Hepatitis C and cirrhosis of liver information

[chinmayp30]

Hello doc, my father is suffering from hepatitis c 3a type and cirrhosis of liver. His age is 54. He is on medications like threptin diskettes, zevit tab, gemcal 250. My question is " are there any side effects of these medicines?" Is this disease partially curable? What are the chances? He is very weak from past 1 month ,having severe pain in shoulder and arm. Also suffering from depression I think. Can you give me some advice on that. How can he improve energy of body?

[HectorSF]

We are not doctors. Only a doctor can diagnose and treat someone with hepatitis C and cirrhosis.

Whether these supplements and vitamins (not medicines) are harming his liver, only a doctor could say...
What we do know is that no supplements or vitamins will stop the daily damage being done to the liver by the hepatitis C virus. Nor will any vitamin or supplement repair the damage (cirrhosis) that has already done to his liver. Only by treating and curing the cause of liver disease, hepatitis C, can further damage to the liver stopped. And only by curing hepatitis C can a person’s liver begin to heal itself and any symptoms resulting from cirrhosis begin to improve.

Treating the hepatitis C virus, the cause of his cirrhosis, should be the first priority as far as his liver disease is concerned. Hepatitis C is a curable virus. The chances of cure depends upon which treatment he treats with. What treatment options are available in India I am not sure. Treating with one of the newer hepatitis C treatments (non-interferon based treatments) would be the best option in terms of best cure rate, less side effects and the newer treatments are safer for people with cirrhosis.

Regards, since he has cirrhosis he needs to be under the care of at minimum a gastroenterologist (a specialist in disorders of the gastrointestinal tract) to manage and monitor his cirrhosis including periodically screening him for liver cancer, as anyone with cirrhosis is at an increased risk of developing liver cancer. A very deadly cancer. An added benefit of curing his hepatitis C is it lowers the chance of developing liver cancer.

Severe pain in his shoulder and arm are not symptoms of cirrhosis so I can not speculate as to the cause. Whether he is suffering from clinical depression or not is again something only a doctor can determine and treat.

At a minimum he should see a gastroenterologist who works with people who are infected with hepatitis C and have cirrhosis of the liver. Without proper management and treatment cirrhosis only gets worse over time and in time can become life-threatening.

Best to your father.
Hector

[hepcandme]

Hi and welcome

I just want to be clear that we are not doctors - just patients with Hep C and cirrhosis. While some are Incredibly knowledgeable about these issues - having gone through it themselves, they will likely give you this response -

You really should ask your father's doctor about treatment and medications and side effects because everyone is different

That said, Hep C is more and more curable every day - lightyears from what treatment was available just 2 years ago

Cirrhosis, well, the jury is still out on that one. Some think that once the Hep C is gone, the condition of the liver will improve. We hope so but even during treatment, the live gets a vacation from the virus so all the more reason to consider treating

Depression can aggravate any chronic illness and even pain, so your dad's doctor should know about that as well

Good luck to you and your father! Make certain he has a good liver doc (a hepatologist) and see if treating for Hep C can begin soon