worried

[tmo727]

Iam 27 years old and have had hep c for 9 years. I got the virus from intravenous drug use. I was a heroin addict for about 2 years and have been clean for about 8 years. i have drank heavily at times and sometimes daily.  I owned a bar which kept me drinking alot for about the last 2 years. I just sold it and have cut my drinking down to once every couple weeks.  i have had right upper abdominal pain for the last 6 months and iam going for a ultrasound saturday and blood tests. iam very worried. can anyone relate with me. I am also getting married in 4 months. just very concerned about everything.

[jmjm530]

Here is the study for "Win-R" that demonstrates that only stage 4 is consistent with a diminished chance of SVR. I've posted this study numerous times, and I could be wrong but practically certain that I posted it before in response to one of your posts similar to the one above. You and your doctor may not agree with the findings, but hopefully the next time you make these sorts of statements you will at least acknowledge the study to give people a better balanced viewpoint.

In conclusion, the authors write, “WBD of RBV is important to increase SVR in patients with more advanced stages of liver disease. However, overall only cirrhosis is a negative predictor of SVR when individual fibrosis stage and SVR is evaluated.”

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/2006icr/ddw/docs/052306_e.html

[granitekonig]

Hey man, I'm 32 and since I found out I had Hep C I've had 3 actual drinks in a 3 month period. I used to drink everyday - just a couple beers, nothing crazy.

- Don't drink.
- Go see your Dr.
- Find out what genotype you are
- Decide whether to treat now or later
- I decided to treat now and it's working great

Relax, you're young and you know about it NOW, which makes a HUGE difference. It's like see the crocodile a mile away starting to crawl toward you. Plenty of time to deal with it.

[nygirl7]

The Andromedae Strain that was my favorite book/movie when I was little :)

HepC is not the AS - I would assume someone who is concerned enough about the disease to look it up and find an internet forum would be one of the large population of people that do indeed respect the health and welfare of others and would take the minimal precautions that are needed to protect their loved one from infection.

Perhaps this person only recently found out that they had the disease.  They certainly konw when they were an IVDU and can assume that is when they got out the outset.

Certainly going from daily heroin and bouts of heavy drinking to someone who is now a mature person and drinks occasionally shouldn't be lumped in with the general alcoholic/addict you picture with a bottle of ripple in one hand and a syringe in the other laying in a ditch. People DO grow and change, thank GOD.

I have advocated no drinking and pro-treatment harder than just about anybody here. But to assume this person is in need of immediate treatment is absurd.  MANY people do have the capacity to wait for many more years until they "need" to treat if they do not choose to.  Not everyone is that freaked out by just having the virus and they choose instead to go by quality of life.  Quality of life something that for me was pretty well ruinned by chosing to treat. However I had no choice and had to (by my standards at stage 3).

Get the biopsy and liver enzymes and make an EDUCATED decision with a doctor. Remember not everybody on the internet is rational and some people are downright pedantic. (Word of the day, thanks JD much more fun than "insipid").

[nygirl7]

ps Worried - the ultrasound is good but will only tell you if you have tumors (or cancer stuff).  You DO need the needle biopsy to get a clear picture of how much damage you have.

[Andromedae]

You said:  "Actually, this is not accurate, and in fact study data suggests that those who were infected at a younger age actually have a better chance of SVR than those infected at an older age. So in these cases, the *longer* you've had the virus, the better your chances, not as you state."

I'm sorry but we seem to not be connecting.  I was talking about legnth of time of infection ie. how long the virus has actually been in your system.  Your statement above only refers to age at time of infection.  What you are talking about is something different then what I was saying Jim :)


You said "As to current health -- and I assume you're talking level of fibrosis "
No , I was talking about overall state of health.  The following articles refer to this as they indicate that things such as anemia, cholesterol levels, glucose levels and amount of virus in the blood all are indicators of the probability of success with current treatment.

http://www.hepctrust.org.uk/news/2008/News+From+AASLD+Liver+Conference+2008/AASLD+2008+-+IDEAL+Researchers+Look+at+Predictors+of+Response+to+Pegylated+Interferon+plus+Ribavirin.htm

http://www.natap.org/2006/HCV/080806_02.htm

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118744890/abstract

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112595705/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0


Thank you for posting the study indicating that stage 4 liver disease correlates to an decreased chance of successful treatment.  

There are many predictors of success or failure regarding current treatment - high glucose levels, high cholesterol levels,  high amounts of virus in the blood and stage 4 liver disease all are among the indicators of higher failure rates of treatment.  And all of them are things that HCV will cause to occur in the vast majority of people with the disease as it progresses.



.  

[jmjm530]

If you think about it, you will see that the "age of infection" thing translates with many of us into "length of time infected" which you have focused in on.

But that aside, there is nothing in the literature that suggests that the length of time infected impedes SVR.

As to the rest of what you posted, there is no reason to believe that one's health deteriorates because they hold off treatment, and in fact, the opposite could just as easily be the case, i.e. that someone's health improves during a "watch n' wait" period while living a liver healthy lifestyle. I could pick apart the rest of what you posted item-by-item but hey, I've got tendonitis, and possibly from treating!!! But here's one -- the viral load. Viral load does not necessarily increase as time goes by. It goes up and down for reasons known only to who knows who. My VL was 30 million plus three years before I treated. It then dropped down to around 100,000 a few months before I treated. Maybe you will explain to me how waiting the three years hurt me in terms of viral load :) I agree that there are many reasons to treat but just not some of the ones you mentioned.

-- Jim