Hepatitis C Support Group

or from a tattoo..thats how i got it..
its normal to have a shock after your diagnosis...i was desperate too..but i have good doctor and good people around me and also u can get support from this site from people who are going through the same.

We all start out scared and confused! That is to be expected with something like this. I was initially very afraid of others finding out...but after reading this I rethought my position. Now I have a blog about my battle with Hep C and I tell everyone (but that is just me). The way I see it I have nothing to be ashamed of and I have no time for judgmental louts in my life!

Breaking the Hepatitis C Social Stigma

More people are currently living with Hepatitis C than any other chronic bloodborne infectious disease. Many patients still suffer with the associated stigma in many social circles. Discover two ways to reduce this unfortunate perception of a Hepatitis C diagnosis. Your efforts can help make the changes required.
The MSN Encarta Dictionary defines stigma as “a sign of social unacceptability: the shame or disgrace attached to something regarded as socially unacceptable.”
For some people, the stigma of living with Hepatitis C is more harmful than the virus itself. While medical research and treatment primarily target prevention and viral eradication, there is a lot more effort required to change public perception and attitudes toward Hepatitis C. There are two parts to breaking a disease-related stigma: education and self-respect. By educating communities on Hepatitis C and learning to feel good about yourself (regardless of viral status), Hepatitis C can be removed from the category of socially unacceptable conditions.

Why?
The primary reasons for any condition to be stigmatized are the lack of
compassion, fear and ignorance. Hepatitis C is a prime candidate for such an attitude for several reasons:
• Fear of Transmission – Because Hepatitis C is an infectious disease without a definitive cure, people are afraid of getting it. Although not easily transmitted, people are nevertheless fearful and may shun those who have the disease. Fear and ignorance have cost those with Hepatitis C their jobs, friendships and marriages.
• Fear of Illness – Some people do not like to be around people who are sick.
Being uncomfortable around others who have an illness is how certain people protect themselves from their personal fears. This discomfort may cause them to socially reject people with diseases instead of risking exposure to suffering and/or death.
• Judgment – Despite the many ways of acquiring Hepatitis C, misinformed people sometimes assume that everyone with Hepatitis C has a history of injection drug use. Even if this is a person’s mode of viral acquisition, our society lacks compassion and understanding about injection drug use. Those without personal exposure to injected drugs may judge people who have. Former injection drug users may feel haunted by their pasts and judge themselves.


Additionally, many active injection drug users carry shame about their addiction. Regardless of the situation, casting judgment on a person for their past addiction or viral status is devoid of compassion for their very personal situation.

Several of Hepatitis C stigma’s negative consequences include reduced selfesteem, diminished mental health, less access to medical care and fear of disclosing a positive status. Additionally, this attitude may contribute to hesitancy on the part of some medical providers to treat people infected with Hepatitis C.
In the January 2006 issue of Hepatitis magazine, the staff conducted an informal web poll about stigma and viral hepatitis. On the plus side, 42 percent of poll participants felt they had not faced any stigma due to living with hepatitis. However, more than half of all respondents reported being treated differently due to their disease. Of those who participated in the poll, 20 percent felt they had experienced job discrimination due to having Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C, 13 percent reported hepatitis-related social stigma and 13 percent had been alienated from family and friends because of viral hepatitis.

Education-
Any social stigma finds its roots in fear of the unknown. Many people have misconceptions about the way Hepatitis C is transmitted. Once diagnosed with the virus, most affected people diligently study how the disease is spread, and how they likely acquired it. However, a person without firsthand experience with Hepatitis C may mistakenly assume it can be transmitted through sharing a glass of water or even from being coughed or sneezed on by an infected person.

