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HCV from snorting-is it a real and big risk?
Hi all!
I would like to have some answers concerning Hep. C. Is it really true that you can get hep C from snorting too? Is there real scientific evidence? How risky is it compared to injecting drug use? I have snorted ONCE using the same bill my friend had used earlier (1 hour before me). Neither of us had any nosebleedings. Neither of us have never used injecting drugs or have any other risky behaviour. Am I a possible hep c carrier now?
When can I get tested? If I want PCR test how soon it will show if I got it from this one incident?
Thank you so much for your help! I am worried that I have ruined my life because of this one incident....
I would like to have some answers concerning Hep. C. Is it really true that you can get hep C from snorting too? Is there real scientific evidence? How risky is it compared to injecting drug use? I have snorted ONCE using the same bill my friend had used earlier (1 hour before me). Neither of us had any nosebleedings. Neither of us have never used injecting drugs or have any other risky behaviour. Am I a possible hep c carrier now?
When can I get tested? If I want PCR test how soon it will show if I got it from this one incident?
Thank you so much for your help! I am worried that I have ruined my life because of this one incident....
oh i have no doubt its my 'circle of people'... hahaha... the funny thing is, i never shot up with any of them...
and i know all about the stigma of this disease..., told someone at work when i first thought i had it and the first thing they said was 'only junkies get that' and i thought to myself well no but ... yea...
since they started testing the blood supply, i would guess that 90% of new infections are caused from IV drug use... that is all im saying, im not trying to reinforce any stigma about having it and i know that there are many out there who did not get it that way... just like i know that not only gay people get aids..
i am way more educated about hep-c than i want to be, believe me...
and i know all about the stigma of this disease..., told someone at work when i first thought i had it and the first thing they said was 'only junkies get that' and i thought to myself well no but ... yea...
since they started testing the blood supply, i would guess that 90% of new infections are caused from IV drug use... that is all im saying, im not trying to reinforce any stigma about having it and i know that there are many out there who did not get it that way... just like i know that not only gay people get aids..
i am way more educated about hep-c than i want to be, believe me...
To nygirl: If you are 100% sure that you got it this way, may I ask that did you snort a lot or just couple of times? Did you also snort with people who snorted a lot or used also iv. drugs? I am grateful if you can answer so I can put my risk to right perspective.
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Yes to all above. I was in a band and sometimes we would be up for days just doing line after line after line. Shoot I can even remember when people had bloody noses and never thought a thing about it. Although I didn't know it at the time, some of the people that I knew (and believe me everyone in our circle was doing lines back then in clubs) were also using IV drugs. I can probably name 6 - 10 people from that group (all the IV users) that are dead. Since they all did it together they all got AIDS together. I just thank GOD that I didn't get that from them too. I'm sure they were all co-infected but at the time nobody really knew much about hepc to even check for it.
It really came to no surprise to me that I had two different genotypes (Ia and 1b) because with the amounts we did and how many people we did it with (you have to imagine wild fans trying to get backstage and anybody with a lot of coke was always welcome!) it's not a shock.
It's amazing what being a stupid ignorant kid can do to your life down the road. That is why I wanted to beat the disease in the head so hard. I treated for 72 weeks to get rid of it because to me........it was a constant remembrance of the stupidity that got me into a whole lot of trouble when I was a kid.
I'm sure you are fine but note...it IS possible so don't do it anymore. And seriously - drugs are just going to lead you to a place that it's awful hard to get out of. Hopefully you won't lose everything you have first.
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Yes to all above. I was in a band and sometimes we would be up for days just doing line after line after line. Shoot I can even remember when people had bloody noses and never thought a thing about it. Although I didn't know it at the time, some of the people that I knew (and believe me everyone in our circle was doing lines back then in clubs) were also using IV drugs. I can probably name 6 - 10 people from that group (all the IV users) that are dead. Since they all did it together they all got AIDS together. I just thank GOD that I didn't get that from them too. I'm sure they were all co-infected but at the time nobody really knew much about hepc to even check for it.
