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Treatment for Hep C geno 2b
I found out I have HepC geno type 2b through Insurance blood test. I'm a 51 year old male proably got this when I was 18-20 years old. Viral count 6 million. I had the liver Biopsy some inflamation and spot scarring. Try to find out how the treatments will affect me and work. I'm in the construction Bus. I feel great know but reading some of the post doesn't sound good.
you're better off grinding it clean, sheet metal is hard enough to weld without the paint. you might have better luck with solid wire with gas shielding, the flux core is pretty hot...
So let me ask this. I am rebuilding a 1988 jeep XJ and have to weld in repair pieces (16 ga. sheet steel) with a buzzbox flux core wire welder. Can I weld an area if it has been coated with POR-15 rust preventative paint, or do I need to grind the seam area down to bare metal?
DJL
DJL
I'm a welder, too, and worked some while on tx. It was fairly tough going, even up here in the cool summer of Alaska.
I had trouble with the kneeling down and standing back up part, came real close to passing out a number of times.
Then I got smart and just welded the tops of the beams and left the bottoms. The other welders looooved me! :-)
Then we started on the 24" heavy wall pipe, that was the hardest part. Couldn't leave the bottoms on those and they were 7-8 hours of solid welding. It was pretty overwhelming, but I did it.
But, you can never tell how the meds are gonna affect you till you try them. You could be one of the lucky ones.
Good luck and keep us posted. Whereabouts are you located, anyway?
I had trouble with the kneeling down and standing back up part, came real close to passing out a number of times.
Then I got smart and just welded the tops of the beams and left the bottoms. The other welders looooved me! :-)
Then we started on the 24" heavy wall pipe, that was the hardest part. Couldn't leave the bottoms on those and they were 7-8 hours of solid welding. It was pretty overwhelming, but I did it.
But, you can never tell how the meds are gonna affect you till you try them. You could be one of the lucky ones.
Good luck and keep us posted. Whereabouts are you located, anyway?
pray for stage 1, it will give you a lot more options. i chose to wait 9 years ago at stage 2 and the tretment since then has improved drastically. good luck as it is a real personal decision.
scaring and inflamation is not as bad as fibrosis or cirosis stage 3 and 4.
there are 4 million americans with hep c and billions to be made for the magic bullet. i pray the american way of profit will prevail. as mentioned the vx950 stock went from $8 a share to $40 a share on their test results.
bobby
scaring and inflamation is not as bad as fibrosis or cirosis stage 3 and 4.
there are 4 million americans with hep c and billions to be made for the magic bullet. i pray the american way of profit will prevail. as mentioned the vx950 stock went from $8 a share to $40 a share on their test results.
bobby
Said: but I learned a lot more on this forum in the last 30 minutes then i have any where else
AMEN! You know I was so confused when I first was diagnosed I was freaking OUT but once I found this place...and started to get REAL ENGLISH answers that I could understand...and a place where people LOVED helping me learn and encouraged me..I knew I could do it and went for treatment too.
The more you KNOW about this disease the more I believe you have power over it because you can temper your choices WITH your doctor instead of just following what he says blindly.
I've never been one to follow anyone without questionning reasoning...that seems really dangerous to me.
I think it's GREAT that you are taking the time NOW to make an EDUCATED reasoning on to treat or not to treat or when to treat etc.
Well be here to help anytime with any questions! :)
AMEN! You know I was so confused when I first was diagnosed I was freaking OUT but once I found this place...and started to get REAL ENGLISH answers that I could understand...and a place where people LOVED helping me learn and encouraged me..I knew I could do it and went for treatment too.
The more you KNOW about this disease the more I believe you have power over it because you can temper your choices WITH your doctor instead of just following what he says blindly.
I've never been one to follow anyone without questionning reasoning...that seems really dangerous to me.
I think it's GREAT that you are taking the time NOW to make an EDUCATED reasoning on to treat or not to treat or when to treat etc.
