joining the.club, coming out of hiding

[AylaStarseeker]

Battling hep c now, was already battling addiction, depression, fibromyalgia, spinal degeneration/facet joint syndrome/hip degeneration/mh issues/heart rythym issues/more.....feeling scared, unsupported. Irl.friends don't get it, to them i'm lazy and a welfare cheat who should just go back to work.

The kicker? Im not.even thirty yet.

I don't know what my actual question is. Just intro I guess. Hugs to all and healing.thoughts.

[Livinontheedge]

You are Not alone.   I know for me addiction to pain meds was a big struggle, and I was an IV Drug user.  But with a unconditional loving support system, I managed to gain back my life and go forward.  It has been 22 years that I have been clean now.   However the big bonus I got from my drug usage was HCV.   I was diagnosed shortly after I became clean off of drugs, which put me into a big panic.    I had all the bloodwork done, and got Geno typed, and went on with my life for 10 years ignoring it , and just kept on keeping on.   Then in 2002, I dropped my basket and ended up in a psych ward for about a season, battling with depression, anxiety, and a major breakdown.   My body was tired, I was totally ignoring what it was telling me.   Since then I have been diagnosed with other physical ailments, mostly neck & spine problems and everything that comes from abusing your body.   My GI would not allow me to go onto TX for HCV because of not being mentally stable with depression, and he made me wait.   With all this I am glad I did wait, I am a GT 1a, and I am on my 7th week of triple therapy tx with Inc.   My 1st 4 week labs came back UND, and with all Hope and Prayer I will achieve SVR.    
Dont give up,  Keep going forward, you are thinking about his now, so it is important to you.   You are not a gonner !   If I can get this far in my life, you can too !  I was 27 years old when I got clean.    There is plenty of life waiting for you and a healthy one too !  
This is the place to get unconditional support regarding your HCV and there are plenty of other site for addiction right here as well.       Thanks for sharing your story, and I hope to see you back on here.   Carrie

[AylaStarseeker]

I literally haven't had anything but a positive.blood test yet.but I am symptomatic. Blood work rounds start tomorrow. The thing that worried me the most is that I was taking huuuuuge doses of Tylenol and codeine, trying to mask my withdrawals because my previous doctors wouldn't even deal with my addiction at all. Now I am back with an old doctor who Is awesome, she's given me straight codeine without the Tylenol as maintenance for now(i'm in list for methadone, and I cannot touch dilaudid because.I WILL NOT keep my use normal and I,know that)but I know the year almost of Tylenol probably did some damage.no biopsy yet, eek, is it painful? I have not IVd dilaudid in four months, but it is getting increasingly hard for me to justify staying away from it with this much pain going on. Just gotta hang.in there for methadone list I guess. I do not have a strong immune system thigh anyway, have always been sick alot...I do suspect some of my pain is related to liver issues like releasing enxymes.

[James10500]

Good job on battling the addiction !  

[ninjamonkey]

What is your genotype? And have you had biopsy?  We are here for you? Have you set doctor appointment with specialist yet?
I understand the extra problems I have fibromyalgia and I'm bipolar so if you need extra support I am here for you. By the way hep c can mask it self or some symptoms of hep c get diagnosed as some things if the proper test aren't run for example fibromyalgia symptoms are also hep c symptoms. Does that make sense?  Anyway get a specialist if you haven't yet and don't get to overwhelmed, one day at a time.  I'm under 30 yrs as well!

[AylaStarseeker]

Okay, my reply(if you see typos its because i'm on my cell)
I'm not sure what i'm looking for in the way of support. Commiseration on the days I feel like complaining, info, friendship, and people who can tell me "this is not the end".  People who understand. People who know of treatment info. Mostly just friendshipand understanding..

[AylaStarseeker]

Hi there,
Just reading this now, please hold!lol.

[libzo1]

What happened to this post?

[libzo1]

Dear one,
Hep C makes everything worse in such an insidious way that one doesn't realize they are under this debilitating burden.  Hep C is a curse, gentle at first but slowly growing in strength.  You are not alone and it is a great challenge we face together.  You have youth on your side and self realization.  I have faith in you.  I have faith in all of us here and those yet to come.  What else can one do?  Thank you for lighting your candle for us to know and add to our light of hope.  What do you have in mind to proceed?  How can I help?