Hep c

Hi Cabire, Welcome to Healing Well, Hepatitis Discussion Group.

We are a group of patients and caregivers who are dealing with liver diseases.

Your friend has a serious virus that is difficult to get rid of. Do you know the genotype? The different genotypes have different success rates with treatment.

Untreated, Hep C can lead to death, but the illness can cause no problems for many many years. My partner had it for 41 years before he needed a transplant.

Hep C causes the liver to fail slowly by causing cirrhosis of the liver. Stage 1 is the first phase, Stage 4 is the LAST phase. She doesn't want to progress to Stage 4 and go in to liver failure. The way to stop the progression of cirrhosis is to understand what is causing the progression. If she is drinking alcohol or doing drugs, she must STOP. NOW, completely. Alcohol causes cirrhosis to advance more quickly.

In some cases Hep C can lead to Heptocellular Carcinoma...a cancer in the liver. Not in every case, but some, and in my partner's case it did.

The treatment causes side effects, they are well documented on the Internet...google side effects and you can read all about it. But, as in cancer treatments, the cure can be tolerated, even if difficult if the result is a CURE from the death sentence that Hep C can be!!!!! However, some cannot tolerate the treatment. I can cause low blood counts and sever anemia. In those cases ,the doctors will stop the treatment and hope that healthy living will prolong life, or lead to a transplant.

Is she being seen by a Hepatologist? If not, please recommend a consultation. GI doctors can help at the early stages of this disease, but a REAL hepatologist is her best bet for carefully managing her symptoms....which can be fatigue, anemia, low platelets, varices in esophagus or stomach that can cause bleeding from mouth or rectum which are emergencies -- go to hospital), hepatic hypertention, heptatic encephalopathy, ascites in belly and legs, sepsis, coma, and death.

The symptoms are manageable with careful monitoring and strict compliance with medical regimes.

Good luck to you and your friend. Come often. Ask specific questions. Let us know more about her condition. therea re educational materials as the top of this forum, read them, they are very helpful.

MamaLama

Hi, Cabire, and welcome to the forum! I'm sorry that your friend is ill with hep C. However, her itchy eyes, swelling eyes and the pain and swelling in her wrists have nothing whatsoever to do with hep C. Her eye symptoms are probably caused by an allergy (maybe to dust?) and her wrists could have some arthritis or tendinitis or carpal tunnel.

As others mentioned, read the information in the folder at the top of the page entitled Hepatitis Resources. It explains liver disease and the progression of it.

All hep C treatment has side effects. It is like chemo. If your friend is genotype 1a or 1b, there is a brand new treatment available that employs 3 drugs. One of them, the protease inhibitor (Incivek or Victrelis) has really nasty side effects, but a high success rate in killing the virus (70-90%.)

I agree that she needs to be under the care of a hepatologist, if she isn't already.

Another good source of information about hep C is www.hepatitiscentral.com.

Hugs,
Connie

There is no treatment without side effects. That is the cost of possibly getting free of hep C. I say "possibly" because it doesn't work for everyone. However, Type 3 is much easier to treat than type 1. The other available treatment is interferon injections once a week with daily ribaviron orally. She shouldn't wait until 2015 to get treatment. And where did you get that date? There are new treatments currently in trials. Hopefully, some of them won't be as difficult to tolerate. But by the nature of treatment (which is like chemo) or any drug, there will be some possible side effects.

Hugs,
Connie

The tiredness is associated with her hep C. You can try gentle massage on her back with lotion or baby oil. Moist heat helps me when my neck or back acts up (not related to hep C.)

Hugs,
Connie

Only 20 to 25% of people with chronic hep c go on to develop cirrhosis. As it is impossible to tell who will develop cirrhosis and debilitating symptoms of hep c it is best to treat before your liver reaches stage three.

From the back/shoulder pain you describe, she could have gall stones. I just do not believe that her overall pain is from hep C. However, I would suggest that she see another doctor. Why does she have to wait until June? She will need some tests before starting treatment.

Hugs,
Connie

Is your friend (note spelling) seeing a hepatologist (liver specialist?) If not, she should be.

She should ask her doctor about prescription pain medication if her pain is that bad.

Hugs,
Connie