Well be here to help anytime with any questions! :)
probably more like one shot a week and 4-6 pills a day. The cooler wether idea is probably a good one. On treatment you need to stay hydrated and manual work in hot weather would be competition for those fluids.
If and when you treat, you may want to ask your doc to put you on Peg-Intron and have him do a viral load test at 4 weeks.
The reason for these recommendations is that, as a 2b, you may only have to do 12 weeks of treatment if you use Peg-Intron (as opposed to Pegasys) and are clear of the virus at your 4 week test. Worked for me, & I probably had the virus as long as you have. My vl was 1.3 million.
If you use Pegasys and clear at 4 weeks, you would have to treat for 16 weeks, as opposed to 12.
This is something to speak with your doctor about. 12 weeks of treatment was not pleasant, but much better than 24 or 48. It seems that the sides get a lot worse after 3 months on tx, from what I have read.
DJL
The reason for these recommendations is that, as a 2b, you may only have to do 12 weeks of treatment if you use Peg-Intron (as opposed to Pegasys) and are clear of the virus at your 4 week test. Worked for me, & I probably had the virus as long as you have. My vl was 1.3 million.
If you use Pegasys and clear at 4 weeks, you would have to treat for 16 weeks, as opposed to 12.
This is something to speak with your doctor about. 12 weeks of treatment was not pleasant, but much better than 24 or 48. It seems that the sides get a lot worse after 3 months on tx, from what I have read.
DJL
If you said it before, I don't recall. I presume you had a bx. What codition was your liver in?
W/such low damage, waiting until you're not in the sun and heat so much is very wise. I was light and heat sensitive from the disease and meds. I did 3 shots a wk of intron A-interferon Alfa-2b, Recombinant-Rebetron. I had the 'pen'. 5 200mg riba pills a day.
Like I said, for me it was like a shot of speed. So I did all my shots in the morning and then took the dogs for a brisk walk. My partner suggested that after a few restless nites.
And always eat a fat and a carbo @ shot time. Mine was a whole grain enlish muffin w/butter and honey or jam and a cuppa green tea. I still do that.
some of us end up cleaning up our habits so much while tx'ing, we end up much healthier in the long run.
Like I said, for me it was like a shot of speed. So I did all my shots in the morning and then took the dogs for a brisk walk. My partner suggested that after a few restless nites.
And always eat a fat and a carbo @ shot time. Mine was a whole grain enlish muffin w/butter and honey or jam and a cuppa green tea. I still do that.
some of us end up cleaning up our habits so much while tx'ing, we end up much healthier in the long run.
I think I'm stage 1 these are some of the things I'm going to have to check back with my Dr on. When he was telling me what was going on my mind must have been racing in denial. He did say I hand scaring and imflamation.
Thanks for the advice. I have decided to do the treatment. After reading some of the post on this forum I have a lot of quetions. to ask my Dr. I don't know that much about all this yet but I learned a lot more on this forum in the last 30 minutes then i have any where else. I told my Dr I wanted to start the treatment in the Fall. I figure I would do better working in the cooler Temps then trying to handel the Tx through the summer. The Dr said it would be 24 weeks and I thought he said 3 shoots a week and pill every day but not sure on that.
Didn't have a bx b/c of a clotting abnormality (which is how I got hep in the first place). Had some funky blood test-voodoo thing that said 2 fibrosis 1 inflammation pre-tx, and 1 fibrosis 0 inflammation post-tx. I assume you ask b/c of the assumed risk of doing only 12 weeks with a heavily beat liver?
