Genotype 1A

[cook43]

Can anyone give me information on the types of genotypes, I am 1A, I do not know what that means. I have been told that 1A is very serious, I do not know what to believe, is there really one genotype that is more serious than others?

[Mahan123]

Hello =) Im new to this community and writing in regards to my husband. In 2003 he found out he had Genotype 1A Hep C. He took the interfurion for a year. Actually ended treatment in October of 2004. SInce then his levels have been good. Yesterday out of the blue he was hit with all the symptoms of a relapse. Is that possible? =(

[darbara]

Get checked again. Retest.

[dontworry_behappy1]

Welcome to the forum.  Take a deep breath and go to your liver specialist appointment.  Find out what genotype you are and what stage your liver is.
treatment  will depend on these facts.   Don't get hung up with thinking treatment will be denied.  Others in your situation have gotten treatment approved and there is assistants available for expensive drugs.  Many people here have gotten help with treatment costs.  

Let us know how your appointment goes.  

[flyinlynn]

You have posted at the end of a very old thread from 2006. If you are looking for more responses go to the orange  "post a guestion " space at the top and copy your question there.

fayjon- there are new treatments out that they are having great success with you should check with your liver specialist. Even though you feel good you liver is under attack from the virus. I feel fine but found out 6 years ago I have cirrhosis. I am GT1a 3 time null responder and so far hep c undectable

good luck to all
Lynn

[1a_terrified]

I just found out and I also have Medicare/medical/IEHP. They approved sending me to a liver Dr. did they deny you for treatment all together our just for the new treatment. Who do I appeal to if they deny me.

[Sovaldi13Newbie]

Hi, I'm a 1b. I am now taking the Sovaldi/Olysio combo. I am new here too. I have only been taking this new combo for less than two weeks. Here is what I found out today. Hi, I have medi/medi, Medicare and Medical, and when I first applied, I was denied. But I found out who the appeal board was (there is always an appeal board) and I asked them if I could write my own letter to go along with their appeal, they said yes. I write a good letter. In the meantime, I went to Sovaldi themselves and they said that I qualified for their patient care program so they would be giving it to me for a very small co-pay. Then my appeal came through! So, of course, Sovaldi backed out and said let your drug insurance program pay for it. (Duh) I knew they'd do that. So now I'm not even on my second week (that will be this Wednesday) and for the past 12 years my Liver Function tests have always been hovering around the high 30, 40, 50s. Today I got a test (I won't be getting my viral load test for another few weeks) and my Liver Function Tests are 17 and 18!!!!! I'm over the moon!!!!! I hope this helps. These new drugs are miracle workers!

[fayjon]

I have had hepc 1a for 40 yrs. I tried treatment about 9 years ago and it didn't work. I take COQ10 200mg and I believe it has kept my numbers down and  I feel pretty good.I drink distilled water and limit fats and red meat and no alcohol.

[willbb]

You have posted at the end of a very old thread. Perhaps if you are looking for more responses go to the orange  "post a guestion " space at the top and copy your question there.

You don't mention how old the grandbabies are however the chances are low (approx5%) that babies born to infected mothers contract the disease vertically and as you notice in the article below often they are born with antibodies however disapear in time
.
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/sexhealth/documents/hepc_baby_n_me.pdf

There are two basic blood tests for Hep C, the antibody
test, and the PCR test. Babies born to mothers with Hep
C “appear” positive at birth for Hep C antibodies because
babies are born with their mother’s antibodies from the
pregnancy. The baby develops its own immune system
after birth and the mother’s antibodies will disappear
by about 18 months, when an accurate antibody test
can be done.
If the antibody test is negative at 18 months your baby
does not have Hep C. If the antibody test comes back
positive, another test called a PCR test will be done to
check for the presence of the Hep C virus itself before
a diagnosis is confirmed. The PCR test can be done as
early as 4 months of age, but as with the antibody test,
the longer you wait the more accurate the results


Also..if at worst the babies do have HCV the virus most often takes many years and often decades to do any damage and there are viable treatments avail . if need be in the future.

