Aa
not coping well
Hi Everyone,
I've been reading all of the posts and I wanted to find out if I could get rid of some of this awful anxiety I'm feeling. I recently have had some routine bloodwork done and noticed that the ALT and AST was slightly elevated. Last year in july I had some back surgery and the doc mentioned to me that the ALT and the AST were what he termed "slightly elevated" and he said it wasn't bad enough to not do the surgery and he brushed it off. ALT last year was 84 and AST was 63. Well the surgery failed and I spent 9 months trying to find a neurosurgeon who could do it right. Some of the pre-op MRI's showed a possible problem with hypertension so I went back to my primary and he repeated the bloodwork and said the same thing this year about the ALT and AST. This year it was even lower at ALT 49 with normal at 40 and AST at 44.
He ordered a hepatitis panel probably because he was nervous about the doc who messed up the surgery and it came back as reactive to hep c. Now he wants me to have a PCR on Monday.
The irony of this is that in 1983 my now ex-husband developed symptoms of joint pain, jaundice, fever, anorexia, dark urine and was diagnosed with "non-A, non-B" hepatitis. His enzyme levels were off the charts at that time. My children and I were given gamma globulin, he recovered and we never thought another thing about it.
To add more to the anxiety, obviously the family came apart and my life got very complicated and I did more than my share of fairly heavy drinking for several years. I still do enjoy a bottle of wine daily even though that's a lot less than I used to have. Reading how very damaging drinking alcohol can add to the damage of hep c, if it turns out positive, I fear the damage.
I'm not symptomatic at all, but I'm scheduled to go into surgery again for a severe back problem that the doc says the surgery will take the whole day and HE will need a drink when he's done. I will need major pain medication and recuperation will take months. I don't know what to do now.
Thanks for letting me sound off. I know that it is what it is and there are obviously a lot of people out there much worse off than me. thanks again
Judy
I've been reading all of the posts and I wanted to find out if I could get rid of some of this awful anxiety I'm feeling. I recently have had some routine bloodwork done and noticed that the ALT and AST was slightly elevated. Last year in july I had some back surgery and the doc mentioned to me that the ALT and the AST were what he termed "slightly elevated" and he said it wasn't bad enough to not do the surgery and he brushed it off. ALT last year was 84 and AST was 63. Well the surgery failed and I spent 9 months trying to find a neurosurgeon who could do it right. Some of the pre-op MRI's showed a possible problem with hypertension so I went back to my primary and he repeated the bloodwork and said the same thing this year about the ALT and AST. This year it was even lower at ALT 49 with normal at 40 and AST at 44.
He ordered a hepatitis panel probably because he was nervous about the doc who messed up the surgery and it came back as reactive to hep c. Now he wants me to have a PCR on Monday.
The irony of this is that in 1983 my now ex-husband developed symptoms of joint pain, jaundice, fever, anorexia, dark urine and was diagnosed with "non-A, non-B" hepatitis. His enzyme levels were off the charts at that time. My children and I were given gamma globulin, he recovered and we never thought another thing about it.
To add more to the anxiety, obviously the family came apart and my life got very complicated and I did more than my share of fairly heavy drinking for several years. I still do enjoy a bottle of wine daily even though that's a lot less than I used to have. Reading how very damaging drinking alcohol can add to the damage of hep c, if it turns out positive, I fear the damage.
I'm not symptomatic at all, but I'm scheduled to go into surgery again for a severe back problem that the doc says the surgery will take the whole day and HE will need a drink when he's done. I will need major pain medication and recuperation will take months. I don't know what to do now.
Thanks for letting me sound off. I know that it is what it is and there are obviously a lot of people out there much worse off than me. thanks again
Judy
I guess you know that alcohol can do as much damage as hep c.
alcohol raises alt and ast too
seems your giving your liver a double whammy with the daily bottle of wine and the hep c.
alcohol raises alt and ast too
seems your giving your liver a double whammy with the daily bottle of wine and the hep c.
I am so sorry for your troubles, sounds as though life has been hard for you. Anxiety is so hard to deal with but I find if I get anxious, I break things down in pieces and deal with one issue at a time. The first thing to do is stop drinking & then get that PCR test. There's no easy way to do this, but you have to take control of your life and your body, research the links posted here for answers to gaps in your knowledge base.
