Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
I have read the info but still don't understand:
viral load.....does this matter, or not, other than a starting point to check back on during tx?
liver panel/enzymes...if they show normal on blood test, this means the virus is considered NOT ACTIVE? (my biggest confusion!)
Why do they wait until the disease has progressed so much before the biopsy or tx????
Does not make sense to me, unless it is because the tx is so hard on the body.
Does taking antidepressants really counteract depression on tx?
viral load.....does this matter, or not, other than a starting point to check back on during tx?
liver panel/enzymes...if they show normal on blood test, this means the virus is considered NOT ACTIVE? (my biggest confusion!)
Why do they wait until the disease has progressed so much before the biopsy or tx????
Does not make sense to me, unless it is because the tx is so hard on the body.
Does taking antidepressants really counteract depression on tx?
Normal liver enzymes do NOT mean the virus is inactive. Many people who have Hep C can have normal liver enzymes and yet find out they already have liver damage. The only way to know the condition of your liver to is to have a liver biopsy. Have you had one?
What genotype are you?
The sweet lady who sent me to this site (she has a site of her own, about HepC) ...has mentioned that my drug history is likely why they don't want to treat me.
I thought Mackenzie told me that if the enzymes show ok, it means it is inactive, but I may have mis-understood her.
Yeah, my liver panels rarely show anything amiss, but I've had this HCV for over 2 decades so it can't be good....
I am type 2b.
Thank you for the reply!
I wish I could say something more positive. Without a biopsy to tell for sure, you'd only have your own experience to tell you which it is.
You can look up the symptoms of cirrhosis and discover if you have them. There is a cirrhosis group on DS that would have a News & Info tab that could help. It doesn't seem to list the symptoms, but asking there would probably give you some links.
http://dailystrength.org/news/Cirrhosis
They will tell you that viral load doesn't matter, only when you're on treatment, to tell whether the treatment is working or not.
This doesn't feel true to me. I would think rationally, that the more viral load a person has the more potential for damage to the liver. This makes sense to me.
I cannot answer your other questions.
Good luck and keep googling and asking! You will get your answers!
Blessings!
Makiah
If you are a genotype 2, then your chances of beating Hep C with treatment is really good and you only would have to do 24 weeks of Tx. You might want to ask your doc to consider a liver biopsy so that you know the true state of your liver. Maybe it's time for a second opinion from another GI or Hepatologist.
By the way, I've had Hep C for either 54 years or 34 years depending on whether it was a transfusion that gave it to me or a dental procedure and my liver biopsy was Stage 1/Grade 1 this year. So...you could still have very minimal liver damage even though you've had Hep C for a number of years. A liver biopsy is the only way to tell.
OK Viral load. Correct, it does not matter much until you are on tx. Then you want the number to go down and disappear by week 12.
Well, at least for the other types that require 48weeks of tx. At any rate, you want to clear the virus early then continue to the end of your 26weeks on tx. It has been said that very high VL does lessen the odds of clearing and staying clear, but not by all that much.
Now don't be fooled by normal LFT; mine were normal prior to tx and stayed in normal ranges right up to halfway through my year of tx.
Sorry it takes me awhile sometimes to respond, as I don't check in everyday at times..
Well, obviously it sounds like the biopsy is the only way to find out what I need to find out. Even the biopsy alone scares me.
Am I the only one with maybe irrational fears about a biopsy?
-meaning, I am not just afraid of the results, I am afraid of the biopsy; the pain, the possible bleeding, etc.
I unfortunately read a thing about it in my HepC book that mentioned how it can go wrong....
I know I'd have to be sedated, at the very least.
From the answers here, and everywhere else I've read, the more I learn about the virus, the more confused I am.
It doesn't seem to follow rhyme or reason or logic...I mean, yes, I agree that to me, logically it is better to have a lower viral load than a higher one, and It is so hard for me to wrap my head around anything other than that.
And the liver panel results.. they can be mis-leading too, as you said, KaryMelly. And, BTW thanks for the hopeful info you shared.