no symptoms of Hep C

[cwar]

Hi all,
I am very worried about my brother and I was hoping that this group could help me out with it.  He is 60 years old and has hep c and group 1a and that is about all I know of his disease.  I asked my sisterinlaw what he is doing about it and he said nothing. Nothing because his is "not active"?  Is this true? Someone could have hep c but it not be active so it is not causing any harm/scarring etc?  I told her last night after listening to many of you it is of the utmost importance to get onto treatment asap.  She told me he has no symptoms so his must not be active but I believed this was a silent killer and that you may not see the symptoms but they are occurring silently and steadily until one day you end up with Cirrohsis/Cancer/Dead do I have that right?  Should he get treatment also?

[AmeliaFufu]

     You are very correct when you say silent killer.  I am unsure what she means by not active, but I think they are both in denile.  They need to see someone who specializes in working with Hep C.  Not their regular physician!  Once they get a full set of tests run they will be able to work with their health care provider on an appropriate plan.  Doctors that specialize in hematoligy, might be one direction to go.  I know others will get on line and give you very good ideas and directions.  Best of health and Luck to all of you.  Don't be scared you have a big community of people here to support you all.
Ameliafufu

[PegOnPeg]

It is certainly possible to be infected & have the virus innactive...I believe these are the ppl that clear the virus on their own...they are a small pecentage, but some ppl DO clear the virus on their own.

We will always test positive for the virus..even after successful treatment, it will be a matter of if the virus is active or not.

There aren't always symptons..I personally had none...I stumbled into this. My fibrosis is Stage 2 - 3..pretty significant damage for having no idea I was infected...I felt great, until I started treating : )

You might be worrying too much..he might be correct...he might be just fine..

[GreatBird]

I disagree with Peg. If he has a genotype then he has active virus. The people who have cleared the virus have no quantifialble virus and so don't have anything to pull a genotype from.

The hep C virus is never inactive. He should see a hepatologist for a current assessment of his liver health, and keep an eye on things--or treat if the condition of his liver warrants it.

[Marc1955]

You are basically right and GreatBird has given you good advice. People with HCV are often asymptomatic. That doesn't mean the liver damage is not progressing. There is no such thing as "not active" HCV. You either have the virus or not.

There's one thing you said that I would correct – until your brother has a series of tests, most importantly a liver biopsy – you won't know whether he needs to treat a.s.a.p. He may be one of the fortunate ones with little liver damage. If that is the case, given recent developments, he might make a decision to hold off treating for a few years. It probably doesn't help things to feel alarmed and think he needs to do something quickly. HCV progresses slowly and it takes time to get all the tests and inform oneself about medical options. Based on what you said, you have good reason to believe your brother and sister in law are burying their heads in the sand. That is not a good idea. But until he begins to get tests, you won't know the urgency of the situation. It's good to approach the situation calmly and patiently.

[portann]

Cwar: "I told her last night after listening to many of you it is of the utmost importance to get onto treatment asap."
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It's not at all of the utmost importance to start treatment as soon as possible! Only in the case of acute hepatitis is it important to treat asap.

The best thing for him to do, especially as a 1A, is to arrange a liver biopsy in order to stage and grade his level of liver disease caused by HCV. Until he has this critical information, there is no way he and his doctor can make an informed decision about whether to treat now, watch and wait or perhaps not treat at all, if he has little scarring and more urgent health complications. As a sixty year old male, his risk for CVD may be higher than his risk for cirrhosis and all this has to be weighed with his doctor through informed decisions, beginning with a liver biopsy.

He should make an appointment with a hepatologist and schedule a biopsy. It's quick and really easy for almost everyone. He and his doctor can then come up with a customized plan for his situation.

[fretboard]

Sometimes ppl use the term "inactive" and the way they are using the word is that they are not infected.  They test positive, but there is no viral load.  No viral load, means no damage.  I have the same situation with my brother, I don't know if he's bsing me or not.  I got tired of asking him, so I don't worry about it anymore.  good luck

[nygirl7]

If he has a positive viral load than it is not "inactive" that word in itself makes no sense at all when you think about it.  If he had NO VL then he would not HAVE hepC...so what she says makes no sense at all.  

I had absolutely NO symptoms when I was diagnosed I was shocked.  When I went and got my biopsy and found out that I was already at stage 3 I was REALLY shocked!

If his biopsy somehow were to show after all these years he had minimal liver damage and has living a liver healthy lifestyle than he would not "have" to treat necessarily but he would have to make sure that he is checked out every few years to see how far the damage has progressed.  Liver damage does progress - he has to be responsible about this and investigate.

Just pretending it's "inactive" isn't going to stop it from doing its dirty work.

Ask her if he had cancer if they would say it's "inactive" and just leave it at that? If he thinks he won't die because he has no symptoms..............well let me tell you from experience of two friends dying of this disease - end stage liver disease has LOTS of symptoms and certainly when it's too late he will know it.