New here and need opinions!!

[Stephy423]

Hi everyone-I'm new to this thing so bear with me. Lol. My names Stephanie and I was diagnosed this past December with hep B and C. I ended up in the hospital-and was transported by ambulance to another-because I couldn't stop throwing up,was incredibly jaundiced,and my stomach looked like I was 4 months pregnant,it was so swollen. At first I thought I had a horrible ulcer until I noticed the yellowing of my eyes and skin. Anyways,I was only in the hospital for one night but the GI Doctor that saw me there said that the hep B should clear on its own but here's my question-why didn't he start me on treatment then? I go back to him on the 11th of April and was curious if treatment was really as bad as I've read about as far as the side effects and if anyone didn't do treatment,how are they feeling today? I wasn't going to do treatment cause I was scared of the side effects but I feel miserable all the time. I'm constantly exhausted,very achy and my fever gets up to 103. I know it takes awhile-I've heard 6months-for it to kind of calm down,but I was just wanting some opinions on treatment versus no treatment. Also,I only have Medicaid as far as insurance so would that help cover some of the cost of treatment? I've been going back and forth and back and forth for months now as to what I should do,so any insight is hugely appreciated!! It's a terrible disease and don't want it to take over my life-I've got a whole lot more living to do! Hope everyone is doing well and thank you in advance!!

[Idyllic]

Both Hepatitis C and B can clear on their own.
There are more differences than similarities with these two viruses however.
Don't let fear deter you from asking to be retested.

Here's this just in case
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Hepatitis-B/show/223

[flyinlynn]

Just to add the old treatments yes were pretty miserable and they only worked for about 30% of patients. But in just the last couple of years new medicines have been approved for hep c that cure about 95 to 99% of people with hep c and treatment can be as simple as 1 pill a day for 12 weeks depending on different factors. But about 25% of people are able to beat hep c without treatment so first you need to wait to see if you even will need to treat or are in the lucky 25%.
I had hep c for 37 years and it took 30 years for me to develop liver cirrhosis. Only about 20% of people with hep c over 20 years will develop liver cirrhosis I haven't seen any stats for 30 years on infection but I would think it would be higher. But no worries either you will beat the virus or you will get medicine and beat hep c that way

Good Luck
Lynn

[hepc4Sandi]

Welcome to the site! If you have recently been infected, your doctor will want to wait for 6 months on the HepC to see if your body can throw it off on its own. So the best thing is to get stabilized, follow liver healthy practices. The HepC is a very slow acting disease, so you can wait on getting treated for that for a while. Obviously don't drink or do drugs, eat a liver friendly diet, drink plently of water. Keep us informed on how you are doing. Good luck!