Best to you and your family..
Will

[mommomof1012]

what about for children..i have custody of both my grandbabies...there mom is hep c 1A pos...just now having labs done for both children...and so far...looks like my grandson may have it...his test were positive...and they r double checking them for accuracy...and my grand daughters r still pending....if I do in fact have 2 hep c positive children...what am I going to do....will they die....I am a wreck with all the possibilities....meanwhile...they r healthy and happy...this just tears me up that their mothers carelessness will now make them suffer...there ages are 3...and 1 1/2 years...if that helps...can they get treatment this young....will I need to quit my job to take care of them during treatment because of it side effects...please...any input would be helpfful

[bp184]

I have genotype 1A and way back in 1990 went on interferon and my liver enzymes went sky high (400+) so they stopped treatment. Another doc put me on low dose prednisone which has brought my liver functions to near normal and has stabilized now for 20+ years at near normal on 5-10 mg prednisone.  His thinking was to control the inflammation (which would cause the liver damage).  So far so good, no real problems except osteopenia from the prednisone.  I suppose a good trade.  You may want to discuss this with your doctor as sometimes the hep c results in an autoimmune type reaction in which your body attacks its own liver.  If so the prednisone may be useful.  good luck.

[kirk8]

30% were the odds in 04.  New drugs came out last year.  New odds are 60-70%.  You must be thin if they only gave you 4 ribaviron a day, I took 6 and 12 bocep.  18 daily pills total.  And a weekly injection.

[kirk8]

It’s true that it’s not technically considered a cure.  But it’s the closest thing we have to one.  For all intents and purposes it is a cure.  It stops the progression of the disease.  Although a small (usually undetectable) amount of virus continues to hide in the lymphatic orgies.

You won’t be able to join the military or donate blood even after the cure.  They are pretty anal about keeping the blood supply clean.  

[kirk8]

I was a1 but the new treatment cured me.  Get it, if you can.  It's a lot of medicine but it's worth it to have the possibility of puting the hep behind you.

[norwegianlady]

The comment your dr made in regards to no cure, I believe is true, it is undetected in my system but, my understanding is there isn't a cure, if so I would be able to donate blood of which would be wonderful as I also have a rare blood type....So yes it is undetected, but not cured!!

[norwegianlady]

I can't remember if I was 1a or 1b, I just remember they told me I had a 30% chance..I went through the interferon treatment in 03/04. 4 pills a day and an injection on fridays. About 3 months in it was starting to work, but my red blood count had dropped so far they said i would have to stop..When asked what else they could do they had me also start on procrit injections weekly, it raised my counts enough to finish the 48 week treatment.  Today it is undetected in my system. Yes it kicked my butt!!! But I believeit worked partially by keeping a strong positive attitude through it all... I'm a survivor...It does work!!!  

[yellowstars]

I just recently found out I am hep c 1a positive and am just hoping for the best.  I am wanting to do treatment.  I saw a liver specialist at mayo clinic and he said he felt very confident he could cure it.. at the apointment before I met with the liver specialist, I met with a regular doctor who just did the consult and she said there was no cure.. but after meeting with her and when the time came when the actual liver specialist came in.. he appeared like he really knew what he was talking about and he was so so nice and to the point. I highly reccommed seeing a doctor who is all about the medical part and leaves the judgement at the door..this is stressful enough..no one needs to feel judged.  good luck everyone and remember.. this doesnt define you! its great to have a connection to talk to others about this... no one knows in my life..besides my spouse.. and on the downside and very sad and scary side.. i am pregnant and found out in middle of pregnancy.. we are even going to a clinic out of town to avoid any prejudgement from our close nitt community.. which i hate bc i just want to enjoy a happy and supportive delivery at home.. maybe im the one judging ..idk.. well any comments would be nice.. good luck all and thank God for the fact that things could always be worse

[mississippi_vet]