Until all reaches of society learn the facts about this virus, inaccurate
stereotypes fuelled by fear will persist.
Educating yourself and others will break down the stigma associated with Hepatitis C. Many communities have Hepatitis C task forces to promote community awareness. Getting involved with Hepatitis C informational training sessions targeting local schools, hospitals, drug treatment programs, government agencies and similar community organizations will fill replace fear with knowledge, helping to remove the negative perspectives about this disease.
In the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Self-Respect-
If you have Hepatitis C, the first step in breaking the stigma is to start with your own attitude toward your illness. Some questions to ask in uncovering this include:
• Do you label yourself as a sick person?
• Do you expect to be shunned from co-workers, friends and family?
• Do you feel like you deserve to have Hepatitis C?

Honestly examining your own feelings of shame and working to shift those feelings into pride makes a tremendous difference when facing the world with any illness. Living in the present and looking to the future are the best ways to leave negativity in the past. By learning how other people live with the disease, many people find help in discussing their feelings at Hepatitis C support groups.

In order to garner the respect from others, it is absolutely necessary to first develop respect for yourself. Additionally, feeling good is the single most important factor in living a long, healthy and rewarding life. Here are nine tips for developing a healthy attitude:

1. Make sure you know the truth. Get accurate information about Hepatitis C. Some people mistakenly believe Hepatitis C is an automatic death sentence. The truth is, the majority will die with Hepatitis C, not of Hepatitis C.

2. Don’t make things worse by imagining a future with pain, disability or loss.
Improve your odds by visualizing your future the way you want it. Visualizing health, not illness, is a powerful tool for self-transformation.

3. Maintain perspective of the big picture. Focus your attention on something that brings peace, joy, laughter and meaning. Tell yourself that difficult moments will pass.

4. Watch your words. If you hear yourself talking negatively, substitute positive phrases. Say, “I will find a way to live with Hepatitis C” rather than “Hepatitis C is ruining my life.”

5. Practice gratitude. Make it a habit to find things for which you are grateful.

6. Learn what you can control and what you cannot. There are things you cannot
control, such as the fact that you have Hepatitis C. However, there are things you can control, such as your attitude and what you say to yourself about having Hepatitis C.

7. Learn from the virus. Ask yourself what Hepatitis C can teach you about living.

8. Get support. Being with others who are dealing with the same issues can bring encouragement and hope.

9. Help others. When it comes to stepping outside of ourselves, probably nothing works as well as reaching out to others who are also struggling. By cultivating self-respect through a positive attitude and through active participation in educating your community on Hepatitis C, you can take an active role in breaking the Hepatitis C stigma and helping those diagnosed with the disease to finally receive the compassion they deserve.

Ricky
No matter what the case may be we are behind you and here for your support. Now get the ball rolling and lets find out where your at with this deal.
Start thinking healthy, drink lots of water, fruits and juices. Stay away from alcohol. it's not the end of the world............
Keep your chin up

Thank you so much for all your kind words everone i really appreciate it. i am still scared and afraid that people at work will just try to stay away from me in fear of infection. I feel like i basically have HIV u know ... I took my confirmation test today and will post what Genotype and everything it is. Thank you all ...All i do is break down and cry its uncontrollable. I have waves of emotions running through me right now. I cant even begin to tell my father that I have it...And as for work, i have a good feeling that some how they will find a way to get rid of me. Im sure they can find something or set you up to fail you know. Just so theres no sick person within close quarters of them. At this time i do feel doomed but optimistic to know that there is help. Are there any other treatments other then injection?

How bad are cigarettes also, I smoke cigarettes should i get rid of them ASAP as well?

Yes cigarettes are not good for your liver.
But if you quit not it would only make you more
emotional witch is not good for you ether.
It will put more stress on your body and liver.
I don't know if this will help but for the first part of treatment
I smoked 2 pack a day and chewed a half a can a day.
by the end of treatment I was down to 1 pack a day and stop
chewing. I was just to sick to smoke and chew.
I still don't chew. And it looks like treatment worked.

yes, apparently smoking is quite harmful for the liver. i met a lady who couldn't do treatment. she cut out smoking and her viral load went from 18 million to 10 million in a few months. pretty interesting that just that one thing made such a difference.

Well, I still smoke and I don't plan on ever quitting. It's
the one vice that I have left that keeps me sane.

