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I am sorry it took so long. I really hesitate to share this information, but the path I am about to take may be of help to someone. People who know me, will not think the worst. I am totally in shock.
1. I was finally diagnosed with asthmatic syndrome. IDK if this is a term that my doctor uses or coined or one in general usage. However, the symptoms I have been complaining about for years - coughing, wheezing, phlegm, PND, and intermitant rash, have all cleared up to the extent that I can live normally with it.
2. That WOULD be good news except that my elevated liver enzymes (two of them) were never looked at further by any doctor. They were and are not "out of the ball park" (Dr's words) - but since I am a tail end baby boomer, he thought he'd run a test for Hepatitis C. I didn't think much of it. I am not an IV drug user and I have never been one.
However, I am positive.
Yes. I am freaking out. I don't know how this could have happened. The only thing I know, is that as a student nurse, while doing a rotation at a County run nursing home in a borough of NYC, I inadvertently stuck myself with a used needle.
That was in the 1980s. Their main fear was AIDS (and a law suit) I was given a course of gammaglobulin.
I am sorry it took so long. I really hesitate to share this information, but the path I am about to take may be of help to someone. People who know me, will not think the worst. I am totally in shock.
1. I was finally diagnosed with asthmatic syndrome. IDK if this is a term that my doctor uses or coined or one in general usage. However, the symptoms I have been complaining about for years - coughing, wheezing, phlegm, PND, and intermitant rash, have all cleared up to the extent that I can live normally with it.
2. That WOULD be good news except that my elevated liver enzymes (two of them) were never looked at further by any doctor. They were and are not "out of the ball park" (Dr's words) - but since I am a tail end baby boomer, he thought he'd run a test for Hepatitis C. I didn't think much of it. I am not an IV drug user and I have never been one.
However, I am positive.
Yes. I am freaking out. I don't know how this could have happened. The only thing I know, is that as a student nurse, while doing a rotation at a County run nursing home in a borough of NYC, I inadvertently stuck myself with a used needle.
That was in the 1980s. Their main fear was AIDS (and a law suit) I was given a course of gammaglobulin.
I am terrified.
Have you ever received a blood transfusion? That could also be the cause.
Today, chronic HCV is usually curable with oral medications taken every day for two to six months. Still, about half of people with HCV don't know they're infected, mainly because they have no symptoms, which can take decades to appear. For that reason, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a one-time screening blood test for everyone at increased risk of the infection. The largest group at risk includes everyone born between 1945 and 1965 — a population five times more likely to be infected than those born in other years.
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Have you ever received a blood transfusion? That could also be the cause.
Best of luck.
Thank you. Yes, I did in 1993, but that is not the time frame - too recent. I can't remember a time pre-1970s, that would be as a young child, that I had a transfusion.
maciesamom, I never knew or thought much about this disease. When I was a nursing student in the 1980s, we learned about hep A and B. Hep C was not even named - or it was called Hep undesignated.
When I stupidly stuck myself with a needle after administering an intramuscular injection to a high risk patient, the big concern appeared to be AIDS, which at the time was greatly feared, and new, in the medical community.
Since reading, it could be so many things. From unsterilized manicure tools - anything that can draw a speck of blood must be sterilized. I had a lot of manicures in the 1980s and 90s. I still do. My current manicurist uses an autoclave. I am not sure if all of them did.
This virus can lie dormant for years - even decades.
The best thing is that now, there is a cure. And not the horrible treatment of yester year. Interferon was brutal.
Still I am very frightened. I appreciate any good vibes, thoughts, chanting, prayers, spells - hey I'm not choosy. I just want to get through this.
My husband was diagnosed with Hep C in 2012. Profound fatigue and chronic indigestion were his symptoms. He was in a bad accident back in the early 1980’s, when he was in his early 20’s. He most likely received a blood transfusion(s) then and they had not yet identified Hep C as being blood-borne.
He was finally diagnosed in late 2012, in his mid-50’s His gastro contacted a colleague who was handling the trials for Sovaldi and he got in to the last one before the drug was put on the market. The treatment was easy. The virus was undetectable after 4 weeks.
Following treatment, he agreed to participate in the follow-up studies. As part of that, they repeated the liver scan and biopsy. His liver, which had been evaluated as Level 2 or 3 fibrosis prior to treatment, had completely recovered two years after treatment was completed.
I know this diagnosis is very frightening, and there are still unknowns, like the current stage of your liver, but you may be as fortunate as my husband was and see a full recovery, including your liver being restored to normal.
You are going to need a referral to a gastro who regularly treats Hep C. They are going to want to do a liver scan and possibly a biopsy to stage the liver. They will probably also want you to have Hep A and Hep B vaccines because you cannot afford to get sick with either of those on top of Hep C. You cannot drink alcohol, not even a drop, and you should be very wary of taking any drug, supplement etc unless you clear it with the gastroenterologist who treats you.
You have been given good advice and there is a lot out there today that didn't exist 20 years ago for treatment.
Please update us as you maneuver through.
I'm glad you know at least - now your doctors can get you well.
I was referred to a specialist. He is supposed to call me. My records were sent to him. Apparently, he is in no hurry.
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Thinking of you
