Numb Hands

[curious8820]

hello,

I was an IV drug user for 3 years, and have been clean for 9 months now. About a year ago a good friend of mine (not anymore as you will see) told me he was giving me a clean needle and after i used it found out he had used it once before.I also found out afterwards that he had hep c. I cleaned the needle before i used it very well with bleach and had a blood test right before i quit using and came up negative for anything, but read that bleach doesnt kill the hep virus and it can take a while before it shows up in your blood. So now that you have know my background, i have a question about some symptoms i've been having lately. Starting about 6 weeks ago my hand were numb when i woke up from sleep, and would take like half hour of me shaking my hands and getting blood to them to go back to normal. Well over the past week they seem to be going numb every time i wake up and sometimes during the day. I've also been really tired and my whole body is sore alot. I've been researching online about my hands and the only thing i feel could be causing it is called crygobulinemia, which i read happens to people with hep c. there's no free testing places in the town i live in, and i dont have medical so i've been saving up money so i can go get tested and if need be, get on meds. But im really worried i might have this. Does anyone on here have this or know about this disease and what are other symptoms? is it an early or late stage of hep c and can i die from it if i dont get it treated right away? I'm really scared that it means my hep is advanced and that im in the final stages before death even tho if i have it it'd only been for about a year now. Please any help would be appreciated. thank you.

curious and scared

[copyman]

like dawn said, just have a cheap antibody test done. if negative then you can look for something else causing the numb hands.

best of luck

[Dawn703]

As the others have said, you would not be seeing any symtoms of HCV some people never have symptoms. May wan to see a Dr, numbness is nothing to  mess around with. It takes 4-12 weeks to show up in an antibody test and within a couple weeks for PCR. If your worried you should have the test repeated; antibody test is much cheaper.

[BoceprevirGal]

How is hepatitis C diagnosed?

The incubation period after exposure to HCV has a range of 15-150 days (average 50 days). Within 3 months following exposure to the virus, 90% of the infected people will have detectable antibodies. Within the average of 50 days, almost all patients develop liver cell injury which is indicated by elevated serum blood levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT).

Individuals infected with HCV are often unaware of the illness because most of the time they do not have specific symptoms, e.g., loss of appetite, abdominal pain or malaise. They are often found to have elevated liver enzymes on a routine blood test (i.e., ALT test). Others test positive for hepatitis C antibody during a blood donation. A more specific hepatitis C antibody test with a low false positive rate has been available since 1992. In general, elevated liver enzymes and a positive HCV antibody test indicate that an individual has chronic hepatitis C. Some patients (15-25%) may recover from acute hepatitis C, but their HCV antibody test may remain positive. A hepatitis C antibody test is the best way of determining if you have been exposed to HCV. A doctor or clinic can readily provide this test. An easy to use, FDA-approved hepatitis C test kit (Hepatitis C Check) can also be purchased online or by telephone. Other testing that may be performed includes RIBA, HCV RNA and other biochemical

  So yeah, 150 days is the longest time span, did you have 5 months completely clean, when you tested for your Hep C?
   In order for bleach to be effective, in cleaning a used syringe, a person has to use at least 3 different cups of bleach, and 3 seperate cups of rinse water, as well. Each time bleach is drawn up, it should be shook for over 40 seconds, and then discarded, and the process repeated all over again, with the new bleach and rinse water, etc, etc.
   Many people are fiending too hard, to take the time out, or they dont know. But that is good you bleached it anyway.

[nightbeacon]

Check with your local (here, its's the county) health department.  I suspect they can offer you a cheaper test.  It likely will only tell you if you have hep c antibodies.  If you do have a negative response, then you don't have to do additional testing (be sure to confirm their findings if it comes back poz).  I get the money thing!

The fact you acknowledge your fear and your prior drug use are truly brave things to do and I congratulate you on your sobriety and your courage.  I've been there, too. Many here have.

[BoceprevirGal]

I believe the Hep C virus can be seen by 3~6weeks post exposure. You could have another test, just to make sure. But like the poster above mentioned, the symptoms tend to take 20 yrs to appear, that is why Hep C is nick-named The Silent Killer: because it is so often asymptomatic. But I have also heard about many variations, so get another test, to rest your mind~

[curious8820]

I just turned 24 and I was only using IV for 2 years before i used that dirty needle. Thats the thing, im not on any medications that can cause numbness in both hands or have any symptoms of other illnesses that can cause both hands to go numb. But I also have no other symptoms that are associated with crygobulinemia like the skin rashes and everything. I know i just need to get tested its just so expensive and I already owe the hospital here so much money. I was just wondering if anyone on here has crygobulinemia and know if it happens early or later on with hep c. It's just annoying I've been clean for so long now and still having to deal with the stupid decisions i made, but I know i need to face them head on. thank you for your reply

[nightbeacon]

If it's been just a year, hep c should not be killing you.  I doubt you would even have symptoms that early. Depending on the your age and the length of time you used, I would guess you're more at risk for heart attack as indicated by numbness. Or you need a good chiropractor!  Are you on any prescriptions that can cause peripheral neuropathy, which is essentially nerve damage?