It really came to no surprise to me that I had two different genotypes (Ia and 1b) because with the amounts we did and how many people we did it with (you have to imagine wild fans trying to get backstage and anybody with a lot of coke was always welcome!) it's not a shock.
It's amazing what being a stupid ignorant kid can do to your life down the road. That is why I wanted to beat the disease in the head so hard. I treated for 72 weeks to get rid of it because to me........it was a constant remembrance of the stupidity that got me into a whole lot of trouble when I was a kid.
I'm sure you are fine but note...it IS possible so don't do it anymore. And seriously - drugs are just going to lead you to a place that it's awful hard to get out of. Hopefully you won't lose everything you have first.
"I will never forgive me if I have ruined my life after this one stupid mistake! I think that I don´t even want to live anymore if I find out that I carry it.... "
You are approaching the edge at which you become insulting to those who have hepatis-C. People who have hepatitis C do not have ruined lives nor is it reason for any of us to take a flying leap off a 10-story building.
Yeah, you did something stupid and you knew it was stupid when you were doing it. Get over it. But, you did it.
Here is what you must do. Go get tested today, right now and the twenty-fifth of each month for the next 5 months.
Then mull this over....Why would Sharon reach out for advice about something so important and urgent from a bunch of people who are in ruins already.
You are approaching the edge at which you become insulting to those who have hepatis-C. People who have hepatitis C do not have ruined lives nor is it reason for any of us to take a flying leap off a 10-story building.
Yeah, you did something stupid and you knew it was stupid when you were doing it. Get over it. But, you did it.
Here is what you must do. Go get tested today, right now and the twenty-fifth of each month for the next 5 months.
Then mull this over....Why would Sharon reach out for advice about something so important and urgent from a bunch of people who are in ruins already.
As this thread is going this way.....I have 'shot up' in my teens, tried it all, came out FAST very ANTI drug and now fight against it all (see profile!) That was OVER 30 yrs. ago, a runaway teen. POINT is.....I STILL have many other factors I could have gotten this from and it wasn't found until May 2007!! I am NOT ashamed to say I tried drugs and am proud I saw what a God awful world it was and came out fighting against it!
BUT....... to 'label' this disease a 'drug user's ' disease is like labeling AIDs/HIV a 'gay only' disease. It just isn't so!! MANY got this other ways, MANY, MANY, MANY!!!!
I know at least 20 here that had no 'risk factors'. Perhaps as everyone you know got it thru IV drug use, it's your circle of people, therefore you know all of them.
This site is NOT about how we all got this, it's about helping, supporting, curing, comforting, giving knowledge to others with this awful disease. the stigma is a HUGE fight in this. People look down on this disease. The statements and attitudes above do not help us fight that!
I choose to tell my past and I use it TO help others not go there, many don't want to and we do not ask here..."how'd YOU get it".....as it is each ones business.
I am not trying to be mean here, I am stressing that you add to the stigma in those comments and in insinuating everyone here got it that way. That's is wrong and NOT true!
And because/if someone had a drug problem/addiction.......got this, IMO the drugs hurt their life even MORE! But no, it is not a ‘deserved disease’ which is how your making it sound.
I wish you health, SVR and a drug free life...and more education in this!
LL
every person i know who has this, including myself, got it from IV drug use...
i understand that some didnt get it this way but i think most of us did...i think thats all he meant by that
i understand that some didnt get it this way but i think most of us did...i think thats all he meant by that
it's probably unlikely, but anything is possible...I'd get tested right away and thank the heavens that this didn't you didn't get any hitchhikers...snorting drugs is simply not worth the risk, not only of obtaining hcv, but messing with the electrical system of your heart, etc etc...believe me, you don't want to be in here with us, risky behaviors are just not worth what we have to go through....
