M 48 years old and I found out I had HepC March 1st. 2004, was a bit shocked but had a feeling, as I had 2 friends that I grew up with that were infected, as 15 year olds we tried intravenious drugs, the truth, is, I tried it maybe 4 times, made me sick everytime so decided it wasnt my cup of tea, and as I knew a few addicts and was afraid of becoming addicted,didnt stop me from geting infected though, it only takes once,I know a few others who HAVE to be infected as they did it with the same group, but of course since they have no symptoms they either refuse to believe it or would rather not quit drinking and bury thier heads in the sand. Thank God, by the time I was old enough to drink,I didnt do it to often, just socially, was never really one to sit around and drink at home, an ocassional glass of wine or a margeurita, but thats about it,my girlfriend on the other hand is an alcoholic and now has cirhossis, she still drinks,so I know shes not long for this world and theres nothing I can do, Ive tried and so has her family.
Anyway, I was pretty much symptom free,and when she came down with it, we thought it might be from accupuncture since she did alot of that, then out of the blue, one of the guys contacted me after not hearing from him in about 10 years, he just wanted to get in touch, these are people Ive known since probably 1st. grade, I was glad to hear from him and as we talked he told me he had been diagnosed with hepC about a year and a half previously, his body is covered in tattoos, so there again, figured it was from that,he told me alot about the disease and I told him maybe I should get tested since him and our other friend had it, could it really be just a coincidence? I told him that at my next physical I would get tested, so there you go,I really believe God played a roll in him contactng me after all theses years, so that I could take care of myself, I have 2 sons, 16 and 19,my husband and I have a good life,and I am thankful I found out, my biggest fear was that my husband would be infected too, as he told me that once he did try intravenious drugs with those same people, but only once,but he was tested negative, both my boys have finally tested and they are both negative,thank you GOD!,but the research began immediately, my friend Tom did do the interferon therapy and failed, he was 1st stage fibrosis, sides were rough for him but manageable, he was also laid off at that time and on his wifes insurance, he said though he would have had a hard time trying to work during that period, he thought I should try the therapy,He says he would do it again and is now trying for the infergen therappy,( crazy man ) Im a 1a/b my viral load was 807,000, my ast is 28 and my alt 63, last checked in September,biopsy came back with minimal damage,I really dont have many symptoms, a little arthiritic but that could just be plain old arthiritis as it does run in my family, my pcp referred me to a gastro/hep, who Im comfortable with and has never tried to push me into treatment, he was very upfront and told me about treatment an
d that I should do alot of researh before making my decision, I decided i would NOT put that poison in my body unless I HAD to, I know theres a chance I could be cured and do fine on the treatment, but Im not willing to take the chance of living in misery and coming out worst than when I started, my friend Tom suggested liversupport for Milk thistle and my gastro agreed that he cnat say that it would help but it could and it certainly wouldnt hurt,
He said he had a patient who has his own regimen
and has showed much improvement, I feel lucky that my pcp, gyno and my liver Dr. are all pretty open to alternative therapies,Ive questioned them all about it,my gyno says he thinks there is alot to be offered thru herbs and vitamins, but that they dont do enough research on it and wont until they know they can make a buck and I feel the same way, so i did visit your site and I of course buy my milk thistle thru you,I have a vitamin regimen of vit.c, e, and B complex, along with selenium off and on and alpha lipoic acid off and on,( Im still experimenting )Im not so scared anymore,as most arnt once they realize they CAN live with this, and I believe the therapy has come along way in the past 5 years and will only get better, Ill wait as long as I can before I try the "cure", I would love to have a drink every now and then, like when I go to any social gatherings, but of course I wont,my husband, family friends, and work has been totally supportive, and I count myself really lucky, my work even told me that IF I decided to do treatment, not to worry, I could work any hours I choose, if i could only work 1 or 2 days or just a few hours, whatever, I have to say, they really took a burden off of my shoulders, I feel blessed, I visit alot of hepc boards and try to be as helpful as I can to others as I know how scary a new diagnosis can be, and it helps me too, I have made some really good friends, along the way I see that some people have NO idea that they can put off treatment if thier liver isnt in to bad of shape and they arnt suffering, alot of people think they have no choice but to treat, I try to tell them otherwise,to do the research and make thier decision from there, many people go into treatment immediately after diagnosis, like after thier 1st. visit with thier Dr. which I find appalling, I feel thier Dr's dont give them much choice. I know alot of people who treat think people who dont are crazy, and they say really ignorant things like
"it will eventually kill you" ignorance runs rampant with this disease, and I try to educated everyone I tell, most people are very interested
to know what its all about, the governement really needs to step up on this and educate the public aliong with searching for a better cure, like with AIDS, I hope to see this happen soon.