Aa
Don't know what bloodwork results mean, cannot get in touch with doctor, he's onvacation
I just learned i have hepaatitis 2 b. What does the b mean? Also my numbers for my viral load are as follows:
HCV RNA PCR QUANT - log iu/ml 6.88 hF......REF RANGE IS less thaqn 1.63
MY AST/SGOT is 46H...ref range 8.42, ALT SGPT 47...ReF Range 7.40
ALSO, my HCV RNA PCR QUANT IU/ML is 75,561,418 HIGH ref range less than 43.
I'm afraid to death. I have no family,l no support system. How bad are my numbers? Can you please answer at your earliest convenience as I don't know how I'm gonna get through this day. Also, for pain, I've been taking narco 10 for maybe 2 month and then narco 5 for the same time iperiod. They each have 325 mgs of tylenol in them. COuld this be why my viral load is so high? Should I start interferon Rx soon or maybe wait till I'm off the tylenol awhile and get retested?
Please help, today is Saturday, May 22, 2010. Do you think i'll need a liver biopsy? I know I'm asking alot ofyou,Doctor but i don't know where to turn. Labs and hospitals won't give out information. Thank and God bless you. Cindy H.
And yes, I am an addict, but I swear to you I used a needle once in my life in 2005. Never again. Someone had to do it for me,I'm terrified of needles. What a high price to pay for doing something, I swear, once. Thanks again.
This discussion is related to Hep C w/cirrhosis .
HCV RNA PCR QUANT - log iu/ml 6.88 hF......REF RANGE IS less thaqn 1.63
MY AST/SGOT is 46H...ref range 8.42, ALT SGPT 47...ReF Range 7.40
ALSO, my HCV RNA PCR QUANT IU/ML is 75,561,418 HIGH ref range less than 43.
I'm afraid to death. I have no family,l no support system. How bad are my numbers? Can you please answer at your earliest convenience as I don't know how I'm gonna get through this day. Also, for pain, I've been taking narco 10 for maybe 2 month and then narco 5 for the same time iperiod. They each have 325 mgs of tylenol in them. COuld this be why my viral load is so high? Should I start interferon Rx soon or maybe wait till I'm off the tylenol awhile and get retested?
Please help, today is Saturday, May 22, 2010. Do you think i'll need a liver biopsy? I know I'm asking alot ofyou,Doctor but i don't know where to turn. Labs and hospitals won't give out information. Thank and God bless you. Cindy H.
And yes, I am an addict, but I swear to you I used a needle once in my life in 2005. Never again. Someone had to do it for me,I'm terrified of needles. What a high price to pay for doing something, I swear, once. Thanks again.
This discussion is related to Hep C w/cirrhosis .
I'll try to answer your questions Cindy
I'm a genotype 1a and underwent treatment from 3-08 to 8-09. I did an extended treatment because I was what is called a slow responder. I did not clear the virus at 12 weeks so extending treatment from 48 wks to 72 wks can increase the odds of achieving SVR (sustained virological response or cure. Unfortunately, it did not happen for me so I am waiting for the newer drugs (PI's or protease inhibitors) to be released sometime next year. Hopefully, I can treat for less time with greater odds of SVR
Treatment was tolerable. I worked the entire time but I had some side effects like extreme fatigue and Neutropenia (low white count). I was on Neupogen through much of my treatment to keep my white count at an acceptable level and that medication comes with it's own set of unpleasant side effects.
Everyone reacts differently to treatment so if you do treat you can't base how you will react on what you hear. Some breeze through it and others have debilitating side effects. You won't know until you treat.
I lost about 1/3 or my hair. No one else could tell except me and I cut it short to give the illusion of more fullness. I lost about 18 lbs but have gained some of it back and my hair has grown in nicely too.
Medicare part D will cover your meds up to the donut hole or gap. Not sure what amount is out of pocket between the two but then the catastrophic coverage kicks in and pays up to 95% I think. I will provide a link to Merck/Schering Pough Patient Assist Program which will help with the cost of medications. Bill1954 will probably chime in and knows more about how this works than I do.