One of things in life you do have control over is what you put into your body, eat well and drink gallons and water. There's a good chance you can regain good health but you have to want it.
Very best of luck to you..
One of things in life you do have control over is what you put into your body, eat well and drink gallons and water. There's a good chance you can regain good health but you have to want it.
Very best of luck to you..
If you have hep c, it could be causing your back problems. If you have hep c, you may have been exposed as long ago as your husband's bout w/non-a-non-b- hep c which is hep c. That's what they called it. A gamma shot won't kill the virus.
Hep c caused bleeding problems, healing problems, mental problems and heavy drinking only is adding jet fuel to the fires raging w/in you-your whole body is affected-its a blood disease and is in every single cell in your body that blood flows too.
The virus's fav food fuels are alcohols and cocaine is up there too. I think the virus sets up some cravings for its fuel. Even when we really don't want it. The virus demands jet fuel!
You have to treat this serious, progressive fatal disease. I was told that its A no its not A its B onits non a b/maybe b--and all along it was hep c, transfused in 1967. I never had a or b. only c. All those other diagnosis were false and cost me time and liver.
I went into complete liver failure after a near fatal esophical bleed. I never had a clue that I had pasted thru all the grades and stages of both fibrosis and cirrhosis. I was seeing doc's, checking into Betty Ford-they missed the hep c also-having a shrink for 6yrs to treat the depression. I wasn't like I was unaware that something was drastically wrong-this was in the '80's and early '90's-before there was a test for hep c.
I just assumed I was always going to feel that way. I had terrible back problems, headaches, depression, memory problems, water gain-all put down to divorce, menapause, etc. My hands were so crippled I couldn't open a door, much less a water bottle.
That's all gone. When told I was going to die in a few days if I made it thru the nite, then given a few weeks maybe more if I didn't drink and then I was dx w/hep c. That was 3 yrs ago and I've never had nor wanted a drink since. I just quit. My partner is a jazz muscian in smokey clubs from Paris to Cabo and it is no problem for me. I don't give a damn what other people do to their livers, I know mine can't take anymore abuse.
I suggest you get serious about healing your liver and killing the virus thru treatment and then go into that complicated surgery. The surgical drugs alone could kill you. Your liver maybe too sick to handle them and shut down. Never mind the pain meds, even used correctly.
Also, have your children tested for hep c. there are several-snookman is one-on this forum who were infected by parents.
If you and your ex both have the same genotype, there is a strong possibility that you infected each other. If not, its 2 different infections.
Those #'s do nto show the true extend of damage. Only that you have a chronic, progressive fatal disease.
Hep c caused bleeding problems, healing problems, mental problems and heavy drinking only is adding jet fuel to the fires raging w/in you-your whole body is affected-its a blood disease and is in every single cell in your body that blood flows too.
The virus's fav food fuels are alcohols and cocaine is up there too. I think the virus sets up some cravings for its fuel. Even when we really don't want it. The virus demands jet fuel!
You have to treat this serious, progressive fatal disease. I was told that its A no its not A its B onits non a b/maybe b--and all along it was hep c, transfused in 1967. I never had a or b. only c. All those other diagnosis were false and cost me time and liver.
I went into complete liver failure after a near fatal esophical bleed. I never had a clue that I had pasted thru all the grades and stages of both fibrosis and cirrhosis. I was seeing doc's, checking into Betty Ford-they missed the hep c also-having a shrink for 6yrs to treat the depression. I wasn't like I was unaware that something was drastically wrong-this was in the '80's and early '90's-before there was a test for hep c.
I just assumed I was always going to feel that way. I had terrible back problems, headaches, depression, memory problems, water gain-all put down to divorce, menapause, etc. My hands were so crippled I couldn't open a door, much less a water bottle.
That's all gone. When told I was going to die in a few days if I made it thru the nite, then given a few weeks maybe more if I didn't drink and then I was dx w/hep c. That was 3 yrs ago and I've never had nor wanted a drink since. I just quit. My partner is a jazz muscian in smokey clubs from Paris to Cabo and it is no problem for me. I don't give a damn what other people do to their livers, I know mine can't take anymore abuse.
