Questions I should ask my Liver Specialist

[pauljorofino]

I am 70 years old and was just told by my doctor that my viral load blood test for Hep C just came back positive. I was given an RX for blood work for a possible Kidney problem and took it upon myself to "check" the box to include checking for Hep C. Thank God I did because it came back "Reactive". I then was then given a viral load blood test which came back positive. This is the first time I have been tested for this. I have an appointment with a Liver Specialist next week and would like to know what questions you all might suggest that i ask him.  I have no idea how long I have had this or how i may have gotten it.  I did share a needle once about 35 years ago.  Other than that, I have no idea how i may have contracted it. I have an appointment with a Liver Specialist next week.  I would really like to know how long I have had this virus.  Any suggestions as to what questions I should ask the Liver specialist would be deeply appreciated.  Thank you all so much for this forum.

Paul

[Advocate1955]

I agree with the others above.  You will need further blood work to determine what genotype of Hep C you have and what your viral load is.  Then your liver specialist will want to to do a liver biopsy and possibly an ultrasound or a CT scan of your liver to determine how much, if any, liver damage you have.  From there your specialist will guide you in your options regarding whether or not to treat and how.
Advocate 1955

[willbb]

You may want to inquire of the specialist what his/her experience is with treating patients with HCV at the age of 70.These meds can be very harsh for some and clinicians need to be very aware of  of exacerbating other health related issues .(.ie heart ,kidney problems etc.)
Good luck and welcome..
Will

[printze]

Sharing the needle gave it to you , now you need to get liver biopsy and further testing to see the damage and discuss outcome with a liver specialist . Good luck

[Bill1954]

Hi Paul, and welcome to the discussion group. Sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis; it comes as a bit of shock to many of us.

There aren’t any diagnostic tests to determine when we might have contracted the virus; most doctors review patient history and apply guess-and-by-golly to review your most likely risk of exposure. If IV drug use occurred, they’ll probably use that instance, although most of us will never know for certain.

From here, you’ll need a ‘genotype’ test to determine the strain of HCV you contracted; this determines duration of therapy, as well as odds of successfully clearing the virus.

The urgency to undergo therapy is generally predicated by the amount of fibrosis (scarring) a patient has sustained over the course of their disease; this in turn is usually determined by needle biopsy of the liver.

If little fibrosis is present, a good case could be made to delay/postpone therapy in favor of better, more efficacious treatment modalities in the future. Some patients for whatever reason tend not to develop progressive liver disease. Others progress rather rapidly over short periods of time; the biopsy can yield valuable info in this regard.

Good luck, and feel free to continue to ask questions as they arise,

--Bill