One step at a time. Figure out your options and go forward.
You're going to be fine.
Trinity
http://www.merck.com/merckhelps/patientassistance/home.html
I'm a genotype 1a and underwent treatment from 3-08 to 8-09. I did an extended treatment because I was what is called a slow responder. I did not clear the virus at 12 weeks so extending treatment from 48 wks to 72 wks can increase the odds of achieving SVR (sustained virological response or cure. Unfortunately, it did not happen for me so I am waiting for the newer drugs (PI's or protease inhibitors) to be released sometime next year. Hopefully, I can treat for less time with greater odds of SVR
Treatment was tolerable. I worked the entire time but I had some side effects like extreme fatigue and Neutropenia (low white count). I was on Neupogen through much of my treatment to keep my white count at an acceptable level and that medication comes with it's own set of unpleasant side effects.
Everyone reacts differently to treatment so if you do treat you can't base how you will react on what you hear. Some breeze through it and others have debilitating side effects. You won't know until you treat.
I lost about 1/3 or my hair. No one else could tell except me and I cut it short to give the illusion of more fullness. I lost about 18 lbs but have gained some of it back and my hair has grown in nicely too.
Medicare part D will cover your meds up to the donut hole or gap. Not sure what amount is out of pocket between the two but then the catastrophic coverage kicks in and pays up to 95% I think. I will provide a link to Merck/Schering Pough Patient Assist Program which will help with the cost of medications. Bill1954 will probably chime in and knows more about how this works than I do.
One step at a time. Figure out your options and go forward.
You're going to be fine.
Trinity
http://www.merck.com/merckhelps/patientassistance/home.html
Hi Cindy,
Yes, I did three years of interferon treatment, and was finally successful in mid 2008. I no longer have Hep C. Everyone is affected by treatment differently; I tolerated it reasonably well, with fatigue being my biggest complaint. If you need to do interferon, it should only require 24 weeks to treat successfully.
Cindy, viral load isn’t much of a factor in terms of HCV progression. It becomes useful when treatment begins, and then primarily as a guide to response, to see how fast you’re clearing the disease. It doesn’t necessarily correlate with the scarring, or fibrosis that marks advancing disease. For instance, I never had a viral load in excess of 150,000; but had stage 3-4 disease. Others in here have reported viral load greater than 75 million with very little disease progression and they treated the bug successfully.
I’m not clear about Seroquel and how it might affect HCV, but the rest of the drugs are prescribed quit commonly to HCV patients. I wouldn’t worry too much about any of that right now; you can discuss it later with your doctor. If you drink alcohol, though; I’d give that a rest until talking with the doctor… it can potentate the virus, as well as fibrosis. I was prescribed xanax for years as part of my HCV treatment, by the way; with no lasting ill effects.
A good overview of this disease can be found at Janis and Friends; I’ll link you to their page for newly diagnosed:
http://janis7hepc.com/have_you_been_just_diagnosed.htm
Be sure to bookmark this page, and also look through the section ‘other HCV information’, located in the right hand margin of the home page.
Commitment to Care is provided by one of the manufacturers of interferon… the nurse there can be helpful for general information.
Yes, interferon therapy can cause some of us to loose hair; it can turn this mousy gray color, and some of us lose 50% or so. It thins out; it doesn’t fall out in clumps or anything. Other people won’t notice too much; it’s most apparent to the patient.
Good luck; stick around and ask questions as you go forward,
Bill
Yes, I did three years of interferon treatment, and was finally successful in mid 2008. I no longer have Hep C. Everyone is affected by treatment differently; I tolerated it reasonably well, with fatigue being my biggest complaint. If you need to do interferon, it should only require 24 weeks to treat successfully.
