Were all of you stunned?

[Golfer515]

Today I got a letter in the mail that my life insurance was not approved because my blood test showed I had Hep C.

The only exposure I could have possibly had was I got clotting products for a surgery when I was 15 in 1982.  I am asymptomatic  

All of my other numbers are perfect.  I am not scared, I just feel strange.

[ribman]

this just really made me wonder...i gave blood samples for life insurance through new york life 4 years ago.i was given a clean bill of health and given a policy.now im wondering if the hep c came from my previous life in the late 70's or from a recent tattoo i obtained 1 year ago.

[Golfer515]

Thanks for the comments and support.  Going to see a specialist next week and am hoping for good news.

[tashka]

Dear golfer,

Yes we were also stunned just like you. The story of my husband's diagnosis is exactly like yours. He applied for life insurance, and one sunny fall afternoon in 2005 we got a letter informing him that he tested positive for hepatitis C. I will never forget this day and a feeling of complete disbelief and denial. He didn't have any risk factors at all. None. And he also felt great. It took us several months of hard thinking to realize that he was infected 23 years ago in the NAVY boot camp where all the new recruits were immunized with the same air jet device, and their blood mixed.

You need to go to the doctor and get RNA by PCR viral load test to see if there is virus in your blood. As previous posters mentioned, some people clear on their own. But just prepare that the result may be positive for the virus. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. This diagnosis is not the end of the world and not a death sentence. Believe it or not, there are diseases that are much, much worse. Come back here any time for support and advice. I wish I knew about this forum when my husband got diagnosed. We were completely alone, without any support, and our doctor didn't know much about hepatitis C. Everybody here understands what you are going through. Let us know what happens next.

[willbb]

  You are going to do fine my friend...UND all the way!!!

WILL

[RobertBeWell]

Hey Will my man, still hanging in there UND. Going for 48, time is flying. Only got 20 weeks left, then the long wait to see if things hold.

I'm pretty sure that unless I get hit by a bus, that policy will expire unpaid, but you never know

:-)

RBW

[willbb]

  Hey Robert....here"s hoping.no---one is going to collect on that policy for a looooong  time to come!

How are ya bro :)
WILL

[RobertBeWell]

I don't know how I skated, but I bought a 20 year term from John Hancock about 6 years ago. They DID NOT test for Hep C, even though I had it for 30+ years. I still have the lab report.

I even got super-preferred rates. LOL.

Got one over on "the man" this time.

RBW

[paen53]

Stunned, yes, or gobsmacked because I like the word better. :-)

I donated blood and found out through a rejection letter a week or two later. I googled hepatitis C and my eyes carried right over to the statistics and mortality rates as listed back in 2004 -  and I thought I was dying. I remember planting my garden that spring and thinking it would be the last time I would be doing so. Luckily, I ended up with an excellent Dr. and some good HCV forums, so the information filled in the blanks in short order.

Best wishes in going forward................Pam

[Junebug812]

I had a nurse practitioner who during one of my visits noticed in my charts that I had a blood transfusion in 1986. She stated she was going to run a test for Hep C. I thought nothing of it until she called me with the results and told me I had Hep C. I had no risky behaviors so it never occurred to me I could have Hep C. I was shocked and thought it was a death sentence. My brother also had contracted Hep C, perhaps during our surgery in 1986 (kidney transplant).

That was in 2002 when I found out. I finally decided to start treatment this past December.

Like everyone else says though, you need to find out if you actually have the virus.

Best of luck. Let us know what happens.

June

[spectda]

I found out the same way, got a denial letter from the life insurance company 13 years ago. I've also had hcv since about 1980. As Trish mentioned you will need a pcr and genotype test to  determine if you have chronic hcv or if your body was able to fight it off on it's own all those years ago.

Good luck and welcome to the forum,
Dave

[Golfer515]

Thank You for the info.  Will be going to see a specialist next week.

[Trish77]

Hi Golfer,

What you would have gotten was results of an antibody test.  About 15% of people clear Hep C on their own so that antibody result doesn't mean you have Hep C, it means you did at one time.  Next step to determine your status is a PCR which will test to see if you have any virus in your blood which means you do have Hep C and will tell you what genotype of Hep C you have, if you have viral load.

Most people are actually blown away when they get a diagnosis or this antibody result for starters, so if you're not scared and just feeling strange...you're doing pretty well.  :)    IF you have Hep C, it's a slow-moving disease for the most part and most people have some time to educate themselves and determine what their options are before rushing into any kind of treatment.  

Most people with Hep C are asymptomatic until liver damage is quite advanced.  Your other numbers being perfect is a good sign but not always a reliable sign.  My numbers were pretty good and I had early stage liver damage and those good numbers are usually indicative but not always.  

Good luck with this.

Trish