Aa
Tx and heart disease
I just found this site and while this question may have been asked before, I will ask again. I am 52 with HepC, stage 2, and I have coronary artery disease. I had 3 stents in one artery put in a year ago. I am feeling pretty well, muscle/joint/skin pain and fatigue for the last several years, but it's tolerable. The liver doc thinks I should start the tx soon. She said it is harder to clear as you get older. The fact I have heart disease is a concern she said and will have to closely monitor my red blood count. I am so torn as to what to do. I am scared of having chest pain/heart trouble, but I am more afraid I think of depression/anxiety and such. I have a son with schizophrenia who lives with me and it is very stressful. He is very depressed and I can't see how I can care for him if I am as well. Sorry for the long ramble, I guess I'm curious if anyone else has gone through the treatment with heart disease and how did it go? When I read the common side effects of tx, I'm ok with that for the most part. But when I read the severe ones that can happen I have trouble. I know any medicine can have bad side effects, are these very likely? Ok, I'll close before I write a book:P Thanks for listening and any info you can send my way.
Thank you so much for the response. I am a 1a as well. I'm going to try and talk more with my cardiologist and get more info from him. Here I was working so hard to lose weight, exercise etc for my heart and now I worry how I'll keep up the exercise. But I've read some posts that some people manage to do something, maybe just not as much. I had concerns about all this medication and how it will interact, but I'm sure my liver doctor must know it's ok. Still a scary situation..for us all. I'm really happy you made it through and did well.
welcome to the group.
i too had a stent put in in 2005 and completed tx in 2007 ( 56 weeks ). i was closely followed but the cardioligist, my primary, my nurse pract as well as my hep specialist. i felt like a pin cushion towards the end of my tx due to weekly blood test to closely monitor my red and white cell counts that were getting dangerously low from the later part of tx. i had to make a decision if i wanted to continue for 16 more weeks and put myself in more danger. i chose to stop at 56 weeks due to the fact that i am a geno type 1a, and was a good responder i thought i had a good chance of clearing the virus. some issues you speak of can be treated during tx. it really depends on how you are responding.
as far the sides you asked about, each person responds differently. some have virtually no sides and some have the whole gambit of side effects. i worked thru my tx and did not have any deppresion issues, although i did cry thru commercials lol :O). some are pretty bad you know lol.
hang in there you are on the right track and you are in the right group. support is here as well as questions answered, and as you will find out in time you will be helping others such as youself. this place is contagious.
we are all in this together. : O )
i too had a stent put in in 2005 and completed tx in 2007 ( 56 weeks ). i was closely followed but the cardioligist, my primary, my nurse pract as well as my hep specialist. i felt like a pin cushion towards the end of my tx due to weekly blood test to closely monitor my red and white cell counts that were getting dangerously low from the later part of tx. i had to make a decision if i wanted to continue for 16 more weeks and put myself in more danger. i chose to stop at 56 weeks due to the fact that i am a geno type 1a, and was a good responder i thought i had a good chance of clearing the virus. some issues you speak of can be treated during tx. it really depends on how you are responding.
as far the sides you asked about, each person responds differently. some have virtually no sides and some have the whole gambit of side effects. i worked thru my tx and did not have any deppresion issues, although i did cry thru commercials lol :O). some are pretty bad you know lol.
hang in there you are on the right track and you are in the right group. support is here as well as questions answered, and as you will find out in time you will be helping others such as youself. this place is contagious.
we are all in this together. : O )
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