Cindy, viral load isn’t much of a factor in terms of HCV progression. It becomes useful when treatment begins, and then primarily as a guide to response, to see how fast you’re clearing the disease. It doesn’t necessarily correlate with the scarring, or fibrosis that marks advancing disease. For instance, I never had a viral load in excess of 150,000; but had stage 3-4 disease. Others in here have reported viral load greater than 75 million with very little disease progression and they treated the bug successfully.
I’m not clear about Seroquel and how it might affect HCV, but the rest of the drugs are prescribed quit commonly to HCV patients. I wouldn’t worry too much about any of that right now; you can discuss it later with your doctor. If you drink alcohol, though; I’d give that a rest until talking with the doctor… it can potentate the virus, as well as fibrosis. I was prescribed xanax for years as part of my HCV treatment, by the way; with no lasting ill effects.
A good overview of this disease can be found at Janis and Friends; I’ll link you to their page for newly diagnosed:
http://janis7hepc.com/have_you_been_just_diagnosed.htm
Be sure to bookmark this page, and also look through the section ‘other HCV information’, located in the right hand margin of the home page.
Commitment to Care is provided by one of the manufacturers of interferon… the nurse there can be helpful for general information.
Yes, interferon therapy can cause some of us to loose hair; it can turn this mousy gray color, and some of us lose 50% or so. It thins out; it doesn’t fall out in clumps or anything. Other people won’t notice too much; it’s most apparent to the patient.
Good luck; stick around and ask questions as you go forward,
Bill
Sorry to be a bother,but I remembered this when i wrote back to bill.. I found on the internet a website maybe a month ago where you can talk to a hepatitis nurse counselor who can answer questions (just not about bloodwork #s) and be there for you while you undergo treatment. It's called the Be in Charge program and at first you leave a message but they do get back to you by phone rather quickly. The toll free # is 1-888-437-2608. I don't know, but may be this will be a help to you. THank you again. And thanks for the website. Rite Aid has hair color on sale. (I'm gonna be 50 in august, happy friggin birthday to me, huh!!!). I have to change my outlook on life. Negativity breeds negativity and I think when a person is ill,iti's best that they have a good attitude/outlook. You and Bill gave me some of that and I thank you but I wanna get this hair dye cause it goes off sale today and dye my hair while i still have hair to dye. (not funny, huh?) When I get back i"m gonna go to the website you suggested. May I ask when you learned you have hepatitis? I'm only asking becauae you seem so knowledgeable. I'm forgetful, please forgive, but do you know what makes a viral load so high? I'm gonna search the web (i wonder about this milk thistle that they're advertising on different hep c sites),not as a treatment, just in conjunction with treatment. Well, i'm gonna try Monday to get a Doctor's appointment. WHere I go now is just a residency program and I'm not going to let them treat me. I want a specialist. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and again, thank you and God bless. Cindy
Hi Bill and as with Trinity,thank you so very much for posting a response so quickly. You canread what i wrote to trinity if you like. Just posted it. Do you know what would make a viral load so high? I take other meds besides the narco which I'm basically off of with only mild withdrawl symptoms. I take seroquel for bi-polar (which is to be taken cautiously with people with hep c), xanax x 3/day 1 mg for panic attacks and very rarely, and I can't think of the name of it, oh, Ambien for sleep. I've had a very hard timesleeping since mid january.
And the funny, not really, part of it is that my dr. knows about the hep c. Are you currently under treatment? If so is it helping and as I i asked Tiffany,is it as brutal as everyone says? Oh,I found this website, again I have to keep track of them, maybe a month ago where you can call and a nurse counselor educated in hep c will talk to you (she knows nothing about bloodwork #s only said that type 2 is the better one to havee. You can call if you like, theyo're there to help you,like I said with questions and to help you through treatment. It's called the Be in Charge program, the nurse I spoke w/is Cheryl but they have other nurses and the phone number is 1-888-437-2608. THank you for posting to me, you and Trinity have both made me feel a bit better and not so alone. God bles you also. Cindy
And the funny, not really, part of it is that my dr. knows about the hep c. Are you currently under treatment? If so is it helping and as I i asked Tiffany,is it as brutal as everyone says? Oh,I found this website, again I have to keep track of them, maybe a month ago where you can call and a nurse counselor educated in hep c will talk to you (she knows nothing about bloodwork #s only said that type 2 is the better one to havee. You can call if you like, theyo're there to help you,like I said with questions and to help you through treatment. It's called the Be in Charge program, the nurse I spoke w/is Cheryl but they have other nurses and the phone number is 1-888-437-2608. THank you for posting to me, you and Trinity have both made me feel a bit better and not so alone. God bles you also. Cindy
Oh my God, I can'lt believe anyone would write back to me so quickly. Thank you so much!
