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viral load 330 million

hi I have been battling with a codeine pill addiction was a previous iv user now I have fronted to my doctor and he has told me I have a viral load of 350 million, I have no idea what this means but he said it is very high!!! Does any one else know about viral loads and have experience with this, I need to get myself off the pills quick smart cause this could have  aggravated my hep c,
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683231 tn?1467323017
Hi Ron

This is an old post originally started in 2011. To have better results in getting your post noticed so you can get more responses you could go to the top right side on the page and select the orange button "Post a Question"

Good luck
Lynn
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My viral load spiked from 500,000 to 35,000,000 i/u  Doctor wants to start me on Sovaldi/Ribavirin immediately

My liver panel numbers are still normal as is my other blood work. My liver biopsy only showed stage 1 fibrosis
Helpful - 0
2059648 tn?1439766665
Welcome to the forum.  You are posting on older threads for answers.  many of the people your directing your questions to.... aren't active participating in the forum.  You see the orange box in the heading of this page?  Post your question and get the answers your looking for.  

FYI:  your viral load could be 100 million and you could be at only stage 1.
Stage 1 means you have little to know liver damage.   Viral loads go up and down daily.  Your body is constantly fighting the Hep C virus.  So your viral load could be 18 million one day and 10 million the next.

DWBH
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Avatar universal
Penn1023... have you gotten any comment for your post?
I am in the same predicament right now. biopsy yesterday, so I am on the edge of my seat. all my labs look good. viral load is at 18 mil
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have 80 million viral load. Im on hydrocodone  bt-ibu instead of tylenol.  Whanyone know If opiates affect viral load?
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Avatar universal
I think Fretboard is right. Before I started treating I seemed to always be around the 15 million viral load. I started talking codeine//fiorcet  for headaches to stop aspirin because of my low platelets. My last blood test before starting treatment for the first time was over 3 million. I think your test was probably read wrong. My doctor has always knows about the codeine use and has not told me to stop.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for that it was a bit of a fright but my stomach has not been good along with other things but I have been struggling with addiction again for a bit all up in the 17 years of had had it I have only drunk alcohol three times but have had 7 years clean and a few years a year ago . My main demon being heroin but now the last year pills codeine. I have been detoxing every second day and bringing my self off them trying to get clean fast as I can't afford to be doing this any more particularly if I go on treatment. I am sick of addiction in all its form. I also think Hep c is killing a lot of people that have remained untreated. So its kind of serious hey.
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Avatar universal
Can you have cirrhosis and have normal platelets, albumin, alt, ast, ggt, Pt?
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Avatar universal
33  million sounds more like it. That is high but really means nothing until treating, then it is monitored to see how well treatment is working. It is no indication of how much damage has been done to your liver. Also the Alt is no indication of the condition of liver. Some people have normal test results and have cirrhosis others have high #'s and no damage. There is nothing linear about this disease. Different for everyone. As you know more tests are needed. If you can you should consult with a Hepatologist (liver specialist) .
Best of luck
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Also to follow up I have had hep c for 17 years and never new I was under any kind of strain cause you know why my alt levels have been pretty good last one 51, I have never had my liver checked properly so that bloody ALT score is useless cause how can I have a viral load like that and my ALT levels are normal. So I have heard it before you can't tell any thing until you have the scan which is how they do it in Australia here.
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Avatar universal
No guys I made a mistake in saying 350 million it was around 33 million not 350 million! So thats still really bloody high though!
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Avatar universal
I tried to get the hard copy and he said that no I couldn't  have it and then he said that I needed to collegiate information and he would write referral. My specialist appointment is on the 26 of october. I am not sure guys but he said it was real high and he said 33  million but sure to hope you guys are write cause I looked it up and that it is real high. Remember I am in Australia so maybe figures are different here. I really wanted a copy, the guy at the clinic I told him on the phone and he said that was high but did not seem shocked!!!
Helpful - 0
1739637 tn?1312323410
Yeah I agree it has to be an error. My Drs nurse told me mine was 147 million but when I looked at the tests it was 14,900,000 ...so it was almost 15 million but not 147 million. 15 million is still really high so I figure if I can get below 1000 on triple therapy at 4 weeks I will be good to go
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96938 tn?1189799858
300 mil is outside of all the viral load tests I've read about.
Helpful - 0
1747881 tn?1546175878
This web page will explain hcv viral load for you

http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/Basics/Viralload_09.pdf
Helpful - 0
408795 tn?1324935675
Yes, 350 million is way too high, I suspect there must have been a mis-understanding.  That said, the codeine is a habit you can no longer afford to deal with.  All opiates will force replication of the virus.  Which means your viral load should be higher than normal but I don't think it should be that high.  Time to get real and find out how sick you really are.  That means, find a way to get away from the pills and find out what condition your condition is in.  good luck!!  


http://amjpathol.highwire.org/cgi/content/full/167/5/1189

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1747881 tn?1546175878
80 million is very very high, log 10 scale only goes to 99,750,000 so unless they have developed a new scale it was misread
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1717054 tn?1316712653
My first instinct also was that it was misread.  Just didn't want to dismiss the possibility that it could be true, no matter how unlikely it seemed. My pharmacist said that 80 mil was very very high, but the man did clear.  
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1747881 tn?1546175878
*[HCV-RNA (qPCR)-negative] is defined as less than 100 copies/ml of Hepatitis C
viral RNA as measured by the National Genetics Institute assay.
200,000 to 1,000,000 low

1,000,000 to 5,000,000 medium

5,000,000 to 25,000,000 high

above 25,000,000 very high

Helpful - 0
1253246 tn?1332073310
I too think theres a mistake on the reading.I dont even think theres a test that goes up that far,I would get hard copies of the labs.  cindy
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979080 tn?1323433639
That`s why we keep preaching GET A HARDCOPY of each and every result.
When I was first dx I was told I had a VL of 2 million. I told them I need it
in writing and to please fax me  a copy of lab result asap.
Turns out my GP at the time misread it . It really was 200,000.
But not only that he gave me the copies/ml and not IUs.
So my actual VL was only 38k IU/ml.

b
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Avatar universal
I too think that the vl was misread. May be the actual number is 3.3 or 33 mil.
Helpful - 0
179856 tn?1333547362
I've never seen one that high before in all the years I've been here....
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Is it possible he misread it and it is really 35 mil?  Just curious.
Helpful - 0
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