Hep C & Stage 4 Cirhhosis

[philly934]

I have had hep c for 40 years because of a blood transfusion and that has developed in stage 4 Cirrhosis.  I've been through 24 wks treatment, am a non-responder, and I want to know what Stage 4 means, can the scarring be reversed and does it mean that all of my liver is scarred of just a portion?

Thanks for any help I can get.

Philly

[pooh55811]

This is a very old thread. I doubt that you will get an answer because the thread is 5 years old.

[hamsa787]

please send me some more  info on this treastment. i would greatly appreciate it. Names Victor ***@****

[hamsa787]

please send me some more  info on this treastment. i would greatly appreciate it. Names Victor ***@****

[wed1942]

I haven't had any symptoms. Actually, the only thing weird that I've noticed over the last four months is that I can't seem to get a deep breath all the time. I know my liver is enlarged so I'm blaming that. Or maybe the fact that I need to lose 40 to 50 pounds. The reason I even found out is because last year my liver enzymes were just slightly over normal. I had them repeated this year and they had quadrupled so my cardiologist got me in to see a GI doc ASAP. And here I am. A zillion tests later right now I'm waiting to have an upper endoscopy next week and then the following week I think I go in to talk treatment plans. I'm going to a hepatologist now. I've heard good things about him and so far I really like him. He's very to the point which I like. He said he would recheck my VL at four and 12 weeks and I guess if at 12 weeks there is no change then he stops treatment. Is this the usual?  And do they repeat treatment at a later time if you don't respond at first? Or just wait for something new to come out?

[Deb_c430]

What tx were you on pegysus and ribovarin? I do not think it is time for you to give up yet.

[djt10]

My husband was diagnosed with cirrhosis in 1986 at the VA clinic in Walla Walla, WA, presumably from drinking rather than the virus. He came from a long line of alcoholics, many of whom died of cirrhosis so he was NOT interested in any kind of "state of the art" conventional treatment and insisted on being treated at home with a new type of treatment we just heard about but not in relation to liver disease prior to the cancer stage. That was with "black salve" (escharotic salves, bloodroot salves, cancer salves), actually a two part salve treatment. He did it about 4 times over several years. The second time, he became so acutely ill he couldn't even hold down water, so we drove 200 miles to our naturopathic physician, who verified my thought--that the treatment had thrown him into "detox". His body was "cleaning house". She gave him liver protomorphogens from Standard Process to support his liver and sent him home. He started passing copious amounts of black tarry matter from the bowels, and in a few days the illness passed and he felt good. The salve treatment was also drawing pus and morbid matter from a site on his groin, so that was working on him still. After 4 treatments and several years he went back to the VA hospital to go through rehab a second time, and they found his liver to be normal. I don't think they even checked his old records to question this unusual turn of events. He remains healthy today, at age 71, the only cirrhosis surviver in his family and still the only person I've ever heard of who used salves for this purpose. http://truthquest2.com (info only site)

[philly934]

Hi,
I was on treatment for 24 weeks.  I started with a viral count of 9 million and with treatment  it went down to 1500.  I was so excited, I just knew that I would clear but I am genotype 1b which is difficult to clear and the viral count shot back up to 450,000 during my 22nd week but I stayed on tx until the full 24 week period ended.

I was very fortunate in that my boss knows the head of the hepatology department at the Univ. of Chicago so that's where I go and when the doctor told me that I would have to stop the treatment I felt saddened but confident that this doctor knew what he was doing.

How did you physically feel before you found out you had Hep C?  I know for years and years I always feel like I had a virus of some sort, I'd go to my family doctor  and he'd say it was probably my sinuses and would treat that.  Finally in 2006 he ran numerous blood test because my liver enzymes were always out of whack and lo and behold, it was the Hep C.

Let me know what your doctor says and how you are feeling.

Have a nice day!

[wed1942]

Hi!
I'm also between stage 3 and 4 and have some cirrhosis. I'm figuring I also got this from blood transfusions after a car accident in 1969, so I've had it amost 40 years too. My doc today said that if I do respond to treatment that the damage can reverse itself. The liver regenerates I guess. I haven't started treatment yet. Still going through tests. Trying to get lined up for an upper endoscopy to make sure I don't have any varices. Then I guess the next thing is to talk treatment. My doc said they had a clinical trial starting soon but because I have some cirrhosis, I wouldn't qualify for it so guess I'll just be going on the routine meds. I'll know more in a few weeks.
Sorry to hear that you aren't responding. It looks like I'll go through 12 weeks of treatment and if there is not any change at that point I think they stop treatment? How long will you continue if you aren't responding?

[Susie2007]

You are in the same exact spot I am in. Only I have HCV for 42 years and am Stage 4 also. Stage 4 just means that you have cirrhosisif it is the Knodell Index which many docs use. What the HALT C trial discovered is that 20% of Stage 4 people who experienced SVR, had a reversal of scarring at the 5 year mark. They also found that 80% of people had a reversal if they began treatment at Stage 3 and cleared the virus.

Cirrhosis does mean that the liver is scarred throughout.