I have Hep C and have NEVER used IV drugs. Not everyone with Hep has shot drugs and "just aren't confident enough to admit it, even in a closed room." That may be your history, but for you to project it onto the rest of the infected population is a mistake and an insulting one. Taking that position supports your self-admitted status as "one of the stupidest of the stupids."
Sharon, go to a local health dept. and get tested free, just to ease your mind. Many should anyway , and can get the Hep A & B vaccines! I wouldn't worry so much tho, just the once but would take it as a lesson. Also (and I have to add this!)...coke (drugs!) is NO good period! Stop it!!! :) And as NYgirl said...it IS all garbage now also! Ever look up what they put in that and what they use in making crack? Save some money, go snort some varnish remover!
Don't stress on it.
vincenos....I think there is many that are not sure how they got it and getting Hep c thru tattoo's, transfusions, birth, even nail salons is very real! I could have gotten it from a very brief -stupid- period in my teens of trying drugs 30 yrs. ago, OR from the un-sanitized nail salons or even in poking myself with syringes from shipping horses (done that many times) or even when several girls and I pierced our own ears with ice cubes and the same needle years ago. I'm sure many may not tell all if it was IV drug use, but we can't minimize the chances from all those other things. Nail techs cut me MANY times, we know they are not using clean files, etc. And most heavy coke snorters I knew have tissue damage, nose bleeds, and more so it IS very possible to get from snorting.
No offense intended , just the public needs to be aware that those other things ARE a risk. I will never get my nails done at a 'sweat shop' nail salon again, and so on.
I'll also add, however anyone got this.....no one 'deserves' it or should ever be considered 'you did it to yourself', nor feel that way about themselves.
Just my 2-3...ok, 10 cents.
LL
Don't stress on it.
vincenos....I think there is many that are not sure how they got it and getting Hep c thru tattoo's, transfusions, birth, even nail salons is very real! I could have gotten it from a very brief -stupid- period in my teens of trying drugs 30 yrs. ago, OR from the un-sanitized nail salons or even in poking myself with syringes from shipping horses (done that many times) or even when several girls and I pierced our own ears with ice cubes and the same needle years ago. I'm sure many may not tell all if it was IV drug use, but we can't minimize the chances from all those other things. Nail techs cut me MANY times, we know they are not using clean files, etc. And most heavy coke snorters I knew have tissue damage, nose bleeds, and more so it IS very possible to get from snorting.
No offense intended , just the public needs to be aware that those other things ARE a risk. I will never get my nails done at a 'sweat shop' nail salon again, and so on.
I'll also add, however anyone got this.....no one 'deserves' it or should ever be considered 'you did it to yourself', nor feel that way about themselves.
Just my 2-3...ok, 10 cents.
LL
i think you need to relax....
the chances of you getting it from snorting one time are less than zero... they really are
its a simple blood test - yes its there, no its not ... all the other fun stuff comes later
if you have been recently infected it might not pick it up so get tested now and then get tested again in 6 months
and i will bet my life you are NEGATIVE....both times
so relax
the chances of you getting it from snorting one time are less than zero... they really are
its a simple blood test - yes its there, no its not ... all the other fun stuff comes later
if you have been recently infected it might not pick it up so get tested now and then get tested again in 6 months
and i will bet my life you are NEGATIVE....both times
so relax
Hi!
I know now that I´m at risk and I´m in PANIC!!! I will never forgive me if I have ruined my life after this one stupid mistake! I think that I don´t even want to live anymore if I find out that I carry it.... I am so sad and been crying for days now... And it has only been a little over a week since I made this huge mistake. I will not survive if I have to wait 6 months to find out!! Could anyone help me with the window period question? Here it is one more time:
"Hi again!
Thank you all for your replies! I am really really scared now and I really do not know what to do!!! Does anybody know what is the real window period for Hep C? I do not know how I can wait for several months to find out if I´m positive after this stupid mistake.
