HCV denial

[bflower]

hello and thank you for the responses to my earlier Q.
I was diag'd 7 yrs ago. I had just had a surgery. I was a student and was insured at the time. the GI interpreted my blood works as very normal w/o raised enzymes and sent me away saying chemo TX was not nec and difficult to endure. He also allowed me to drink one or so drinks a day. (???) I thot that was strange and I have vascillated, btwn being completely off any alcohol for a couple yrs at a time at first with sports, yoga, vegetarian diet. later I became more and more casual, re-instating meat, and some alcohol and less exercise. Years later I now feel terrible; achey muscles, joints -stiff or painful, fatigue, headaches, etc., etc.,   I really wish I had done a TX right off the bat, since all Im reading sys its most effective at an early stage. -now I'm very worried.
Q: can TX be efffective at a symptomatic stage?   Lots of unknowns. sorry this is vague, but I have been w/o insurance and am now trying to deal with a new HMO. In order to get blood work etc, & get out of the dark.

[IAmTheWalrus]

Sorry for the word-jumble in the first paragraph. The gist should be that there are much better treatments available today (or very soon) that greatly improve the success rate and require (usually) a shorter treatment period.

[IAmTheWalrus]

On the brighter side, there are much better TX plans coming in 2011 that are much better than what existed 7 years ago. Back then many GI doctors wanted to ignore genotype 1 HCV because it is difficult to endure, like your doc said, and also because success rates were not very good. Also, at that time there was more of an inclination for doctors to think that HCV did not progress to serious liver disease as frequently as it has turned out.

So, like Hector says, you need a good workup including a biopsy in order to make a decision on whether or when to treat.

Best wishes,
Brent

P.S. My doctor says NO alcohol is the right quantity. I am not sure that all doctors agree on this, but obviously, drinking fequently or to excess is a huge mistake for someone with HCV.

[HectorSF]

If it is true that the GI only looked at your blood tests, then you may have been misdiagnosed. Blood lab tests tell nothing about the status of your liver disease. Blood tests can remain within normals until the final stages of liver disease.
Did you have  a biopsy done previously? What were the results?

Since you are appear to be young you have a good chance of not having advanced liver disease. It usually takes many decades for HCV to cause advanced damage to your liver.

Can TX be effective at a symptomatic stage?
Your symptoms could or could not be related to chronic HCV. This is a good reason for you to see a doctor as soon as you can. Go to your HMO and get a workup of your chronic HCV and liver disease.This up to date information will help you decide when you need to try treatment.

Good luck.
Hectorsf