Hi! Mississippi veteran here with duo genotype 1a1b. Hep. positive since 1968/Stage 4 chirrosis/ Four courses of intron A, one with ribaviron(1999), one with thymosin(2004). Any info on phase III protease inhibitors appreciated. ***@****

[dperry10]

I too have geno-type 1a.   I found out I had it in 93, and did the interferon 3 times a week for 6 months.  At the end there was no change, and after about 8 mos, went back to a normal level for at least another 6 mos.  and I did not want to go to shands to try a new treatment at that point, so I did not continue to see the doctor.  I moved and my insurance changed and things were not good at that point, I had enough depression in my life and didn't see any reason to continue.. it was normal right ?   well here I am 13 years later going thru menapause since 40.. and went for my annual check up and found I am now diabetic and my liver levels were high.  Well I am getting ready to start treatment again, and just had my biopsy done a couple of wks ago.  I am just wondering what kind of results others with 1a have had with Interferon/Ribovin treatment.   Is it worth trying again ?   I did some reading this evening before finding this site, and found that they say that type 1a is more likely to develop into cirrosis or liver cancer.. is this true ?    Thank you for replys,

Dana Perry

[NYgirl]

Hey...don't worry about it - you kill one you kill them all, right?

;)

You are such a blessing to us here. I am so glad for the day you found the site you brighten up my life tremendously.

I just hope you know that!

[NYgirl]

Hey...I have no idea how i have two types but apparently the person I got it from partied a LOT more than I did!  ;)

Just kidding there.  But I guess the general drift is that the person I got it from got it more than once from different sources.  Technically I GUESS you could get a whole BUNCH of different types - it's just having more and different versions.

Sort of like you can take vitamin B but there are B complex, B12, etc etc.

You know?  It's pretty rare but Susan400 (one of the most VALIENT hep fighters I've EVER seen) has a dual geno too. She did every single treatment known to man and didn't get SVR yet.

I'm just the type of person that if I do something.....I do it BIG ;)

[GrandOak]

First, welcome to the forum.  If you haven't already noticed, I think you'll find a lot of helpful and supportive folks here.

I'm guessing that your previous treatment was the old Interferon regimen and I think you'll find that today's Pegylated-Inteferon is more friendlier.  I'm not saying that it's a calk walk by any means, simply that from those I've heard from, the old Interferon was a lot rougher.

From what I understand, even the Infergen (CIFN) treatment sometimes used today for those who relapse is considered to be kinder.

[cook43]

I found out in 1998, they tried treatment once back in 1999 but said there were increases in my levels so took me off of it after only 1 month. Now, my doctor is talking trying treatment again.

[Kalio1]

Welcome to the forum. Sory you have Hep C, most everyone here has it too so you are not alone.
All Hep C genotypes are serious. Genotypes 2 and 3 have higher "cure" rates than genotype 1, that is why genotype 1 is known as the "worst" genotype. Your chances of clearing the virus with Interferon/Ribivirin are not as good for genotype1 as for genotype 2 and 3 but that is NOT to say you can't clear the virus, your statistical chances are less, yes, but people can and do clear the virus with genotype 1. I believe genotype 4 is also categorized with genotype 1, but I am not positive about that.

Did you just find out you had Hep C?

[NYgirl]

If you go to this website - it will help you understand everything about not only genotypes but the disease.  It's in really simple English we that WE can understand and isn't a lot of doctor speak.

http://janis7hepc.com/Genotypes.htm

Genotype 1 is the most common here in the US. Most people have one of the subtypes (like you have 1A).  I'm lucky and I have TWO of them 1A and also 1B.

So don't worry to excessively about the "seriousness" what that really means is your chances of killing the virus - which for a 1 are about 50/50.

What the doctor probably should have said is "hardest to kill".

There are millions of people in the US with the disease and most people have no idea they have it at all.

Treatment is rough but it is doable.  I've been on it for over 60 weeks and I am a big cry baby - if I can do it anybody can.

Good luck!