Did you undergo/are you undergoing interferon/ribavin therapy? Is it as wicked as they say it is? Does your hair really fall out? I just really freaked out when I saw my viral load is so very high. And I am going to go to a gasteroenteroligist (spelling??) or hepatologist, whoever Ican find in my area that takes Medicare. Do you know anything about the cost of the medication? I have medicare part d (RX coverage but it doesn't pay the whole expense). Welllk, I could call my insurace company...i'm just really jumping the gun, I guess. I have a doctor's appt on the 28th of may to be vacinnated against hep a and hep b. Do you believe I had to find out about the genotype,viral load tesitng on my own? The m.d. I go to never suggested/recommended it or even told me it existed. I don't really trust Doctors. I just read on another hep c website (just don't know what one, i have to start writing down the sites and taking notes so I;ll be better educated b4 I see a Specialist. They talked about peginterferon alfa-2a )PEGASYS) therapy only.. No interferon/riblavin. Are you currrently under treatment? If so, how are you doing? I'll be sure to go on this site everyday. And if i find any helpful info, I'll keep you informed but as it stands you seem to know an awful lot about hep c and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for you sharing and caring enough to share your knowledge with me. talk to you again. God bless you. Sincerely, cindy
Did you undergo/are you undergoing interferon/ribavin therapy? Is it as wicked as they say it is? Does your hair really fall out? I just really freaked out when I saw my viral load is so very high. And I am going to go to a gasteroenteroligist (spelling??) or hepatologist, whoever Ican find in my area that takes Medicare. Do you know anything about the cost of the medication? I have medicare part d (RX coverage but it doesn't pay the whole expense). Welllk, I could call my insurace company...i'm just really jumping the gun, I guess. I have a doctor's appt on the 28th of may to be vacinnated against hep a and hep b. Do you believe I had to find out about the genotype,viral load tesitng on my own? The m.d. I go to never suggested/recommended it or even told me it existed. I don't really trust Doctors. I just read on another hep c website (just don't know what one, i have to start writing down the sites and taking notes so I;ll be better educated b4 I see a Specialist. They talked about peginterferon alfa-2a )PEGASYS) therapy only.. No interferon/riblavin. Are you currrently under treatment? If so, how are you doing? I'll be sure to go on this site everyday. And if i find any helpful info, I'll keep you informed but as it stands you seem to know an awful lot about hep c and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for you sharing and caring enough to share your knowledge with me. talk to you again. God bless you. Sincerely, cindy
Hi Cindy,
Sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis. Yes, it appears you do have Hep C; however, genotype 2 is relatively easy to overcome with interferon/ribavirin. We are primarily patients in here; there aren’t any doctors present, just so you understand that.
It’s doubtful the norco you’re taking right now is having any significant effect on your HCV status, although you can discuss this with the doctor later, at your convenience.
Yes, they might offer a liver biopsy, especially if you intend to postpone therapy for your disease. If you’re going to undergo treatment regardless, it might not be necessary; genotype 2 responds so readily to therapy, for the most part.
There isn’t any rush to jump into any treatment; it’s probably better to learn a little about this first. This disease progression is typically measured in years and decades, not weeks or even months.
Welcome to the discussion group, by the way, and good luck—
Bill
Sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis. Yes, it appears you do have Hep C; however, genotype 2 is relatively easy to overcome with interferon/ribavirin. We are primarily patients in here; there aren’t any doctors present, just so you understand that.
