HELP

Hello all! My name is JT and I just wanted to introduce myself. I was diagnosed with hep C at the age of twenty. I tried the interferon and obviously it made me very sick I know I should have stuck with it but I didn't. Now, I'm twenty five and I'm getting married just bought a house etc etc and I work six days a week. My parents are getting older and need my help but the problem is with everything I can't afford to do this treatment and be sick for six to nine months. Has anyone heard of any herbal drugs that I can take to lower my viral load?

I might be wrong but I've heard that you as long as you have low liver enzymes and a low viral count living with hep C is manageable (I'm probably wrong). I bought these pills called Nu Liver has anyone heard of these? I'm just kind of lost and don't know what to do. I've read about other drugs that can shorten treatment time if you guys could please fill me in.


thanks

[portann]

Hi JT,

Do you know your genotype and viral load numbers and have you had a biopsy recently to determine the health of your liver?

The results may strongly influence your decision, given how young you are, what a long time horizon you have and that treatments with better odds for clearance may be available down the road.

As for NuLiver, I can't comment on that. For all I know, it may be beneficial or not, even though it can't clear the virus. The problem is it's not likely a regulated product, so it's anyone's guess as to its value or potential harm.

[HCA]

There is only one treatment for Hep C-the one you know about.
Herbs and supplements will do nothing to lower viral load.
At your young age you can continue to live well if your condition is monitored.
Sooner or later you will have to do the treatment.
The younger you are the better you respond and more able to tolerate the side effects,
What genotype are you?
When were you infected?
I have checked Nu Liver and it is a total quack con.
Finally don't drink alcohol!

[Trinity4]

Welcome to the forum
Before you take any supplement, research it and find out the effects on the liver.  Some are misleading.  
Nothing but successful treatment with current tx drugs will give you a guarantee no further damage to your liver will occur.  Low viral load or low enzymes does not mean liver damage will not advance.  Some people have very little damage to the liver over the years, others significant.  At some point, you should have a liver biopsy to determine what condition your liver is in and what your options are.
Who can actually afford the sx of treatment?  No one on this forum looks forward to treating or expects it will be easy.  Some treat because they have to, others because they want the virus gone and are willing to go through hell to get there.  It's a personal choice -  just don't wait until your options have run out. It's best to know rather than not know.  
The new drugs that "might" shorten tx time are not available now -  only in the trial stage.  
Good Luck
Trinity

[JTRiver]

I have genotype 2 and last I can remember my viral count was 3 million or something to that effect. I know that a lot of the times the treatment of Hep C is worse than actually even having Hep C. Do they still have to do the biopsy by cutting open your stomach? I need to weigh my options but at the same time I really don't have the option to do the treatment I have to work to much.

If I can't work I can't pay bills.

[Trinity4]

They don't cut your stomach open to do a biopsy.  They simply insert a needle into the liver and take a very small sample.  Whew, you haven't been given accurate information somewhere along the line.  I'm not sure, but sometimes they opt not to do a biopsy on those with geno 2.  
If you think you don't have the option to treat that is your decision.  You are assuming the worst in that you will become totally incapacitated.  I am in wk 23 and haven't missed a day of work.  I'm a geno 1 and looking at a total of 72 wks of treatment.  Does that make me happy -  heck no but I don't have a choice so I'll do what I have to do.  It's totally up to you, nobody on this forum can tell you what to do.  Make your decision based on what works for you.  You are young, will probably have a family someday and I'm sure you want to be on this earth a long as possible so consider your options now or down the road. Hepc does not go away with supplements or healthy diet and the longer left untreated, the more damage to the liver.  Good Luck
Trinity

[portann]

Hi again JT,

Here's an old thread from years ago about NuLife and other issues that may be useful to your questions. I am currently on conventional treatment and too tired to read through the details myself!  Some of the comments were made by people who are still active in the forum, so perhaps they'll update their position.

I'm not very doctrinaire about things but I am suspicious about everything, mainstream or not. I coped with my diagnosis for years by trying to live a healthy lifestyle, whatever that can of worms is. I toyed with adding milk thistle to my diet, for example, which seems virtually mainstream in Europe (as a liver helper, NOT eradicator of the virus). In the end, I didn't.

You are very brave to have tried treatment at twenty. I myself could never have done it at that age, unless it was a life or death situation. I can't even imagine how you organized your life just to take your meds on schedule or how you coped with the isolation. It must have been so frustrating.

[portann]

sorry,  i have to actually send the old thread, don't I? Give me a moment to meet the challenge.

[nygirl7]

Skip the quack meds and save your money.

As you have been told monitoring your viral load means absolutely nothing as far as liver damage is concerned. Although they don't usually biopsy a geno 2 that doesn' mean you can't have one and if you DO intend to "watch and wait" until you HAVE to do the treatment that will mean that you will be waiting until you have a much greater amount of damage most likely - that makes it harder to beat the disease and less likely you will achieve the cure.  That's not good because you won't have as much liver left and it will become much more crucial.

However if you have only slight damage now you can wait to see if the newer drugs pan out and are approved by the FDA.  There is no guarntee however that they will. One must remember we've seen other promising new drugs come and go. And all of the drugs currently will use both of the medications you got previously.

by the way - there are no nerves inside your liver to feel pain - the needle is pretty much just that...a needle.

I treated for 72 weeks - missed three days of work and have been SVR (cured) for 18 months.  It's not fun, no one "wants" to do it but you do it because you have a disease that might kill you if you do not monitor it's progression.  They don't call it the Silent Killer for nothing.

Avoid the herbs - they can cause MORE liver damage to you than anything except booze which definitely is a no.

Good luck.

[portann]

I had no idea that genotype 2's don't usually have biopsies.

I had my only biopsy eight years ago and really made a big deal about it beforehand. I seemed to find every internet hit that predicted the end of the world (for what could go wrong). I even reminded the specialist that I was there for a liver biopsy, not a leg amputation, just in case he'd confused me with a different patient. (All right, I know it's not the same kind of specialty.)

In my case, the biopsy couldn't have been more of a breeze. Frankly, it's more painful to pluck my eyebrows. The only downside was that  I felt so completely foolish about my unfounded fears. And getting the results made all the difference in my decision at the time.

[merryBe]

can't work you can't pay bills, true enough.

dead or severely disabled in late stage disease you can't either.

try to find work that is not so physical (a desk job) and you may be able to get through treatment working. Many do, especially if they get the rescue drugs at the proper time to allow them to function.

it will be better long term for your family, children especially is you do treat because you can stick around AND be healthy for their later years.

it's all about your outlook....look beyond the obstacles to what your real long term goals are. Do you want to put your kids through college....see your grandkids...grow old with your wife??  just points to ponder.
mb

[JTRiver]

Thank you everyone for your kind words I really appreciate all the advice I really do. I will look into things here in the next few days. I feel somewhat better about it so I really can't thank you enough.