, they can happen. But here's the rub, people can tend to make it sound as if "you are doing something wrong" if you don't spontaneously heal. There's this very subtle judgement than can be felt coming through the "spontaneous healing rhetoric," and I think this is what puts people off.
On a personal note, I found out about my hep C just about this time 3 years ago. My sister insisted that if only I believed as she did, I too, would spontaneously heal as did so many people that she knew of. Her insistence was annoying and I finally asked her to leave me alone and we haven't spoken since. I'm sure if I respond to therapy and she hears about it she'll credit it to her divine intervention.
My two cents.
The Nov 19, 2010 02:48PM post by nygirl7 is absolutely spot on. It is the reason for the derision and 'irrationality' of responses. Claims such as these must be challenged and qualified every time. BTW nygirl7 and Tinity4 are goddesses :))
are you sure these folks didn't have Hep "A" or "B" ? Nutpea -- "couldnt take care of herself, turned yellow." and Blondie "...I did think her skin looked yellowish."
I bet if you check into this further it wouldn't be Hep C.
Anytime Trin...glad to be of service!
No fighting and spitting now folks!!
Ah yes, well thank you very much for your emotionally balanced and uplifting commentary.
Wow! This thread seems to really have everyone in an uproar...almost completely irrationally....I just don't get why all the back and forth, and 'sky is falling' comments. So big deal, someone claims they had a spontaneous clearance, and no one can prove whether it did or did not happen. So WHAT?? Everyone on this threadp is stating that Spontaneous Clearance of HCV, though it does sometimes happen (according to a host of studies), it is still very rare and unusual, and is NO REASON whatsoever to delay therapy. In fact for the very few chronic carriers who do eventually clear the virus, it may take decades for that to occur.
How can intelligent people latch onto a thread like this, which has no way to be validated, or disproven, and rant and rave about the veracity of persons who make the claim. And declare that the world is coming to an end because everyone considering treating will throw up their hands and wait for spontaneous clearance. I just don't get any of that from this thread. It comes across as just being a rare oddity, and something that the medical community is curious about, and mystified by. Its no reason to have an on-line melt down! Geez...maybe just let people say their piece, or make their claim, then follow up with a factual comment on the realities of spontaneous clearance. I start to wonder about the emotional balance that is exhibited on the forum sometimes. Though I guess some things don't change much.
DoubleDose
I've been totally clear about extreme rareness of this fact and also necessity of treatment,there is nothing irresponsible about that and i also agree with Willbb
thanks
Way Way waste of time!!
I don"t believe any of us have run to the garbage to throw our meds away since this post!!
Just my 1 cent!
Please it is best not to let new people think this happens often if at all - new people are pretty desperate when they are just diagnosed and willing to believe almost anything that sounds easier than having to do treatment. This is such a RARE occasion if it happened AT ALL that I'd hate to see someone wait to see if it could possibly happen to them. Out of the millions of people that have this disease the chance is better that you are going to win the lotto.
It's irresponsible to try to insist on this point when it could end up costing someone their life. I am glad you totally believe it but you dont have the disease so what does that mean?
I agree with Boobert and also this is an unnecessary waste of time.
ok i won't claim that i was a chronic hcv patient and spontaneously cleared unless i have a positive pcr test then a negative one, BUT i totally believe that chronic hcv patients can have spontaneous viral clearance based on these researches and others
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/About_Hepatitis_pdf/1.1.2_Training_Resources/hs-15.pdf
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/9/2012.pdf
http://www.hepcassoc.org/news/article164.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17565465
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16511757
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12436476
Oh believe me, if I could have I would have. I only did 24 weeks and that was enough for me.
Jez Denise you did treatment for no reason? How silly of you when you could have just prayed and gotten it to clear! ;)
I think this thread has got way to much attention. It's just BS!!
Hmmmmm, I quit about 10 years before I was even diagnosed
Denise
Oh and I think Blondie's whacko friend is exactly the same situation. Cutting back on alcohol or stopping completely sure isn't any reason why the virus would disappear. If that were the case everyone on this forum (that I know of) would be SVR because who is stupid enough to drink on treatment?
Yes only use one name before you get in trouble. I actually had NYgirl and NYgirl7 (I couldn't remember my password at home and it was obvious I wasn't pretending to be anybody other than me since I signed my posts Deb) and MH told me I had to have one disabled. Others have been banned - that's not what you want at all.
Anyway while I agree in the universe it could be possible to somehow spontaneously clear, I have to wonder how many cases of this were similar and were based on antibody test as well.
In this case with zero follow up on PCRs and only an ultrasound as some sort of proof of liver damage, I do not believe it is the case.
Many people misunderstand that a pos. antibody test is not a positive PCR how many times have we seen this in the past?
An astute observation. I'll add could there be two people on the forum that can't spell the word hospital ?
The manner in which the staging of the liver disease was done (if you can call it staging) does not accurately determine if chronic infection ever existed therefore I can't agree with any of the facts presented thus far. Like I said, this whole thing is based on one positive antibody test and that doesn't make it so.
By nutpea:The girl had no reason to even tell, me she had hep C..It was 5 yrs ago ,"
Couldn"t figure that out either, passed it off as just some riba confusion????