It’s doubtful the norco you’re taking right now is having any significant effect on your HCV status, although you can discuss this with the doctor later, at your convenience.
Yes, they might offer a liver biopsy, especially if you intend to postpone therapy for your disease. If you’re going to undergo treatment regardless, it might not be necessary; genotype 2 responds so readily to therapy, for the most part.
There isn’t any rush to jump into any treatment; it’s probably better to learn a little about this first. This disease progression is typically measured in years and decades, not weeks or even months.
Welcome to the discussion group, by the way, and good luck—
Bill
Welcome to the discussion group. There are no doctors here, just patients.
Calm down and don't freak out. You aren't going to drop dead tomorrow, your testing and decision on how to move forward will take some time and nothing is going to change much over the course of a few months as far as endangering your health.
2b means you have genotype 2 with b being the subset as in 2a, 2b. Nobody wants to have hepc but being a geno 2 means you have a better chance of cure than those with genotype 1.
Some doctors do not feel biopsy is necessary with geno 2 because the course of treatment is 24 wks as opposed to 48 wks with geno 1 and the cure rate is around 80% as opposed to 45-50% with geno 1. I feel biopsy is necessary for everyone so that the exact health of our liver can be determined in order to make the decision whether treatment is necessary now or if you have time to wait.
Your viral load is high but it doesn't mean your liver is experiencing more damage then if it were low. It's just a number right now and if you choose to treat the viral load will play an important role in determining if you are responding well to treatment.
Your liver enzymes are slightly elevated which is to be expected with hepc. Additionally, you are using a narcotic with Tylenol which can increase the liver enzymes but has no bearing on the viral load per say. Those who have hepc should only take the recommended dosage of Tylenol because it can effect the liver adversely.
Make sure you're under the care of a good GI or hepatologist. You will probably need additional tests and once you have the results you and doctor can make the decision to treat with interferon and ribavirin, wait wait for the newer drugs due to arrive next year sometime or simply watch and wait if biopsy indicates there is little damage to the liver.
Educate yourself about hepc. The more you know, the better you'll feel. Here is a good website to start with:
http://www.janis7hepc.com/
Good Luck, there is method to all this madness and things will make more sense as you learn about your disease.
Trinity
Calm down and don't freak out. You aren't going to drop dead tomorrow, your testing and decision on how to move forward will take some time and nothing is going to change much over the course of a few months as far as endangering your health.
2b means you have genotype 2 with b being the subset as in 2a, 2b. Nobody wants to have hepc but being a geno 2 means you have a better chance of cure than those with genotype 1.
Some doctors do not feel biopsy is necessary with geno 2 because the course of treatment is 24 wks as opposed to 48 wks with geno 1 and the cure rate is around 80% as opposed to 45-50% with geno 1. I feel biopsy is necessary for everyone so that the exact health of our liver can be determined in order to make the decision whether treatment is necessary now or if you have time to wait.
Your viral load is high but it doesn't mean your liver is experiencing more damage then if it were low. It's just a number right now and if you choose to treat the viral load will play an important role in determining if you are responding well to treatment.
Your liver enzymes are slightly elevated which is to be expected with hepc. Additionally, you are using a narcotic with Tylenol which can increase the liver enzymes but has no bearing on the viral load per say. Those who have hepc should only take the recommended dosage of Tylenol because it can effect the liver adversely.
Make sure you're under the care of a good GI or hepatologist. You will probably need additional tests and once you have the results you and doctor can make the decision to treat with interferon and ribavirin, wait wait for the newer drugs due to arrive next year sometime or simply watch and wait if biopsy indicates there is little damage to the liver.
Educate yourself about hepc. The more you know, the better you'll feel. Here is a good website to start with:
http://www.janis7hepc.com/
Good Luck, there is method to all this madness and things will make more sense as you learn about your disease.
Trinity
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