Whatever happens, happens. My choice, my life. :)

But... I did go from basically 2 1/2 packs a day to 1/2
pack a day over the last 17 yrs.

Everything is bad for the liver, including the air we breathe.

oh, and viral load is no indication to how badly your liver is damaged.

From the sounds of your post, you have likely scared the shit outta yourself and for no good reasons at all. It also sounds like you have all the normal misconceptions in your head and just need to educate yourself a bit. There are a few people around here who will give you some solid advice, and there are many others who can give you heir experience tales.

First things first. You don't have a clue how you contracted the virus, and there is seldom a way to know for sure, so you can stop fretting over the past and deal with the present and future. Contraction is blood to blood so you could have had the virus since birth or childhood from some incident, or from any time you have been in a hospital or at a dentist or any other place where there is a possibility of blood to blood contact. So enough with the 2nd guessing; you have it or you don't.

Now, it matters not where you work; you do NOT have to inform your employer of your condition and you cannot be terminated because of your condition; that's illegal. Others may say they tell this person or that, but it's all up to you if you do or not. You can easily say you are under dr's care, on medication, and it's nothing contagious. This telling dilemma is common; if you feel your work will be jeopardized then keep it to yourself.

Next, your liver is located in the upper right; picture that organ located just under your ribs on your right side. Any feelings you may be having in that area may be the sac surrounding your liver changing if you have inflammation, but it's not your liver as your liver has no feelings.

You are not going to die from hep C like you are imagining. People die WITH the virus, not FROM the virus. Get that straight in your mind. And since you are quite young, the odds of your having liver damage are much lower than others who find out they have the virus when they are in their 50's. So unless you contracted the virus at birth, you are probably good to expect no liver damage and could choose to postpone doing tx or to do tx and clear yourself of the virus. Either way, I am betting you have plenty of time to do your research and learn the facts about the virus so that you can get rid of the myths in your head.

Now, if you have not tested positive for hep A and B, be sure to get the series of shots so that you are protected from contracting those as well. Who wants to have to be fighting off more than one hep virus; I sure don't. So get those shots asap, and if you start tx before getting the shots, you can still take them while on tx.

Your really really need to stop guilting over it all. You don't benefit at all from stress and in fact, it's harmful to your health and does not increase your odds of clearing the virus if you do decide to do tx.

So now you start the process; the info you need is your genotype, your viral load which only matters if you are doing tx, your stage and grade which you will learn from a liver biopsy or a non-intrusive test that can be done. Once you have that info, you sit down with your dr and decide what to do after discussing all of your options.

I hope you realize that you don't need to do tx if you don't want. There are many people who know they have the virus but have chosen for a variety of reasons, not to do tx. You can just clean up your lifestyle by taking a healthy approach to living - eat healthy foods, a diet that is liver friendly, stop smoking and drinking as both lessen your odds of clearing the virus is you choose to do tx, exercise regularly, and drink half your body weight in ounces of water every single day.

The water's important, no matter whether you have the virus or not. If you have the virus and decide to do tx, the water is vital to flush the toxins from your body and to lessen the sides from tx.

Be sure you get copies of ALL your test results and blood work and biopsy. Keep a file at home so that you can refer to the past and see what progress you have. Write down all your questions as you think of them so a small notebook with you is handy. When you see your dr, write down all the things you are told and ask your dr to explain any tests results while you are there. You have the dr's attention at that time; later may not be convenient for the dr and you may forget what you wanted to ask by the time you reach the dr.

Be sure you ask about the lower right pains you are having; people often have a health problem and finding out about hep was just discovered by accident. It's like the dr saying oh your gall bladder is crap and we need to make arrangements to remove it. Oh and by the way, you also have hep C.
Yeah, that happens.

Or how about being in the hospital for an operation or after some injury, then you find out later that you contracted hep c from contaminated blood in a transfusion.

Seriously, please do try to de-stress; there are so very many people who can help you.

To know the road ahead, ask the man coming back.
Stay strong; be positive.