Living with Hep C

About two years back, I found out that I had been infected with the Hep C virus. This was due to an extensive series of tests that I underwent to figure out why my WBC count is always very high (>15,000, corrected). I figure I was infected in the early nineties or late eighties, before the test for Hep C in donor blood was perfected. The RNA testing diagnosed Type III of the virus, with a fair number of copies circulating! However, the good news was that my liver is still pretty much intact!! 

I tried one course of the interferon treatment for six months (it's a devilish drug) - but, that did not really help in getting the virus count down. So, I stopped. No point in the medicine killing me, if it can't cure ....

So far, the Hep C has not really affected my lifestyle, except that I now only drink very, very rarely. 

If anyone else has any data/advice to share, I am very happy to listen .....

Cheers

Poirot

I have my story but it's religious based! Also it is quite wierd and I got no scientific explanation for what happened! 

If Andy and Danielle(Admins) asks to post it; only then I will post it, only with his/her consent as I want no remarks from anyone after reading it.

Sajid,
Please feel free to post your story. I have heard other accounts including one where a young boy I know had several gallstones disappear after seeing a healer. I also was told about a young man in his 20's that lives in Dubai and seems to be totally cured of thalassemia with no explantion of why. He has two siblings with thal and wishes he could duplicate what happened but he no longer transfuses and his health is good. There are many events that defy physical explanations but they still happen.

If anyone is afraid of posting about the effect their spiritual beliefs has had on their lives, please don't hesitate. The only thing that is inappropriate is when one tries to convert others to their religion here. We have many different religions in this group and I hope everyone can respect that others beliefs may differ from theirs, but that they also believe just as strongly as anyone else.

O.K here it goes!

Here we have this Holy Priest who is one of the most hounarable one I've ever seen. He has vast suprenatural and religious knowledge. He is the only priest who told me that, you have a disease which is God's decision and only God will decide to when to cure you or to reward you if you keep your faith strong. And no one has cast a spell on me or cursed me or the effect of someone's bad-eye etc which most other self proclaimed priests fool people into. So, he just told me to pray for His mercy and appologiesd that he(the priest) can't do anything to cure Thal.

Anyway, I went to him again when I was tested Hepatits C virus(HCV) positive to see if he can help me and I was very happy when he said that he can help me in this. He told us to get a small piece of branch from a Fig plant(tree) and some black threads long enough to make a necklace that would go over my liver!

At first we were wondering how would we get the piece of branch as there are no fig trees nearby as the climate of Rawalpindi doesn't support the plant's requirement. There are green houses and plant nurseries outside the city limits that might have it. So, we asked our gardner to check it out. Amazingly he said that someone nearby; (where he also worked for besides us) wanted to have a fig plant in their home garden as a hobby for growing fruit at home. He had gone to the green houses and got that guy the plant. So our gardner went to his home and got a few pieces of the branch. Amazing how God gives us these little miracles in life!

So, we took the pieces to the priest and he made a necklace(charm) with one piece and few threads that kept the fig branch piece over my liver area. He recited a few verses from the Holy Quran on to that charm and told me to wear it.

After a few weeks I got myself tested for HCV and the Lab. Technician was amazed to see my result as HCV negative. He told me that so far it is impossible that once you are +ve the result won't show -ve as there is no such medicine in Pakistan that would kill the virus! Then we told him about the above account with the priest.

I wore that charm for a few months, but as the summer got hotter, that charm became very uncomfortable since I had to wear it under my shirt and not over it. It caused itching when I got sweat and in night it would get tangled in my sleep and woke me up. Furthermore the threads had become weak and most got broken as my sweat is very high in salt and weakend the strength of the threads(I can clearly see salt stains on my shirt at the end of the summer day). So I took it off and forgot where I kept it. I lost it!

Anyway during my next transfusion, the lab tech. came up to me and told me that I was again showing HCV +ve which was -ve for months.

Well, the charm didn't lose it's power but I sure did lose the charm. I didn't go back to get another one since it didn't permanently cure HCV and it just suppressed it for some time. My liver is working fine with HCV and I am more comfortable without that charm.

