Belly Fat from Hep C

[kittyluvr420]

I contracted hep c in 2000 but wasn't dx until 2011. In 2000 I started getting a big fat deposit on my belly. I assumed it was from middle age & excessive alcohol intake. I lost 25 lbs 4 years ago, but the fat on my belly never went away. I was running, doing zumba, eating all whole, healthy foods, I got very thin everywhere but my belly. I gained 15 lbs right from the beginning of tx.I successfully completed 24 weeks of triple tx 6 months ago. I started zumba 2 months ago but I couldnt make it thru the whole class until a couple of weeks ago. I now weigh 125 like I did before tx & the belly fat has completely dissappeared. I know fibrosis is fatty liver (I was stage 3).

Is belly fat a symtom of hep c?  

[kittyluvr420]

I got down to 100 pounds, I am 5'6". It was terrifying! Medical mj helped with the anorexia. I was so nauseated I almost starved to death. I am now 107 and bodybuilding, taking acting lessons, ballroom dance, and I am the happiest I've ever been in my life.

[kittyluvr420]

I am so thankful I got tx in time. I was very sick for 13 years. Since this post my life has had so many ups and downs. 2013 was the worst and best year of my life. I got diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and dementia. All from a car accident in 1987 when a semi rear ended me sitting at a light (it was going 60 mph). Then I got assaulted by a gang of 10 people as I was walking alone to the rest room at a movie theater, still recovering from tx and very weak and emotional. Then the entire police dept. in the city I lived in started harassing me ( a senior citizen) and telling me it never happened, had a nervous breakdown, several, started getting lost in my own neighborhood from the dementia caused by the 20 seizures I was having daily. Then I had a severe allergic reaction to the anti seizure meds, lost 25 MORE pounds and had involuntary anorexia for 8 months. Ruptured my breast implants in the assault and had to have surgery to remove them. I had every brain test/scan showing left front lobe damage. I got down on my knees and poured my heart out to God and prayed like I've never prayed before. I went to The Little Chapel in Paradise Valley, AZ, where I was healed instantaneously when the pastor, Sara O'Meara called out a healing of a brain injury. My seizures stopped that moment on September 29, 2013. I have been back to the Dr and he is baffled!!! I swear on every bible in the world this is true. Ask and ye shall receive! I told God I live my life by the 10 commandments, I honor him in everything I do. I said "YOU OWE ME"! HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES! I wrote my testimony on my FB last Christmas. Our God is Good! God Bless all and praying for those still tx or waiting to tx.

[Sovaldi13Newbie]

Oh forgot to thank you for starting the thread! My focus is pretty bad. ;-)

[Sovaldi13Newbie]

forgot to add that I got so much from your posts, the fact that you said you feel so much younger and full of energy gives me the inspiration I need!!!

[Sovaldi13Newbie]

thanks so much Danny for your post! I'm one of those people who DID have more than a few symptoms from Hep C, I think this disease is all over the place in the way it hits people. My hepotologist think that perhaps some of the symptoms are caused by a person putting up an immune response to a virus attacking ones liver. I had/have (because I'm on treatment now) fatigue, sometimes crashing fatigue, very bad water retention, brain fog that would hit me intermittently as to severity, sometimes my vision was a little blurry, and sometimes an ache in my side, also moderate depression that I handled very successfully with guided imagery tapes and light yoga. But I used to be somewhat of a jock doing 13 mile hikes and running in the morning 3 miles. Those days were over 10 years ago once I started getting symptomatic of the disease, which I've probably had for 30 years or so.

But then I know some people who had no symptoms of the disease and they went into cirrhosis without even knowing they had the disease. My doc says perhaps because some people's systems don't put up a big immune response to the disease, so no symptoms, but she said everyone is different. No two people are exactly alike.  

[Dannyboi7]

You're very welcome and all the best to you on your journey.

[Bbc123]

Thank you Danny.    I will look into the new treatments.   I feel great , but I know it's there.  
Best.  Bp

[Dannyboi7]

Hi Bp

I can only speak for myself.I was a Genotype 3 and did a SOC treatment 2012 which consisted 24 weeks on peginterferon and ribavirin,the treatment worked and I got rid of the virus.If you want that the best thing to do is go for a treatment hat best suits you,something you would need to discuss with a specialist such as GI or hepatologist.This thread is a bit dated,its over a year old,there are new drugs now with lesser side effects and lesser periods of time to take them.


All the best to you

[Bbc123]

I'm so happy to see so many people feeling better.    What treatment are you talking about? Thank you.   Bb

[HCVinPDX]

I'm starting treatment very soon.  I just want to say thanks to those who continue to share their inspirational stories post-treatment.  I've felt like crap for so long and really look forward to the day that I feel 20 yrs. younger!  

[BoceprevirGal]

  Wow, Zumba, amazing, and a great job getting your belly fat off!  Mine has gotten worse, and actually hangs, so a Zumba class is in order for me now.
   I mainly cycle and walk, to burn calories, but that isn't helping my flabby belly.
   I have gotten rid of my muscle cramps though, and I am now able to jog again.  As my Hep C progressed, it felt like I had lead legs, and now that sx is gone :)
   Happy NewYear Kitty, Danny and all~

[Dannyboi7]

  Belly fat being gone is great but my favorite is fatigue being gone ,its great to go through out my days without having to take naps.I feel twenty years younger.


Al the best in this new year with your hep c free new life.

[kittyluvr420]

Thank you, Hector.

Dannyboi, I started having all those problems in 2000. I had psorriasis on my scalp, fatigue, bad digestion,environmental allergies, muscle spasms, allergies, they're gone!!!! Even the cellulite on my legs is less visable. I was just thankful I cleared the virus, so this is a gift I wasn't expecting.

Happy New year!

[Dannyboi7]

   Many like me will tell you yes,I tried everything and it wouldn't go away,now post treatment all gone...I had about the same experience as you and heard so many say the same and of course a few other symptoms such as itchyness,chronic fatigue,bad digestion,environmental allergies,mood swings,muscle spasm,water retention..now post treatment all that is gone.I always associated most of those things with me getting older,never crossed my mind it could have been the hep C.

[HectorSF]

"Is belly fat a symptom of hep c?"  
No. Most people with chronic hepatitis C has no symptoms. That is why most people with hepatitis C never suspect there are infected. It is usually only when advance liver disease develops gue to the virus infect over decades that people have symptoms from their liver disease, not directly from the hepatitis C virus itself.

"I know fibrosis is fatty liver (I was stage 3)."

Fatty Liver Disease is a disease that can cause fibrosis. Fibrosis is the liver’s response to injury. In the same way as skin and other organs heal wounds by making collagen, so the liver repairs being injured by making new collagen. Stage 3 fibrosis means that collagen has replaced liver cells from the portal area to the central vein of the liver lobules. Over time this process can result in cirrhosis of the liver, in which the architectural organization of the functional units of the liver becomes so disrupted that blood flow through the liver and liver function become disrupted.

I just posted a graphic showing the stages of liver disease according to the Metavir scoring system showing the growth of collagen within the liver lobule as fibrosis (collagen growth) occurs.

Glad to hear your treatment cured you of hepatitis C.
Stay healthy.
hector.