any old hep c people?

[bennett_st]

Hi
I always have these little Hep C related questions pop up in my head and just love that I can put them out there and that maybe there is someone who knows the answer.

I would like to know if anyone knows what age the oldest person with Hep C is?  Not some oldie who just got it but someone who might be able to trace it back years and years. Has Hep C always been around?

[1oftheclub222]

my mom suspects she contracted Hep C some where around 1957...never did treatment...has a boat load of other health issues competing with the Hep C to take her out...the doctors focus on everything else but the Hep C, who knows how much damage is going on there, but it doesn't appear to be biggest contributor to her failing health...

[milliehepc]

I am 63 Stage 2/3 Type 1 (they couldn't tell me if I'm a or b had first biopsy on 12/6/11).  Have had Hep C for 37 years.  All the stories here are so compelling - so many brave people.  I don't fall among the brave people I have not made up my mind to treat.  There are many success stories and people have paid quite a price for it - I admire them so.  Most admirable are the ones that keep trying - I cannot imagine doing it once  - let alone to keep repeating the tx.  

My decision to date is to wait - maybe another two years.  I cannot bring myself just yet to go through tx.  I have not figure out which journey is right for me...Right now Jestewart - your experience for one influences my thinking a great deal.  

Millie
NYC

[Jestewart]

Hello PVK
On Jan 10th, 2012 I will have 14.5 weeks of being undetectable, (i am stoping then because it is when I see my doctor next),

I do believe my chances are as good as most at staying UND, I am 54, had a very low AZT 67 and ALT 71 and a low Viral load of 658,059 when I started  and I was late stage 1, Geno 1....dectected in June 2000,  now all is normal and I am UND.and have been since day 10 of starting treatment on Sept 20th, 2011...cool plus on the 24 week program if you are UND at week 8 or 9 and you stay UND to week 24 you get off the program, I have been UND the same amount of time it is just my 15 weeks came in the front of the 24 weeks and not the back half (makes sense ?)

my hair is see throgh falling out bad, I started at 170lb at 6'3"  tall, and now 154lb, my head is 24/7 migrane...just brutal, I am suprised I Iasted from Sept 20th 2011 to Jan 10th, 2012, it is the worst thing I have done to my self, and at 54 and I live a good life I will easliy live 25 more years and a very high odds of longer then that, and die of a 100 other other things other then Hep C

treatment is good but not all the time to all people program with my current situation and low scores when I started on Sept 20th, 2011 and now being UND for 14.5 weeks ...I like my chances, I love my life, and I wish you well my friends, pease stay in touch

remember everybody before you start treatment you have to look at the complete package,  your current VL's, your AZT and ALT scores, your age also plays a big factor in this or should,  if I was 27 or 30 I would do it (treatment) , but my situation and my age with my low scores and VL,  absolutly not, I wish I new as much  then as I do now,  plus the physological factor is huge, my red blood count went from 156 (normal) to 98, hell, I have the hardest time getting one sock on if I can even get out of bed.

know mater the out come, for me I am happy with my move to stop, just because you have HEP C does not mean you are dieing next week, every person is different, every body has dirfferent leveal and scores, before u jump in to it study all aspects of your treatment choice, plusthere arenow many opportunities  for medical rechearch to create better drugs for this fu_ked up diesease, europe inDec 2011 arenow looking at a total new 'oral"medicaton that does not make you sick or loose you hair
and theres others, but do you work and understand that this is very toxic
and you are putting your body through hell


Jeff Stewart---Vancouver Canada
jestewart22001   at   yaho o  dot ca

[micheall]

Year question seems to me that you're not a young person.If the question is at what age can a person be before one is too old for treatment.Test subjects that were tested were as old as 75.I am 63,had hep c type 1a since 1977.My wife got it through transfusion and passed it to me through sexual contact.

[candyce1953]

I am 58
Got hep c 41 yrs ago at age 17

Am IB
Stage 2/grade 2
TT


Starting treatment in 3 weeks

[dscj]

guys, i'm 55 and diagnosed 30 years ago, probably got it 2 ears prior to that. stevie ray sang about the needle & the spoon, well, i did take that trip to the moon. the product of a mispent youth i suppose. anyway the funny thing is that when i was diagnosed there was no hep a, b or c. just hep. i dont know if my local doctor just didnt know any better or the industry didnt know. "treatment" was stay at home and rest for 3 months! LOL

[Diane1186]

Im 61 and was diagnosed about 8 years ago, GT 1a.  The doctor thought that I could have had it for 35+ years.  Trust me, being called old doesn't bother me, cuz right now that's how I'm feeling.  Lol

