How can I be a support to someone in this bad of shape?

[Talia429]

My husband was diagnosed with hepatitis c genotype 1a officially in 2011. He was told that he had the rare genotype and the doc referred to it as "The Big One." My husband believes that he got hepatitis c because he was a dumb teenager with a two year history of drug use. He also has 4 tattoos from non-tattoo shops. My husband and I have been together for 13 years now and he hasn't done any drugs since we've been together. That I know was a part of his past, but it hasn't been a part of his adult life. We have two children together, ages 10 and 9, and they are both taking their dad's sickness very hard. I am making this post for mental help. I don't know how to support my husband the way he needs me to. My husband and I are young, and we both feel like no one, doctors, friends, family, NO ONE believes how sick he is. He has been to 4 different doctors and all 4 of them have treated my husband like he is exaggerating his pain. He was even denied Medicaid for help getting treatment. I am a student and I work at a job that does not offer insurance. I have no money to help my husband, so I don't know where to go for help. My husband continues to drink beer because he feels like it's the only way that he can deal with the pain, even though he knows it's harmful to his liver. I have had to watch my husband curl up in a ball holding his stomach while he cries how bad it hurts. My husband did concrete for 15 years before he found out he was sick, and he hasn't been able to work for the past 2 years now because of how bad his body hurts. My husband was a very hard worker and to observe him going from working so hard to not being able to work, I know he's not making it up. Our children have to hear their dad every single night throw up in the bathroom before they go to school. My husband's pain is becoming mentally unstable for us all. He is becoming angrier and angrier. He has suicidal thoughts and tells me all the time that he wants to die because he can't stand the pain that he is in. He feels like me and our children don't support him with what he's going through, but I know that it's angry talk that he doesn't mean and he's just saying it because he's in pain. I don't know where to turn for help or how to get my husband the help he needs. If anyone has any advice that would be great. How can I be a support to someone in this bad of shape?

[Talia429]

So the clinic turned him away because he wasn't Hispanic.  I am not racist, but you had to be there to understand.  We walked in and it was full of hispanics.  We were the only white people that walked in.  The receptionists were both Hispanic.  Even when I told her it was an emergency and he was suicidal she snobbishly turned us away.    We didn't have our pay stubs with us so they turned us away.  Nobody told me I had to bring them with me!!! Their communication *****.  Meanwhile, they were letting other hispanic people in without their pay stubs, but we HAVE to have ours?  I speak Spanish fluently and I don't think that she realized that when she was letting other people in around us.  My husband isn't working, but they still wanted my pay stubs.  So we drive all the way home 20 miles away in a blizzard and back and they tell us that they're not seeing any more patients today that we have to come back on Monday!!!  
Do you see what we are dealing with as far as the medical system here in Utah goes?  It *****.  They are unprofessional here and don't know what they are doing.  One mental health care place turned him away because he is not a bum on the street.  Now this one turned him away because he isn't hispanic.  We watched the receptionist, while we were walking toward the door to leave, let the hispanic guy in back of us in for the next appointment.  Like I said, you had to be there to understand, and I guess you need to live in this area to know what I'm talking about. I am not a racist person and I have many friends of all colors and religions and backgrounds in my life.  
Sorry to vent, but some of the things that my husband has to put up with in his life and how strong he really is just amazes me.  I'm watching his care fade away and we both want to help that before it's too late.
We are on our way back to talk to someone from the ER from the other day.  I will keep y'all posted.

[BoceprevirGal]

  Hi Talia~  It sounds like your husband needs to see a Doctor who specializes in digestive disorders, so this may be a G.I., but I'm not sure.  My G.I. only did colonoscopies.  But there is also a procedure where they can put a lil camera down the throat, to look at the digestive tract, it;s called an "endoscopy".
    Your husband doesn't even have to mention how he caught Hep C, but you may get better treatment, if you just say it was the Tattoos, which it may have been. We understand how/why your husband probably got it, and I probably got it the same way, but people that havent walked in our shoes can be ignorant.
   Only 20%  of the population may get cirrhosis, within 20 yrs of having Hep C, but it sounds like your hubs hasn't had it that long, so that is very hopeful.  Also, yes there IS a cure for Hep C, especially genotype 1's, the new meds were approved in May of 2011!!!   And, an even better med is on it's way to being approved, with the next 1~3 yrs.
   I was cured of my Hep C within thelast year. I started on Feb 7th, and did  28 weeks with Interferon, Ribaviran and Victrelis.  I found out 2 weeks ago that I still dont have the virus, and I havent taken the meds for over 6 months. The virus isn't going to come back, this is a medical fact, it is called, "Sustained Viral Response".   All the things that were wrong with my blood are now normal!  If you and your husband read thru the Social Side, and this forum, you will see that so many of us Geno 1's have just recently been cured, since the DA has approved the two new meds, Victrelis and Incivek. I feel like I have taken place in a Miracle

[cheflady]

hi so glad your hubby is taking the librium and managing to dtay of the booze it cant be easy but he on the right track also i think he will start to feel better when he gets help for his depression at the moment i bet it feels like a vicious circle. Good luck with it all and keep us posted so we can try and give your family the support you are going to need, hang in there x

[Advocate1955]

Agree with can-do-man. This is the best time in history to be treating Hep C. Depending on many factors (genotype and other factors) many people w Hep C have almost an 80% chance of curing their Hep C which means getting rid of the virus forever and stopping it from damaging his liver further. Another thing you should know is that how high or low his viral load is has no bearing on how much or how little damage the virus is causing to his liver. It's simply the presence of the virus in the bloodstream that damages the liver, regardless of high or low viral load. Glad he's decided to stop alcohol, hope his liver damage is minimal, and hope he can cure his Hep C soon! Tell him there is a cure now, and lots of people on this forum have treated and cured.

[can-do-man]

Well I agree with Bocep. What your saying does not sound like cirrhosis to me. Ulcers, Gallbladder, and other stomach related issues come to mind.Sounds like your husband took the first step in ending the booze.

Find a good doctor and taking care of this is the next step, he's still a young man and the odds are very good he can take care of this. not sure what you mean about not really a "cure" for Hep-C as really there is.

Read all you can and get yourselfs educated  and then getting all this behind you will be a lot easier...... And for what it's worth just about all of us have done stupid things growing up. It is what it is.

Best to all of you........ good luck

[Talia429]

my husband has struggled with doing the treatment (obviously) and he struggles with the fact that there really is no "cure" for hepatitis at all.  He looks at these treatments as "experimenting on a guinea pig" and he feels like this medicine is just an experiment on him.  He's known people with Hepatitis C that did the treatment that still died and another that it made their viral levels go up.  He's freaking out, but for the first time since he found out he has the disease, is actually willing to accept that he has to do it.  BTW we are both younger than 38.  Let's just say I tell people I stopped counting after 25...
My husband is one of kind.  Someone you have probably never met and will never meet.  He was born different and has a different life story which led up to his problematic teenage years.  When he lived in California, he claimed kids out there were just "smoking pot" but when he moved back to Utah kids out here were "shooting up." He shot up for 2 years and quit because he wanted to go out with me and he knew that I didn't want to date a loser dope addict.  He quit cold-turkey and never went back to it again.  He never had a desire or a temptation to go back to it ever again.  In fact, drug addicts are people he despises to be around now in his adult life. He has cried to me so many times how angry he is with himself for giving himself this disease and ruining our lives (me and the kids).  He has told me so many times that if he had just one wish that he wishes he could go back in time and not shoot up.  All we can do is educate our own children on what not to do.