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 was wondering what peoples opinion was on drinking with HEP C. I'm curruntly not on treatment at the time, But i do like to drink "alot" when i drink.My liver is currently in great shape and with having HEP C for over 20 years. A friend of mine did the old interferon treatment years ago, where you had to do like 5 plus shots a week and he drank heavily throughout his treatment and hes still undie. I'm just curious.
My hepatologist is well known in hcv circles and he said it's ok to drink in moderation with HCV. Problem is I never drank in moderation.
Unfortunately here, as in other hcv forums, the topic is taboo because there are a lot of people who are in "recovery" and have zero tolerance. ie , they can't drink so they don't want anyone else to.
Don't even get me started on AA. The idea that "people are powerless" is absurd and offensive to me. I'm certainly not powerless. I have worked at overcoming many things in life.People have tremendous power if they develop the right tools..I better stop here.
Drinking on tx is probably NOT a wise idea.
Don't jepardize your health any more than it already is. That's my honest & humble opinion.
Most docs want u alcohol free for 6 months before starting tx.
If ur friend jumped off a bridge, would u?
If u drink a lot, u r digging ur own grave, imo. So, why would u consider tx? Can u stop drinking totally??? Ur post concerns me...
Going thru treatment generally has a terrible impact on your life, your family, your emotional health, and maybe your job. To me, the absolute only reason anyone would do it is that you want your liver healthy enough that you can live a good life and then die from something else
It's not that you want to get rid of HCV, its that you want to rid of the potential of HCV destroying your liver. Bottom line, you want old age to kill you, not liver cancer
If that is YOUR goal you need to do everything possible to keep your liver healthy. Taking the meds will hopefully kill the virus and prevent new liver damage. But drinking, even for people without hcv, can cause liver damage
I have had hcv for 40 years, my liver is in good shape. But it was explained to me that a healthy liver today is no guarantee of what it will be like next year. So I took the treatment, made sure not to miss doses, and didn't do anything, like drinking, to reduce the odds of success
If drinking were that important to me I would not have put myself through the treatment
Next question??????????.............
One of the problems with HCV is that it doesn't follow a typical course for anyone. Just because your liver has done well (relatively speaking) for 20 years with HCV doesn't mean it will continue on the same course. HCV can turn ugly at any moment and it's more apt to happen the older we get.
Please be as kind to your liver as you possibly can...without alcohol.
Problem for me is I have never had "A" drink. one leads to another so now that I have cirrhosis ..it's "no" drinks.
@joep8930..you may want to revisit pain medication.
Tylenol is okay as long as you don't take more than 2,000 mg a day..not toxic to the liver..all other NSAIDs (asa, ibuprofen, motrin, etc) cause microbleeds int the GI tract and increase liver fibrosis in any amount.
I provide a link for you to read. Many like to argue this point as Tylenol "overdoses" are fatal but miss the important point.
http://www.liverdisease.com/painkillers_hepatitis.html
But NSAIDS are a big NO!