Anabuse

[daffodil]

Does Anabuse damage the liver? The point is to avoid alcohol when one has Hep C. Anabuse seems to be a good way to avoid alcohol. But if it's hurting  the liver, is it worth it? I'm at stage zero according to the biopsy reprort. I'm off treatment, it didn't work. I find Ananabuse helpful. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks.

[AK - Hepper]

Don't drink alcohol.

[new-sojourn]

Do whatever you want to do.  When you get sick enuf, you'll quit!That's the way it seems to work in real life.

I didn't find out about my hep c-transfused infection 1967-until 2wks after my liver failed and I ended up in icu for a spell.  Naturally, i quit drinking and have had no desire to  AT ALL.  That was 9-12-2001.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend that way.  If only I had known about the hep c, I would have taken such good care of my liver, and I wouldn't be dying now.

See, I cl'd the hep c virus in 18 days, fin 24wks of tx 2yrs ago b/am still ESLD-end stage liver disease.  still have a cirrhotic liver and have about 90% chance of developing cancer.

So, i'm cl b/f****d any way.  B/since I'm dying I can smoke marijuanna legally.  If you're in a med marijuanna state, hep c is a 'qualifier.'

That's my advice. put down the bottle and pick up the bong.

[LvdByGod]

i don't know if any of us would be able to tell you whether a particular drug is o.k.for the liver with hepc....you need to go to or call a hepatologist,and a pharmasist and find out the warnings,side effects,and other problems with the anabuse...and if it's ok to take with hepc liver disease...

to begin with you could look up "anabuse" on the internet and read the medicine report....or ask the pharmasist for an insert for anabuse and read it over and then take it to your dr for clarification...they are a little hard to read...but your dr or pharmasist can handle it...

i wish you the best,sandi

curious, why can't you go on tx and kill this virus before it does any damage?

if you have no damage then perhaps they will invent a better treatment for hepc before any damage occures...damage progreses  differently with each person...

you should also get a biopsy every few years and hepatic panel "blood tests" a couple times a year or something...so it stays under your controll...sometimes damage can happen quick othertimes people have it for years before bad damage begins...God be with you in this...

[daffodil]

I have been on tx for 5 dreadful months, and it failed. Unfortunately, now that I'm "healthy" again, I tend to drink sometimes. I know it sounds awful for those of you who are in the late stages of the disease. I  wish  you the best. It's the last thing I should do, and Anabuse helped me in the past. My GP doesn't know,an alcohol detox place I called didn't know, so I will call   a Hep C specialist to find out if it's  damaging to the liver. I just thought maybe someone on this forum might have experience with that.

[cuteus]

5 months in tx, is not long enough to determined its efficacy. I did not get a negative until wk 24, and some here have taken longer than that to achieve negative status, they will now extend 40 or more wks beyond the negative result. It sounds as if you needed a less conservative dr on your side.

[want2live]

Come on. Really. Just stop the damned drinking! How can you enjoy a drink when you KNOW what it is doing to you?
I did it - you can too.
It's not easy, but why dance around the problem with anabuse?
You don't want to end up laying in a bed thinking about how much time you would have had if you could just put down the bottle - do you? I know I don't want to be there.

It's not easy, I have been there, I know how you feel about it.
But you can stop, I know it. Take new's advice and smoke something sweet - it won't hurt you like the alcohol.

You must stop drinking, you were blessed to find out about the HCV - in time to stop your bad habits. In time to live, to enjoy life.

Don't cut it short by drinking...

[daffodil]

I went to THE Hep C expert in NYC afetr 5 months of tx, and after he looked at my records, and took blood tests, he said get off tx, it will never work for you.  He said that even if I cleared the virus after, maybe 6 months, there would be a couple lurking in my liver, and that  the minute I got off tx, they would multiply .

I have great respect for him, unlike the original doctor who treated me, who , apparentlly should have put me on 400 %more eProcrit...no wonder I was so sick. And then he put me on a massive overdose of Neupogen, so my blood #'s shot through the roof.The expert said he would never have put me on Neupogen in the first place, because I was border line, and Neupogen is a drug that you don't want to mess around with. I got Bell's Palsy in the 5th month, probably because my immune system was so low. Half of my face was completely paralyzed, and one eye wouldn't blink. I hand to put stuff in my eye which meant I couldn't read. Anyway, I don't mean to complain, but I went through hell, as a lot of you are also probably going through.

The Hep C expert (who has been written about in the NY Times) just told me to go for the Anabuse, his nurse just called. Thank-you, "want2live" for your advice. You're 100% correct. I have no business drinking,that's why I need Anabuse, it's worked in the past, and it's working now.

[cuteus]

THis is not the expert from Mt. Sinai, is it? dr D? he I consider non-conventional, since he is willing to individualized treatment. If it is not him, maybe a second opinion?

[sher_]

email me at ***@****

[daffodil]

No, he's not the Dr. from Mount. Sinai, I think I know who you mean., he seems to be very well respected. I've never seen him, but I've known others who have. My doctor is from a different NYC hospital, he's connected to the NewYork Presbyterian Hospital. Let me know if I can be of any more help.

[Honey15637]

ROFL,,,,Just trying to figure out who I would be getting in contact with named mamaloggerhead??? lolol  

Hey,,,How is Mr Billy doing lately on tx,,,If you have commented,,,I missed it!  Hope all is well with you guys!