Please, can anyone tell me how soon will the PCR test show if I´m positive? The sensitivity of the test is 50 UI/ML. Is this a sensitive test?
When can I confirm the PCR test with the antibody test? And when can I put this whole incident behind me? I really don´t know what I will do if I have to wait 6 months to find out! On internet there is everything between 6 weeks to 6 months when it comes to the window period of Hep C. Please help me! "
I know now that I´m at risk and I´m in PANIC!!! I will never forgive me if I have ruined my life after this one stupid mistake! I think that I don´t even want to live anymore if I find out that I carry it.... I am so sad and been crying for days now... And it has only been a little over a week since I made this huge mistake. I will not survive if I have to wait 6 months to find out!! Could anyone help me with the window period question? Here it is one more time:
"Hi again!
Thank you all for your replies! I am really really scared now and I really do not know what to do!!! Does anybody know what is the real window period for Hep C? I do not know how I can wait for several months to find out if I´m positive after this stupid mistake.
Please, can anyone tell me how soon will the PCR test show if I´m positive? The sensitivity of the test is 50 UI/ML. Is this a sensitive test?
When can I confirm the PCR test with the antibody test? And when can I put this whole incident behind me? I really don´t know what I will do if I have to wait 6 months to find out! On internet there is everything between 6 weeks to 6 months when it comes to the window period of Hep C. Please help me! "
hi there, the blood vessels in the nasal cavity are very sensitive(amoung the most sensitive) and microscopic, and are easily damaged, sharing a bill or straw is dangerous. sharing a bill/straw certainly is one of the many modes of transmission of hep c.
since this is causing you worry, i would suggest, , to ease your mind, just get tested and find out for sure.
wishing you the best
cheers!
.
since this is causing you worry, i would suggest, , to ease your mind, just get tested and find out for sure.
wishing you the best
cheers!
.
Hi again!
Thank you all for your replies! I am really really scared now and I really do not know what to do!!! Does anybody know what is the real window period for Hep C? I do not know how I can wait for several months to find out if I´m positive after this stupid mistake.
Please, can anyone tell me how soon will the PCR test show if I´m positive? The sensitivity of the test is 50 UI/ML. Is this a sensitive test?
When can I confirm the PCR test with the antibody test? And when can I put this whole incident behind me? I really don´t know what I will do if I have to wait 6 months to find out! On internet there is everything between 6 weeks to 6 months when it comes to the window period of Hep C. Please help me
Thank you all for your replies! I am really really scared now and I really do not know what to do!!! Does anybody know what is the real window period for Hep C? I do not know how I can wait for several months to find out if I´m positive after this stupid mistake.
Please, can anyone tell me how soon will the PCR test show if I´m positive? The sensitivity of the test is 50 UI/ML. Is this a sensitive test?
When can I confirm the PCR test with the antibody test? And when can I put this whole incident behind me? I really don´t know what I will do if I have to wait 6 months to find out! On internet there is everything between 6 weeks to 6 months when it comes to the window period of Hep C. Please help me
I share the sentiments of the others here. Anything's possible, but not always probable, when it comes to this virus. My sister's a nurse and has had her share of needle sticks...never gotten Hepatitis of any sort or AIDS - thank God! Same with my husband, who is an RN(though not currently practicing), he was stabbed by stray needle sticks and never got Hep C in the clinical setting. However, once when he was giving my my Estrogen shot (back when I used to get it by injection), he either missed/or I moved and he got stuck with the needle that he'd used on me (after I was already known to have Hep C). He got a test (the most sensitive available) right away. Now, he'd always tested negative for Hep C, prior to this stick. Afterwards, his doctor friends, immediately started him on Prophylactic interferon and Riba. He cleared just like that because he knew the exact instant that he'd been exposed. He now, doesn't even test positive for Hep C at all when they check his blood. Anyhow, I have friends and even my younger sister, who shared a straw with me, snorting coke and they never got it, but they didn't shoot it, like I did. So, it's all a **** shoot. I feel that you should get tested just to put your mind at ease.
