sgphil13:
I just want to say THANK YOU for defending our country!!!!! I appreciate the sacrifice you and your fellow soldiers are making. Get home safe. And have a great holiday season.
G
PS: Good luck with the tests and let us know the results.
That'll be kind of hard right now cause I'm in Iraq right now but when I get back to the states than I will go get my blood tested for HCV.
And thanks for everyone's advice and input, and expecoually your time.
you need to get a blood test to see if the virus is actually present. There's a chance that you were exposed to the virus and were able to clear it. If you have hcv, you need to find out the status of your liver function, viral count, etc so that you can make a decision regarding treatment. You should also avoid alcohol and substances that are toxic to your liver.
Go see you doc so you get piece of mind. good luck
The test was done two years ago and I was in the military (still am) and it was for donating my blood to Red Cross and they sent a letter saying that they can not except my blood because I have the antibody's to Hepititus C.
And thanks for your input, I realy apriciate it.
sgphil13:
It is my understanding that having an hcv+ antibody test alone does not necessarily mean you are contagious. It simply means you have been exposed to the virus. You might have been one of the lucky %20 or so that fights it off naturally. Also you say you were born with it; at what age did you have the positive hcv antibody test? If an infant is tested too soon they may test positive if their mother was infected because the mother's antibodies are still circulating in the child's blood. After a certain amount of time, the infant will no longer test positive.
In my opinion you should get a qualitative or quantitative hcv pcr test; if these are positive you are still actively infected, and therefore contagious. If you have no virus in your blood stream (and you are not currently on treatment), than you are likely not contagious (I am not a doctor or anything; again, just my understanding). If I were you, I would repeat the test a few times. You should take the tests and find out for yourself if you are chronically infected or not so you can take precautions for your own health like not drinking or taking medications harmful to the liver. If you are infected there is a lot you can do to help yourself, so don't be afraid of the results. Good luck.
G
are you hvc+ ? If you are hcv-, then no, you cannot infect anyone. If you are + then you can. The antibody is present because you were exposed to the virus. regardless of your hcv status. Most importantly, you need to find out if you are positive or not. Go get a blood test and avoid blood exposure regardless (you never know what someone else has either). Good luck.
By the way, just want to say 'hi' to everyone. I can't believe that almost 6 months have passed since my last tx! There are a LOT of newbies here. I don't post often because usually I don't have anything new to say. But, I get my 6 mo. pcr results on Jan 19 so I'm keeping my fingers x'd and hoping that Santa will bring me, along with everyone else, nothing but the BEST news.
btw, I'm enjoying have simple things like itch-free skin, hair (I look like a baby bird), normal cell counts, and walking up stairs without feeling like I'm having a MI or I'm gonna faint. Oh yea, saliva is a wonderful thing - you don't miss it until it's gone. I hope everyone is doing great and hanging in there. Things do get better :)
Maj Neni, you are almost done right????
Take care all, gwc