Hepatitis C?

I have just been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, type 2b. First of all, I don't know how in the world I got it; and I am reluctant to consider the standard treatments for it. I hear it makes you sick. What happens if I just try to take care of my health, eat the right foods, get plenty of rest, all healthy stuff, and leave off the treatment?

Hepatitis C?
hepatitis C..your genotype is 2b...your chances with conventional medicine to clear are 80% going into treatment. You treatment with conventional meds is ONLY 24 weeks because of the strain of your virus.





www.beincharge.com %26lt; scheing phamacuticles website





HCV is called the 'silent killer'...depending on what 'stage your liver is'...(did you have a biopsy) than only YOU can make the choice that works well with you.





I was diagnoised in '94 w/a stage 2 liver


Eleven years later my second biopsy showed stage 3





That was with ME taking EXTRA care with my liver.





It makes NO diffence where you got it..just that you do not ignore it!





EDIT::: Dr. David is WRONG..HCV infected people CAN donate their organs. If your a doc..which I question...than you would KNOW liver donations from a HCV+ person is called


'advanced criterer livers'...





I did TWO classes for two different people in two different states as a TP caregiver..you dude are giving BAD INFO





HCV Advocate~2yr SVR = sustained viral responder


the medicine worked for me
Reply:This is just a guess, but as to the etiology, it is almost always illicit behavior, such as IV drugs, snorting drugs, tatoos or body piercing. HCV is not sexually transmitted very well at all. HCV is not influenced by diet or exercise. ALL hepatitis is made worse by alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and marijuana, as these worsen the scarring and increase the risk of liver cancer. 2b is the easist to cure, only takes 24 weeks of treatment with almost a 90% chance of cure. I would advise therapy. You can never donate blood or organs, even if you are cured. Go at least get vaccinated for hepatitis A and B.
Reply:Where to begin.





First off, this is a decision you absolutely must make with a knowledgable healthcare provider. For anyone on Y!A to even hint that you should or should not go on treatment for Hep C is absolutely unthinkable.





You will be glad to hear that your particular strain of Hep C is one of the most easily treatable and only requires a 24 week treatment (vs 48weeks for some other strains). It also has a success rate around 80% (depending on some factors)





Yes, the Hep C treatment can make you feel very sick. But it can cure you of your infection. Chronic HCV infection is a very slow moving infection, but it can have serious consequences (liver failure, liver cancer, hepatic encephalopathy/brain degeneration, ascites, bleeding varicose veins of the esophagus, and of course malaise, nausea, abdominal pain, ........and on and on.). It is also the leading indicator for liver transplants.....all of which can be avoided if the HCV treatment is successful!





The younger you are the more likely the treatment will work, the older you are the more likely your disease will progress.





I don't mean to frighten you, but the decision to treat or not to treat must be an informed one. Please make an appointment with your HCV healthcare provider to dicsuss this, and don't rely on Y!A for this very important decision.
Reply:My husband has had Hep C for a little over 40 years. If your liver does not have much damage and you take good care of yourself...not doing hard drugs, too much Tylenol and those sort of drugs, and not drink alcohol, you can live a very long normal life. You don't have to have the treatment. My husband just started treatment after all these years. It has finally come to a point where the treatment has up to 90% chance of actually helping the patient. Even when you have successful treatment and it lowers the viral load to 0, you have a chance of it coming back. Severe illness and extreme stress can make it reoccur. There is no cure. I have met people in our education classes that are having a reoccurance. Just take good care of your self. Read the labels on over the counter drugs. Beware of herbal medicines because many are very hard on the liver. Just because they are herbal does not mean they are safe. Don't drink. You can live a long time and not even know you have it. It's called the silent disease because millions of people have it and don't know it. It can be passed by sharing needles, tattoos, piercings, using the personal hygine items of infected people. It is a blood to blood transmission. It is only sexually transmitted if it is rough sex and there is blood involved with both people. A womans menstrual blood can pass it to a man if he has any kind of open wound or open pimple on his penis. Don't listen to those that will tell you it is passed by bodily fluid. They are getting type C confused with type B
Reply:Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones whom it never bothers.Eat healthy avoid all alcoholic beverages,exercise and enjoy life.I was diagnosed with cronic hep C in 1998.I chose to forgo treatment, mostly due to the cost and it's overall success rate.The drugs to treat it have improved greatly since then but I still choose a healthy life style and yearly liver function panels to let me know how I'm doing. I am in good health and as long as I take care of myself my doctor tells me I can live another 40 years. I'm 47 now so it sounds good to me.Weigh your options and choose for yourself-don't let the doctors and drug company's rule your life.I am a married female and have NOT passed it on to my husband during sex.It is a very low risk to pass that way.I got mine from a transfusion in 1986-so I know where mine came form but that didn't make it any easier to live with for the first 5 years or so I was constantly thinking about dieing -now All I think about is living to see my grand children grow up.Best of luck and a long healthy life to you.
Reply:Hep C is pretty serious business. Depending on if you have the acute case or the chronic case, you can have pretty severe outcome.





Your liver makes a lot of the stuff that helps your body work, Hep C or any of the Hep's really, cause your liver to stop working, get inflammed.





I would definitly pursue the treatment route. I know it might suck dealing with the medications and other side effects, but its better than dying from liver failure.





I also suggest if you truely don't know how you could have gotten it and believe it's an error, have them redraw your blood and retest that sample.





Best of luck