[blanny431]

i got hep c when I was hit by a drunk driver in 84 and died on the table but lthey brought me back....had to have a bunch of transfusion blood and that is where i contracted it....I am 56 and when I first found out my ast and als(?) numbers were real high (not sure if those abreviations are right) but i researched it and for me I take milk thistle.....lithium orotate, and I drink combucha mushroom drink.......I know lithium may sound strange but look it up.....and the combucha is probably the best t hing I have ever found and it is for everything....I used to get a real bad cold every single year right around january...after starting this combucha drink I havent had a cold since I was 41 and continue not to get them...also these three things have brought my numbers t he AST and the other on both to 0 thats right 0 i coulnt even believe it but I see a doctor on a regular basis because I am on disability.(thats how i first found out too) and he gives me liver function t est every 6 months I tried almost every possible thing I could over 11 years since I first found out and those three things work for me....I would really like to send this info out and maybe it can help others....like I say just go and research those three things and read about them and then t ry them especially the combucha drink.....its also called the manchurian mushroom  where t his comes from the people there have never had cancer...that was enough for me to first start it.......see ya  kevin

[Andiamo1]

I am 68 and I have HCV since 1961.

It has been discovered in frozen plasma from world War II serviceman, so it has been around for a while.

[robeire]

I am 50 , had it at least 20 yrs-got it thru needles in my days of ramput self-willed abandon!  been in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction 20yrs-
people say I look alot younger!!!  rather like people saying  gee you look really well !! well we know that one on the inside !!LOL!!
Rob in ireland

[Terrylee8]

I'm 60 and I've had it for 39 years, SF Summer of love, 1969, and I'm a 2/2.

[gauf]

Kevorkian has hep c? A mercy killing seems like a good idea. Put the poor suffering bastrd out of his misery!

[nygirl7]

46 and have had this since the early to mid 80s - must have been via cocaine straw because we certainly did enough of the stuff back then!

PVK - make sure you just keep up with the biopsy to make sure you're not advancing.  I had no idea I had this and by the time I had the biopsy I was already stage 3.  It can take you 20 years to get to stage 1 and then all of a sudden in just five years you can get to cirrhosis.  It does not progress in any sort of fashion that can be figured out in any way.

[pvk]

I wonder about this too.  On the one hand, I've read that the average time from infection to cirrhosis is 20-30 years, but I've also read that most people with hep c die of something else.  My hepatologist (who's advising me as a stage 1, 50 years old, not to treat) says he has a patient in her seventies who's had hep c for fifty years, never treated and only moderate liver damage.  Has anyone else heard of cases like this?  

[bennett_st]

Thanks

Sorry I have a bit of "foot in mouth" syndrome - (hmmm wonder if that might be another side effect of Hep C).  What I should have said was "mature age" and not old.  Maybe that's why I didn't get a response for 9 days .lmao.  Anyhow some really interesting feedback.  Thanks heaps.

To Justme53 - Yes there are a lot of unanswered questions,I don;t know half the time if I am just stupid not to know the answers or if answers to them don't even exist.

[eureka254]

My husband is looking forward to his 59th birthday, and (though it's not for certain) we believe he's had HCV for almost 40 years (if not more).

Though if he saw me responding to the post about "old people"... I might not make it to MY next birthday lol.

[Metis]

60 years old, had hep C since 1987 and really don't give a D---  lmao
Take Care Metis

[copyman]

HCV has been found in blood that was frozen since WWII

[desrt]

http://vir.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/full/85/11/3173

This study says the virus may have been around in some form for over 100,000 years.

[sldb]

Just made 52, I think. Probably got it in the 70's from a transfusion, but could have gotten it from work,.  
worked in a large trauma ER for 18 yrs.

[tahoeunicorn]

I will be 46 in June. My gastro has told me according to my BX that I have probably had HCV for about 40 years (stage 4, grade 3 cirrohis). I have never really been a drinker.The only time in my childhood that can be linked to blood was when I was born. I had to have blood transfusion due to RH-Neg factor. At that time if u were born RH- then they gave transfusion (I was about 12 Hrs old). So you can have it for many years and never know it .I think the blood banks started the testing for Hepatitis in 1992 or 1993 on all donors' blood. I belive that's what I've read.

Lynn

[justme53]

I was just wondering the same thing as I logged on..that and how long this virus and its variants have been around......

I wonder just how many people had transfusions before the blood bank tested, were exposed...and went on to lead normal lives....(wishful thinking I know!) Maybe some of them lived to a ripe old age.

There are still so many unanswered questions............

[charm27]

I will be 53 this month. Ive had HCV  probably 20 years. I dont feel old. You will find as you yourself get older when you reach 70 your mind will still feel like 16!

That can be good and bad. But you have to go thru it to understand.

[Forseegood]

I'm only 27.....in both legs! lol....I think most of us are middle aged...but I maybe be a little passed middle age, cause at 54, I don't think I'm living to 108! lol....many of us are middle aged...I think Dr. Kevorkian is in his late 70s maybe? and he has it...I have an uncle who is in his late 70s...and he has it, he's sick with it too...but only lately....