Having Symtons

[07deuce]

I was diagnosed with Hep C 2 years ago with a small amount of liver damage through the biospy result.   Treatment was not reccommned even with a viral load of over 800 million.  

I've noticed some nausea - twice in the last several months.  I'm more concerend about the color of my stool being yellowish and the pain in my liver, fatigue and bloating.  I used to have 2 bowel movements a day and now have only one in the morning.

Could the Hep C progessed this quickly?  I also drink every weekend - 8 to 10 beers. Could this be accellarting the
Hep C so rapidly? Yes, I know I must stop the alcohol and intend to start today.

I grealty appreciate any info anyone has.

[Isobella]

My concern is that your doctor based his recommendation of your treating or not based on lifestyle.  Not making judgements, I drank moderately after being diagnosed (1/0).  But my time between diagnosis and treatment was about 6 months...all the while shopping for a trial.

Alcohol can absolutely accelerate the progression of your liver damage.

I vote for you to go back to square one.  Find yourself a good doctor. Get a new biopsy. Stop drinking and start looking to cure yourself.

There have been some advances in treatment in these last 2 years and hopefully mid 2011 will bring Telaprevir to market.  I'm pulling for you to be healthy and ready to treat when that happens.

You've gotten some really good advice above...please take it to heart.  

Good luck to you.  Keep us posted.

Isobella  

[Ellen617]

Alcohol is absolutely accelerating your disease. You will soon develop more severe symptoms, if you don't stop drinking, and don't get some medical help. You need to get back to a doctor, as things have changed in 2 years for you. Good Luck

[foofighter]

800 million? Yikes! You are almost in Dr. Evil territory.

Good luck on changing your routine and getting ready for tx. Minimal damage and the new drugs coming in the next year or so, will give you back the rest of your life.

Recent studies indicate stage 1-2 a very important positive predictor for SVR, so take advantage of that opportunity if you can.

[GFRY]

if you have minimal liver damage like you said , i don't see why treatment is not recommended
find out why you can't do tx & good luck in stopping alcohol

[fretboard]

Welcome to the forum!  What genotype are you and have you had a liver biopsy?  Alcohol can be similar to putting lighter fluid on a burning fire and it can definitely progress faster than anyone thought possible.  Your best bet is to go and have some blood tests done and schedule for a liver biopsy.  Your regular doctor may refer you to someone else or you may just want to make an appt with a Heptologist, sometimes known as a Gastroentonlogy doctor who specializes in liver issues.  Not all Gastros know about HepC so you're gonna want to know ahead of time that the doctor knows about HepC, how to tx=treat it etc.    

You said that tx=treatment was not recommended, was it recommended that you not tx or was it simply never talked about?  First thing you gotta do is stop drinking immediately.  If you have to go to AA, then go because after you stop drinking within a couple weeks you should feel much better.  good luck