so confused plz some1 help me understand....PlEASE

[perilous68]

On July 20th I posted about my daughter. She had just gotten the call from the doc that she has hep C. She is 24 and had been presenting with yellow eyes, and brown urine. I have to say that you were all so helpful in calming me down because I was so upset and the doctor had very few answers for me. 2 weeks ago she went to the hep doctor, who took her blood and checked for her levels, it seems that she does have hep C but it's accute.....?!?!  I'm not quite sure exactly what this means, he said she will be fine and that her liver is already healing itself, but what does this mean for her future? She is in school for ultrasound, and I'm not sure if the accute goes totally away, or dormant, but will she have to choose another career path is my question.? I'm asking because in a few months she will have to sit for her flobattamie test, and I'm not sure if they will allow her to take blood from people? So basically my question is will she go into a national system if she has accute? Please know I'm am just so thankfull that she is ok, that if this has to be, I am ok with it, but I honestly don't know what to expect. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all and God bless.

[perilous68]

Thank you soo much. You All make me feel so much better when I read your responces!! I am praying she clears this out of her system, but IFFF  by some chance she dsnt, I feel a lot better because of what you all have taught me this far.!! I am so happy to have found you all, although i wish it was under different circomstances. God Bless you..! I prey for all of you and I thank god for being able to have had so much support and great advice from all of you. I appologize that any1 had to read that ridiculous response from Helpseeker, and I totally agree when you say we are all here to reasure eachother!!! We are scared and don't think clear, and we def don't need to be hearing anything so untrue, and scary!! I hope she takes all the advice from you and does educate herself better b4 she/he responds so neggatively to any1 else.!  Again thank you .......Renee

[tashka]

Perilous, other members gave you great responses. I hope that your daughter will be fine and will clear the virus on her own. Hopefully, no treatment will be needed, and even if she needs one, it is much easier to clear acute infection than the chronic one.

Helpseeker, why do you say such things? They have no basis in science, and make no sense at all. What do you mean "the next step is AIDS"? These two diseases are unrelated. Before posting such scary and untrue statements, please educate yourself. There are real people here who share difficult situations and need advice and help.

Your brother, friends, and relatives can say all kinds of things, but it doesn't mean these things are true and should be posted.

[perilous68]

I'm not sure where your brother got his FALSE information from, but he is wrong. True hepC is not something any1 wants, but if unfortuonately some1 does have it, it is NOT a step before AIDS !!! Most people with it live a long prosperous life. With a little knowledge, a good doctor, and some lifestyle changes most people do just fine.!! My advice to you if you have HepC is to stop listening to your brother, he obviously isn't educated in this area to be making such a BOLD statement to you..! Anything your unsure ofcan be answered here by these wonderful people. And they know what they are talking about.. I feel really bad that it's possible you may be going through this and possibly the people you lean on are not educated and scaring the crap out of you.! This is scary enough, without the added false information...! I wish you good luck, and I hope you take my advice and stop scaring yourself.......Renee

[perilous68]

I want to thank you, both you and Mike have really helped me understand a little better. We will be going back to the hep doc this week, and I plan on asking a lot of questions!! I really appreciate all of your help with this, I believe you also helped me out in july when this whole thing started. I really don't know what I would have done that day without all of you. I also thank you for clarifying to Helpseeker, that this is Not a step before AIDS...!! How that reply was to help me or anyone is a mystery to me..! She needs to talk to all of you and educate herself, before her brother makes her crazy.!  Once again THANK YOU, you will never know how thankfull I am to you all......  RENEE

[perilous68]

Thank you for responding so quickly to my post. I am very greatfull to you for all of the information you have shared with me. I think I have learned more from all of you, then I have from the doctor with no answers yet for me! She is going back to the hep doc this week, and I plan to ask lots of questions. I am hopefull that everything goes well. Again thank you. ....... Renee

[mikesimon]

Acute hep c simply means that she was infected less than 6 months ago. After 6 months it is referred to as "chronic hepatitis c". Acute hep c is much easier to successfully treat than is chronic hep c.
I am not quite sure what the doctor means when he says that "she will be fine and that her liver is already healing itself..."  If he is monitoring her viral load levels I suppose he might be seeing a downward trend but I have my doubts that he can say with confidence that she is healing herself at this stage. If she is, that is what is referred to as "spontaneous clearance". Some - 15 - 30% or so of infected people do spontaneously clear without treatment and this would be a great outcome.
One can achieve SVR (sustained viral responder) with treatment   - which basically means that the virus is not longer detectable in the blood (serum) 6 months after stopping treatment. Some of us patients and some doctors call SVR "cured". I do and I believe for all practical purposes we are cured when we achieve SVR.
"Dormant" isn't a word we use when discussing hep c. It is either detectable or it isn't detectable. When it isn't for a prolonged period of time we feel as though we are cured.
I wouldn't think that your Daughter would be excluded from ultrasound because of HCV. She will carry the antibodies for hep c for a long time - perhaps life - but with no detectable virus she is not a threat to anyone. Even with detectable virus hep c is a blood born disease and as such is not easily transmitted. It requires blood to blood contact so there is not a significant risk of transmission. HCV positive people can still work in the field of medicine.

Good luck,
Mike

[Trinity4]

Either her own immune system will fight the virus off or she will become chronic.  Her liver can never heal until the virus is no longer present in her blood.  I recommend you have her see a hepatologist now while she is still in the acute stage.  Most people who treat in the acute stage have a very high probability of eradicating the virus.  If she waits and does not treat there is always the likelihood of becoming chronic.

Many nurses, doctors, surgeons and health care workers continue practicing in their field who are infected with hepc.  You can't be discriminated against by the medical profession if you have hepc.  There are no restrictions on health care workers unless they have been shown to transmit the virus to patients.  This was clearly stated by our expert hepatologist Dr. Dietrich.

No helpseeker, the next step is NOT aids.

Trinity

[helpseeker1299]

I don't know what this thing is or what it is!!!!  Up until recently I had no idea!!!!  I am starting to wonder though.  Please see my entry!!  only the tip of the iceberg though!!!  My brother says the next step up is AIDS!!!!  I am starting to worry!!!