Thanks for the story, Sajid, although it is kind of hard for me to relate to it!!  "True agnostic" that I am ....

BTW, can you check whether the lab did just a serum test for HCV antibodies or did they do the RNA test?
The reason is that you could have the antibodies, without having the virus .... the RNA test is the key to detemining actual virus presence.

Cheers

Another thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post on Hep C.. was that the need to treat this virus is important, since there can be every possibility that you can transfer it to your partner, if the load is high.I wasnt too sure.. but this is what I read.. it is quoted below:

How Do People Get Hep C?
"The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread through contact with infected blood. Common routes of infection include illicit injection drugs (eg, sharing needles), blood transfusions (before 1992), needlestick accidents among healthcare workers, and any other blood-to-blood contact, such as may occur during sexual activity"

Shikha mitra

Another thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post on Hep C.. was that the need to treat this virus is important, since there can be every possibility that you can transfer it to your partner, if the load is high.I wasnt too sure.. but this is what I read.. it is quoted below:

How Do People Get Hep C?
"The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread through contact with infected blood. Common routes of infection include illicit injection drugs (eg, sharing needles), blood transfusions (before 1992), needlestick accidents among healthcare workers, and any other blood-to-blood contact, such as may occur during sexual activity"

Shikha mitra

deja vu 

I was told that Hep C could not be transfered sexually.

I was also told that there is only a 2 % chance a from mother to baby

I found a web site that could be useful: http://www.hepatitisaustralia.com/pages/Hepatitis_C_Transmission.htm

Another thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post on Hep C.. was that the need to treat this virus is important, since there can be every possibility that you can transfer it to your partner, if the load is high.I wasnt too sure.. but this is what I read.. it is quoted below:

How Do People Get Hep C?
"The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread through contact with infected blood. Common routes of infection include illicit injection drugs (eg, sharing needles), blood transfusions (before 1992), needlestick accidents among healthcare workers, and any other blood-to-blood contact, such as may occur during sexual activity"

Nope, the above information is wrong. Hep C is not transmitted sexually, or the chance is so low as to be neglible. The main way Hep C is propagated is through blood. Other body fluids do not transmit this virus.
Mutliple sources provide this data point. Can post the links if you/anyone else is interested.

Yes it is always through Blood and Blood products.. what I meant was Menstrual blood, which is to be treated as any other kind of blood.. chances are low, but a chance  is always a chance, but again I can be worng too!

shikha mitra

Quote :
Blood-to-blood contact during sexual activity between an infected and uninfected partner. (In this context, menstrual blood should be treated as any other kind of blood.) The risk of transmission during sex is not precisely known but is thought to be quite low. The risk of transmission is less than 3% in a monogamous relationship.

Transmission of HCV has been documented amongst families in Asia. Close contact contact between individuals is thus suspect. Thalassemia patients would likely be just as interested in HBV, whose virus X physically attaches to the zinc-finger protein. See Pubmed for zinc-finger and thalassemia, as well as the abstracts on both HBV and HCV at
http://aquaviva11.tripod.com/

As far as is known, hepatocarcinogenesis generally occurs only after a decade or more in cases of HCV.

Just had a message from Namitha - that she has beaten Hep - C using Pegylated Interferon.

Luckily for her, she did not even have a single bad day with the drug - even her doctor was surprised by the lack of side-effects.

She attributes it to her athleticism. So, here is one more reason for people to work out!

Cheers

Poirot

its indeed a good and encouragin news for me ... wow....  wat do u say all. .. wat should be my next step ?? .. after a long time a cool breeze touched my heart aaaahhhh feeling soo much relaxed ....   my doc sugesting me Peg-interferon bcoze she said and i read that on internet too that peg-intereferon is the latest generation of interferon and has much less side-effects than interferon but i had un-addressed concerns ... finaly a good & encouaraging news .. Thanx Poirot for sharing this NEWS ...


Umair

Poirot,

What great news!  Wishing Namitha all the best! 

Umair,

This is indeed very encouraging news for you - I hope that we have the same results for you!

Sharmin