Firthly, thank you to any person whom care to share or respond to my (VERY FIRST) forum posting, anywhere on the Net (and I am a Tech Spec with 25 yrs exp!). That said..............
I am a 44 yr old Male with HIV, being infected in 1989, and newly diagnosed Hep C (Oct/Nov '06), ala coinfection. I have been on Anti Retro-Virals for approx 3.5 years, and between those meds I take firstly and for the primary maladies and then the meds to offset the varying side-effects, I am currently running into 20+ substances/prescriptions going into or onto me.
I have rebounded in my CD 4 from the mid hundreds to in excess of 1,100 and a CD8/RNA of newly again undetectable, down from 56,000. (I did have a 500,000+ a few years ago and almost died).
I have had Hep A and B. I am Chronic in all maladies I have ever come into contact with, Sinus, HIV, Liver, MRSA, etc.
My HIV Specialist has been advised by the "specialist" in their/my Cooperative that albeit my partner and I are coinfected, he apparently gave it to me, and we know for sure the infection(s) came in somewhere between Sept/Oct, there has not been enough time to determine Chronic Hep C status. And as such, they are asking me to not be insistant in beginning Interferon and/or other treatments immediately, as I desire.
I have Hep C3A, with a couple hundred thousand on the viral load (hep viral load). I am now approx into my 4 months of infection. Ironically, I had been complaining in early October that I felt unwell and had a multitude of symptoms/problems and inquired accordingly. Over the course of 2 months, they had yet to ascertain what was wrong with me. I had no less than 25 tests - which is not abnormal for them or me (I get blood draws almost every week it seems). They did everything other than test for Hep C, as I had just had my most recent test (I used to test proactively). In November, because my partner tested positive, I asked to be tested, voila - the answer to all the other tests appeared!!!!!!!!!
I have effected my Due Diligence and find that almost hands down, checking John Hopkins, CDC, NIH, AMA, BMA, Lifelong, Poz, and all the other assorted resources strongly sddress the benefit(s) and/or need to incept treatment at the earliest possible opportunity.
I don't want to wait for another couple months, knowing that most likely I will surely test out chronic - as I have with everything else - and then start treatment in the spring, rolling into summer and nearly to my Birthday and the Holidays at Years End, instead of now, and getting down in time for a real Summer. (I have been ill for every Summer and Birthday/Holiday Season for 4+ years now - Quality of Life!!!!!!!!!!)
Any Ideas, input, et al? Thanks for reading this lengthy oration.
Cheers and HAPPY NEW YEARS. Shayne/.