Thanks all of you for your replies. I have gone to the class, it just told me what i have already found out with my own reseach. I think I will wait for a while (but will talk to the doc) If I have had this for 24 years what the hell would 1 more year do ( hopefully nothing ) If these new meds and procedures are coming out. I will wait. Thanks again you all !!! PS The needle in my liver is not for me
Agree totally, on all counts, w/ AWM. I am @Stage 5 cirrhosis, yet my ultrasound is unremarkable. The gold standard for assessing cirrhosis is core liver biopsy, which can be be done via the transjugular route now, eliminating the guessing game of the old "pin the tail on the donkey" method of specimen gathering. My advice, expanding on AWM's would be to get your Genotype and a baseline viral load test done. Keep an eye on your regular chem panel liver labs ( ALT, AST, ALK-PHOS) at regular intervals. If any readings start to exceede normal limts, and/or you start feeling ill, then a good step, only recently available, is to get a FIBROSCAN scan ( made by Echosens) which is very similar to a normal ultrasound. That will give you a very good idea of how much, if any, cirrhosis you have developed. As far as treatment goes, unless your labs go way out of the normal ranges, or you begin feeling the chronic stages of the HCV infection, I would wait as long as possible. As good as the new generation of direct acting antivirals and advanced protease inhibitors are, they are going to get even better, more plentiful, and hopefully someday, cheaper. R&D costs are an issue, but these drugs that retail @ $1K per pill need to be made accessible to all, then fairly reimbursed according to the patient's financial means. It would save the insurance companies/Medicare/Medicaid in the long run to treat everyone at the earliest stage possible, thus eliminating the 20% of infected persons who will eventually develop liver cancer if left untreated. Be Well, mac790
Hi, have you gone to your class yet? I think that would help you a lot.
There is so much to learn.
How does your blood work look? If your doctor wants you to treat you probably should.
Take Care, Dee
Ultrasounds are not a good way to diagnose how much damage has been done to your liver. The ultrasound looks for lesions (masses). My ultrasound is basically normal, yet I have cirrhosis.
Treatment is a decision that you make with your physician. There are new drugs out now that are very successful, especially for people who have never treated before. So have a chat with your doctor and take it from there.