Susan
Susan
sharon, yes a PCR can help with the window period.
the deal is:
* if it's positive, then you can get fast treatment (i suspect that's the reason why you want to - as treatment during acute infection provides a ~99% chance of clearing HCV no matter which genotype)
* if it's negative, it's good news, although a negative PCR would need to be confirmed by a negative antibody tests after window period.
And, of course, PCRs always carry a (small) risk of false positives, but in that case you can repeat the test, and will quickly know your status then.
the deal is:
* if it's positive, then you can get fast treatment (i suspect that's the reason why you want to - as treatment during acute infection provides a ~99% chance of clearing HCV no matter which genotype)
* if it's negative, it's good news, although a negative PCR would need to be confirmed by a negative antibody tests after window period.
And, of course, PCRs always carry a (small) risk of false positives, but in that case you can repeat the test, and will quickly know your status then.
Hi this is me again! Thank you for your replies! I really did not do it more than once. This friend of mine has no other risky behaviour and She does not do coke everyday/every weekend basis either.
My question now is that how soon I can get tested. Is PCR test any help with window period?
To nygirl: If you are 100% sure that you got it this way, may I ask that did you snort a lot or just couple of times? Did you also snort with people who snorted a lot or used also iv. drugs? I am grateful if you can answer so I can put my risk to right perspective.
My question now is that how soon I can get tested. Is PCR test any help with window period?
To nygirl: If you are 100% sure that you got it this way, may I ask that did you snort a lot or just couple of times? Did you also snort with people who snorted a lot or used also iv. drugs? I am grateful if you can answer so I can put my risk to right perspective.
i was one of the stupidest of the stupid 1s i know i didnt get it from tooting with a straw or tattoos or bla.grant it som did get it from mother or bllood transfusions ,i think some people arent just confident enough to admit even if its to there dr. in a closed door room how they got but i belaive we all know how we got it .. just my 2o
I agree with everyone here that snorting coke just one time will probably not cause hcv, but the virus can be transmitted by a shared toothbrush, a manicure or haircut - or who knows what. Everybody should ask their doctor to include a test for hcv with all their other blood work. Most physicians don't test for it unless you present the standard risk factors, which I think is a real shame.
your chances of contacting HCV are not zero but close to zero.
i had many friends who were stupid and snorted many times in the mid 70s and none got it.
those of us who were extra super stupid, instead of just stupid, and used needles, even just a couple times, all got it. i suspect that lots of people who got it from IV use do not tell the truth and say they got it from snorting, and that shows up in the statistics
don't want to preach but there are many other reasons not to use drugs at all.
i had many friends who were stupid and snorted many times in the mid 70s and none got it.
those of us who were extra super stupid, instead of just stupid, and used needles, even just a couple times, all got it. i suspect that lots of people who got it from IV use do not tell the truth and say they got it from snorting, and that shows up in the statistics
don't want to preach but there are many other reasons not to use drugs at all.
That is exactly how I got it so yes.............it's possible. You can't really see or sense microdroplets of blood...and when someone snorts a lot you know it causes the nasal passages to get inflamed.......so it's very logical that you can easily get it that way.
I wish it wasn't possible so I wouldn't have had it - but I did treat and no longer have it now.
If you only snorted coke once I doubt seriously that you have it but get the simple test and then never do it again. By the way the coke that is around now is NOT real coke...it's mostly just chemicals and speed. It's not worth doing it.
I wish it wasn't possible so I wouldn't have had it - but I did treat and no longer have it now.
If you only snorted coke once I doubt seriously that you have it but get the simple test and then never do it again. By the way the coke that is around now is NOT real coke...it's mostly just chemicals and speed. It's not worth doing it.
Well, I understand that there is some evidence that you could get it from snorting. If I were worried I get tested.
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