I suggest you get serious about healing your liver and killing the virus thru treatment and then go into that complicated surgery. The surgical drugs alone could kill you. Your liver maybe too sick to handle them and shut down. Never mind the pain meds, even used correctly.
Also, have your children tested for hep c. there are several-snookman is one-on this forum who were infected by parents.
If you and your ex both have the same genotype, there is a strong possibility that you infected each other. If not, its 2 different infections.
Those #'s do nto show the true extend of damage. Only that you have a chronic, progressive fatal disease.
Tough one! I'm pasting below some URL's about nutritional approaches to quitting drinking that I sent a friend a few months back. In my view it's not just an issue of will power, although the first step is to resolve to put alcohol far behind you and then keep it there. People with HepC just don't have any leeway in this regard. Miracle Grow, gasoline -- all the analogies are accurate. No one said it was fair--I live a short drive away from California's wine country and believe me, I wish I could still enjoy a good Cabernet. But NOT.
on N-Aceytl Cysteine (NAC):
http://www.ceri.com/alcohol.htm
on Magnesium:
http://www.coldcure.com/html/dep.html
on Glutamine:
http://www.lowcarbnexus.com/LGlutamine_Article.htm
http://judymcfarland.com/slowbrainaging.shtml
http://www.stress-cocchi.org/drugs8.htm
http://www.doctoryourself.com/alcoholism.html - good pep talk and clear protocol -- recommends multiple _grams_ of the B-vitamins daily
etc.! Google away!
For good vitamin and S-ame prices: http://www.smartbomb.com
For milk thistle of very high quality at low price: http://www.liverfriend.com
For liver repair: Milk Thistle. Take in powdered form; liverfriend's product is pharmaceutical grade.
If you'd like any input on herbal approaches to controlling anxiety, I'll be glad to share what I know.
The anxiety is going around, by the way. It's been a very tense week for a lot of people. You're not alone, Judy -- just keep remembering that.
on N-Aceytl Cysteine (NAC):
http://www.ceri.com/alcohol.htm
on Magnesium:
http://www.coldcure.com/html/dep.html
on Glutamine:
http://www.lowcarbnexus.com/LGlutamine_Article.htm
http://judymcfarland.com/slowbrainaging.shtml
http://www.stress-cocchi.org/drugs8.htm
http://www.doctoryourself.com/alcoholism.html - good pep talk and clear protocol -- recommends multiple _grams_ of the B-vitamins daily
etc.! Google away!
For good vitamin and S-ame prices: http://www.smartbomb.com
For milk thistle of very high quality at low price: http://www.liverfriend.com
For liver repair: Milk Thistle. Take in powdered form; liverfriend's product is pharmaceutical grade.
If you'd like any input on herbal approaches to controlling anxiety, I'll be glad to share what I know.
The anxiety is going around, by the way. It's been a very tense week for a lot of people. You're not alone, Judy -- just keep remembering that.
Thank you all for your kind and helpful and. forceful realistic words. I have resolved to stop drinking. My ex by the way is 57 and in good health and even with a new partner. I have no idea if he even has given his bout with this virus another thought. My mother actually died at age 56 from cirrhosis caused by biliary atresia.
BTW what will the ramifications of my insurance be when they get word of these results? I'm self employed and get my insurance privately. I feel like I've been kicked in the gut but your support really helps.
Judy
BTW what will the ramifications of my insurance be when they get word of these results? I'm self employed and get my insurance privately. I feel like I've been kicked in the gut but your support really helps.
Judy
Someone here once said, "Why borrow trouble?" and these words actually got through my thick cranium & stuck with me. Yes, the insurance ramifications could be unpleasant, no doubt about that. But just take it one step at a time. You can't take on the whole thing at once. Work on the drinking issue, get a liver-friendly protocol in place, get your biopsy done, etc. etc., and then worry about the real world caca. Without your health, nothing else will be possible--even dealing with cretin bureaucrats. And who'd want to miss out on that fun?
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