newly diagnosed

[Annee]

Hi all,
I found a lot of useful info on this forum. Thanks to all you people!
I am a 31 yr old female with Hep C diagnosed recently. I have type 1a, with  biopsy diagnosis of Stage I and grade II. I have a son and would like to have one more kid. I know that patients going through treatment should not become pregnant and wait for at least 6 months after treatment before trying to concieve. Plus Riba has severe teratogenic effects, so I am kind of scared to start the treatment. Has someone had babies after getting treated? Does the treatment effects one's fertility?

[fullofhope]

Maybe I overlooked this - but did you attempt to clear the virus with traditional meds or did you go right to the pot?

[CartoonsNChronic]

I was diagnosed with Hep C in August of 2002.  When I was 15 I came down with Hep A & Hep B............WHAT? Am I the poster child for Hepatitis??????

I am now 48..........my Doctor(s), my Mother and EVERYONE ELSE made the acusation that I used IV Drugs...............NOT....AND I PROVED IT.

What did I do about the Hep C????????  Well, never having to think about this posiblity before, I investigated Medical Marijuana on the Internet.  I discussed it with ALL my doctors.  None of them had any objection to my using it for "Medicinal Purposes"

Low and Behold.........after going through the legal red tape to obtain Medical Marijuana............the "quality" of my life has improved DRAMATICALLY.

Now, I don't condone "Legalization" of Marijuana.........what I do believe is "Don't Legalize.......PRESCRIBE"

Medical Marijuana is a SERIOUS & POTENT medication.  It should NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY.

But in my case it has been a life saver.

It allows me to eat.
It cures my chronic Nauesa.
It allows me to Sleep.
It allows me to be SO LAZY THAT I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO REST.

AND REST is EXACTLY what is required when you have any type of Hepatitis..............and YES, I have "rested" for a year.

My Hep C is, to the AMAZEMENT of my Doctors, under CONTROL.  I can only attribute this to the Rest I was able to get........without the "GUILT" for doing nothing but resting for a year.

I don't have to take any of the Hep C drugs.

I don't know if Medical Marijuana will help others, but it sure helped me.

I have, naturally, an abundance of energy..........NO DRUG COULD STOP MY ENERGY.........if I take a Valium, I can clean the entire house.............so you see, I NEEDED A MEDICATION THAT WOULD FORCE ME TO "REST"..........and Medical Marijuana was that "life saver".

I no longer have to put MAN MADE Chemicals in my body.

I am feeling so much healthier since I started using Medical Marijuana.

Say what you will, Think what you want...........IT HELPED ME!!!!!!!

[Tallblonde]

One of the other ladies on this board brought some interesting research to my attention a couple of weeks ago.  A study in Japan recently found that a "significant" number of women with Hep C (not on treatment) cleared the virus on their own after becoming pregnant and subsequently giving bith.  The theory is that their immune systems get boosted during pregnancy and in some cases (probably those with low viral loads) they're able to fight off the virus without treatment.  

Here's a link to the article (published last month) about the researh:

http://12.42.224.168/healthnews/reuters/20031016elin014.htm

If, for some reason you can't connect to it, just do a Google search with the following headline: Pregnancy Can Be Good for Women with Hepatitis C.

Susan

[Tallblonde]

See, your GI is recommending the same thing to you as mine are recommending to me.  That increases my comfort level even more.  But I certainly do understand your fears -- especially since you went through such a gut-wrenching experience with your mother.  However, I don't think your doctor or mine would tell us to postpone treatment if they really believed it posed a tremendous risk.  It would really be irresponsible of them to encourage us to bring children into the world if they didn't think we'd be around to raise them!

There's a GI phyician's assistant named Erin who regularly posts to this board (she's great).  She, like my GI's, also believes that having a baby is a reasonable route for me to consider taking. I'll bet she'd say the same thing in your case.

Susan

[Annee]

Thanks a lot Susan for sharing your experience. I am sorry to hear about your miscarriages. I hope that you'll be successful in your effort this year. I know it is very frustrating at times. I myself have been trying to concieve for the last 2 years, and had a miscarriage once. My mother recently died because of liver chirrosis. That's why everyone in my family got tested for Hep C. I was positive but thank God, my son and my husband are both negative. My viral load was 296,000 IU/ml, which I was told as being low. My liver functionality tests were normal also. I took opinion with 2 GIs and both suggested that I should go on with my life, have babies and after 5 years or so should think about getting tx. But when I remember my mother's pain and eventually her death, I get scared and get second thoughts...
My doc also said that interferon response is not usually good when liver functionality is normal... has anyone heard about this ?

[fullofhope]

Just read the article. It wasn't too informative, but the statement  "However, it may be relate to differences in how the immune system works during pregnancy compared with other times." is something I think I could open up with my doctor.  When he calls back with my blood test results I will mention this information to him and see what he says.

Wouldn't it be great (at least for women of child bearing age) if this were true? I will let you know what my doctor says...

[Annee]

Actually female body systems are quite complex. It may very well be true. At least I hope so... it would be great to get rid of this virus without painful therapy...

[fullofhope]

Hello - I just had my checkup with the hepc doctor...and he  told me the opposite about the immune system when you are pregnant.  He told me that now was a great chance (since I am pregnant) to see if the virus is in my body because the immune system has backed down a bit...so as to not attack the baby since it is made up of 1/2 of my husbands genetic makeup.

Just thought I would throw that out there.  It scared the **** out of me - I hope you are right!

[Tallblonde]

Hi Annee...welcome to the board.  I was recently diagnosed, too.  Like you, my genotype is 1a and my biopsy indicated that I'm a Grade 2, Stage 1.  My viral load is extremely low.

I'm seeing two GI's (one for a second opinion). Both of them are encouraging me to postpone treatment and focus on achieving my dream of having a baby (my husband and I are childless at age 44 after five miscarriages and one failed adoption during the past 30 months). Although it's highly likely that I'll miscarry again, I do feel compelled to give it one more try before fully committing myself to treatment. Although we haven't entirely decided what to do, we're leaning toward giving our baby-making plans six months.  If I'm not pregnant by next summer, we'll move on to do the treatment (and probably try the adoption route again).

I certainly can't advise you on what to do, but I thought my story might help you put things into perspective.  Whatever you decide, you have my very best wishes.

Susan