hepitis carrier what is this?

[mamaleoni]

I have been giving blood for 25 years but this year they told me i was a hepitis carrier and when i asked them what this was they said ask your doctor and he said be careful who have sex with .help me to understand

[mamaleoni]

thank-you Kalio1. I did call today but they are closed until monday.I was surprised it is located at ASU, since I received my degree for criminal justice there.Meanwhile, I have been doing massive research on all factors of hep and it seems scary. Iam hoping I do not have it, what do I tell the boyfriend? He will think I was unfaithful to him and I always been true to him, I do not want him to leave me, we are going to be married next year.Any-way we all have our problems, Have a great turkey day and thank-you again for all your help!

Sincerely, Gina

[Kalio1]

I found this information about health care if you are uninsured in Phoenix, Az.

http://nursing.asu.edu/anc/btc/index.htm

You can also contact your local health dept. for information on testing services for infectious diseases such as hepatitis.

Good luck with it, let us know what ou find out. If you are positive there are patient programs than can assist you in paying for the medications. You apply and they supply them for free. When you find out your results check back here for more info.

take care, good luck to you. We now have over 40 million uninsured Americans so you are not alone.

[mamaleoni]

thanks for the response. I need to find a place where I could get the right testing done, problem being i have no insurance but I could pay weekly. Anyone who could give me any infor? I live in Phoenix,Az.If i do find out that in fact i have hep, my live is not miserable, i have a wonderful daughter who loves me very much and a great family who supports myself in all aspects of my life,LOL.

Sincerely,Gina

[mamaleoni]

thank-you everyone for replying to my question. The doctor said I do not have hepitis but iam a carrier of it, he says i could give it to other people but iam not diagonized with it. Wow , is that so wierd. I did find out through my brother john has it. He called from chicago freaking out. could this be something that was inherited from mom or dad? I had boyfriend of 10 years checked and he is fine, so whats up with that , if this is sexually transmitted? so does these mean my daughter has it too, i cant figure this out because she gives blood every 3 months and they except it

[Jimmy1971]

Thanks for the link. are you worried yourself about your hep b? are you leading a normal life? have you ever tried anything to cure yourself? how long have you been inactive for?

I am jst new to this and feel scared!! Always thanks to you. Jim

[jboyhk]

First of all, being an inactive carrier for the rest of you life is considered a very good prognosis. Extremely unlikely your liver will progress to cirrhosis. The only risk is liver cancer and that usually happens late in life and the risk is small < 1%.

They best 'cures' for inactive carriers involve causing the immune system to 'wake up' and reattack the virus. They are called 'therapeutic vaccines'. They are still along way off though if they even do work.

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/hep_b/treatment_chart.html

This page shows all the drugs in the present and future that are coming up for HepB

[cuteus]

if it is hep c, that infection is not referred to with the 'carrier' label.  You are either infected or not, no carrier status.  Hep c can damage your liver, whether you have symptoms or not, as long as you have a viral load in the blood and the liver.

[jboyhk]

Jimmy,

Sit down and ask yourself what is the worst that can happen to you if you have inactive HepB.

I want to know your answer first and then we will look at other things in life you should be more worried about.

[Jimmy1971]

Hi jboyhk

what hope is there for inactive carriers in terms of drugs? do you think there will be some drugs for us in the near future?

[jboyhk]

It could also be HepC, we just don't know from the info she gave us.

The only good thing about either virus is that only about 25% eventually develop problems and the problems usually take decades to develop.

[Jimmy1971]

welcome to hep b world. it means that you are infected by a virus called hepatitis b. This virus attacks the liver. you need to see a doc soon to find where you are at. Hope it is not a big deal. Jim