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 often receive personal messages by people who tell me that their doctors simply brushes them off when diagnosed with hep c.
I had quite a few over the years and even here at DS, tell me that they were told 10 years ago that they had hep c, and no follow up was ever done, and they ended up with end stage.
I urge you to follow up....
This is why you must persist, if you don't! who will?
Remember they call Hepatitis c the silent killer, so take charge of getting those test done, PCR AND BIOPSY.
If your PCP or liver doctor don't take the time, change doctors please!
Mckenzie One day at the time
IT'S NOT ALL IN YOUR HEAD!
Some doctors (but thankfully fewer than there used to be) insist on believing that HCV usually has no symptoms, and dismiss the patient's complaints as being "all in their head". Some HCV+ patients have been treated for depression for many years before their actual diagnosis of HCV was uncovered.
Much is still unknown about the hepatitis C virus, and many physicians have not had much experience treating it. Many doctors are not yet familiar with the research which legitimizes the various symptoms which go along with this virus.
Emerging illnesses such as HCV typically go through a period of many years before they are accepted by the medical community, and during that interim time patients who have these new, unproven symptoms are all too often dismissed as being "psychiatric cases". This has been the experience with HCV as well.
WHAT IS THE EVOLUTION OF THE DISEASE?
Three out of four people infected with hepatitis C - not 50%, as once thought - will remain infected for life. Up to half of those people will develop cirrhosis, scarring of the liver, and up to 10,000 will die this year, say doctors and disease trackers meeting in San Diego. The latest findings are sobering because about 1.4% of the U.S. population is infected with the virus
- "Hepatitis C Chronic 75% of the Time", USA Today, 05-15-1995
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I had quite a few over the years and even here at DS, tell me that they were told 10 years ago that they had hep c, and no follow up was ever done, and they ended up with end stage.
I urge you to follow up....
This is why you must persist, if you don't! who will?
Remember they call Hepatitis c the silent killer, so take charge of getting those test done, PCR AND BIOPSY.
If your PCP or liver doctor don't take the time, change doctors please!
Mckenzie One day at the time
IT'S NOT ALL IN YOUR HEAD!
Some doctors (but thankfully fewer than there used to be) insist on believing that HCV usually has no symptoms, and dismiss the patient's complaints as being "all in their head". Some HCV+ patients have been treated for depression for many years before their actual diagnosis of HCV was uncovered.
Much is still unknown about the hepatitis C virus, and many physicians have not had much experience treating it. Many doctors are not yet familiar with the research which legitimizes the various symptoms which go along with this virus.
Emerging illnesses such as HCV typically go through a period of many years before they are accepted by the medical community, and during that interim time patients who have these new, unproven symptoms are all too often dismissed as being "psychiatric cases". This has been the experience with HCV as well.
WHAT IS THE EVOLUTION OF THE DISEASE?
Three out of four people infected with hepatitis C - not 50%, as once thought - will remain infected for life. Up to half of those people will develop cirrhosis, scarring of the liver, and up to 10,000 will die this year, say doctors and disease trackers meeting in San Diego. The latest findings are sobering because about 1.4% of the U.S. population is infected with the virus
- "Hepatitis C Chronic 75% of the Time", USA Today, 05-15-1995
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also
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
See this is exactly what I mean.
grrrr
Stupid doctors have a budget, and when they have the chance to just brush off a case that could cost them expensive testings ect... that will affect their budget, if your not the type to object they send you home.
I will post a thread on cost and free trial treatment, that are given all the time by the drug companies, associated with the government.
Knowledge is Power!
What's next for you Kathren, are you on a transplant list yet?
In any way I am here to give you support and wish you luck on your journey to proper care.
Mckenzie One day at the time
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO GET THE BEST CARE POSSIBLE, LIKE ANYBODY ELSE.