Ditto to Rev's observation; that's a great web-site. Thanks, Soleus.
Make sure to always read the dates of individual articles, as with all reading about HCV.
Wow, Oreos, you're really in the countdown! We've got a seat waiting for you on the SVR bus. One more week... Time to make a sign to post next week on the fridge: "No more needles, no more shots, no more sx or big red spots."
Maj Neni
The AST and ALT measure your liver enzymes and indicates how hard the liver is working. The gold standard for knowing the condition of your liver is a biopsy. From there, discuss the options with your Dr. (to treat or not to treat). The biopsy sounds scary, but it's really a piece of cake. I've had two.
FYI, I'm a 1A on week 47/48 of Pegasys/Copeg tx. Undetectable at 4 weeks. Started out with vl 264,000, but level 3 fibrosis. Had HCV for 20 some odd years.
Good luck and you have lots of folks here pulling for you : )
Your results are almost identical to mine. It means your going to be on treatment for HCV sometime soon. Welcome. How about I just point you to a good web site that can answer some of your questions for now,
http://www.epidemic.org/contents.html
Unfortunately, it means that if you plan to fight the disease you have to do 48 weeks of tx (treatment) instead of 24 like types 2 and 3 do. Your viral load is pretty high - 6,330,000 - so you will want a drop to at least 63,000, a 2 log drop, by week 12 of tx, preferably undetectable by then. Have you had a bx (biopsy) yet? It is more important to know how much damage you have as opposed to viral load. Neither, however, is a commplete predictor of how well you will respond, but low is better. You are just beginning this trip and will learn lots here and we will help you get through it. If you stick around, you will also help others. I've been clear over a year post-tx, was a 1b, and could not have made it without the support I got here. Take a deep breath, let it out, and get ready to fight!!