DJL
DJL
This forum looks like it will be my home for awhile. I think I know what to ask the dr about the treatment and etc. I'm going to pick up my results on th bio and virus count. after today I'll proably know what i'm looking out. I appreciate all of your comments. It realy helps Thanks
welcome, do you know what stage your biopsy came back at.
on a scale of 0 - 4, 4 being cirossis, you can decide whether to treat or wait. if you are only a 1 or 2 you have many years until it gets serious. in that case you may decide to wait until the new drugs come along in hopefully in 2-4 years. these will be much more affective, almost NO side affects and short term. myself i would wait as my sides have been a real bummer and i have lost a year of my life sitting on the couch feeling like pupe.
some of us breeze through but many have a real hard time. i know many people who work but do not like it.
your decision.
on the plus side as a geno 2 you have a 90% chance of svr and only 24 weeks of tx.
lol
bobby
on a scale of 0 - 4, 4 being cirossis, you can decide whether to treat or wait. if you are only a 1 or 2 you have many years until it gets serious. in that case you may decide to wait until the new drugs come along in hopefully in 2-4 years. these will be much more affective, almost NO side affects and short term. myself i would wait as my sides have been a real bummer and i have lost a year of my life sitting on the couch feeling like pupe.
some of us breeze through but many have a real hard time. i know many people who work but do not like it.
your decision.
on the plus side as a geno 2 you have a 90% chance of svr and only 24 weeks of tx.
lol
bobby
Yeah, the liver damage is the thing. Although I've seen it before , one of the items TN posted brought it back as a reminder that I interpreted as the shorter courses may be more applicable with less damage. Glad you are still doing well and popping in. There's been a rash new 2's lately who benefit from your experience.
Welcome, like your handle, got to ask, are ya a welder by trade? You'll gain a lot of good imfo here and will know what to expect from our experiences when ya get started on the tx .
I was 2b. I started tx in May 2002 and cl'd in May 2002. Try to have a test @ about 2wks-many 2b's cl by then.
I was infected via transfusion in 1967 b/had complete liver failure-end stage liver disease.
My sx's were few and esily handled w/otc's. I did inferon 3 shots a wk and riba 5 pills a day. and was just fine.
I did my shots in the am and was filled w/'energy'. I then did my day, walked, exercised etc and didn't have a great insomnia problem, as those who do their shots @ nite.
I finished all 24wks and have had all sorts of other health problems clear up also.
It's doable. Also, in some states a hep c victim qualifies for medical marijuana. Some of us prefer a natural solution to the problems of chemo.
I was infected via transfusion in 1967 b/had complete liver failure-end stage liver disease.
My sx's were few and esily handled w/otc's. I did inferon 3 shots a wk and riba 5 pills a day. and was just fine.
I did my shots in the am and was filled w/'energy'. I then did my day, walked, exercised etc and didn't have a great insomnia problem, as those who do their shots @ nite.
I finished all 24wks and have had all sorts of other health problems clear up also.
It's doable. Also, in some states a hep c victim qualifies for medical marijuana. Some of us prefer a natural solution to the problems of chemo.
I am also a 2b and started out with a viral load of 695,0000. The first three months were mostly unenventful, but the start of the next, well....
I did a VL PCR check at 6 weeks and was undetectable. 2b's are very lucky in that they have a great chance of clearing this virus in 24 weeks.
Good luck with your decision.
I did a VL PCR check at 6 weeks and was undetectable. 2b's are very lucky in that they have a great chance of clearing this virus in 24 weeks.
Good luck with your decision.
Welcome,
I am a 2B and have 41/2 weeks left of treatment of 24. NYgirl is right, there no way to know how you will do on treatment.
Tomorrow I will be 59, am male and had a starting viral load of 318,000. From a tatoo in 1997,had gotten hepC.
You will learn much here and hopefully it will help you decide if you want to treat. I for one am glad I did as I have been undetectable since my 12 weeks of treatment.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
BEAGLE
I am a 2B and have 41/2 weeks left of treatment of 24. NYgirl is right, there no way to know how you will do on treatment.
Tomorrow I will be 59, am male and had a starting viral load of 318,000. From a tatoo in 1997,had gotten hepC.
You will learn much here and hopefully it will help you decide if you want to treat. I for one am glad I did as I have been undetectable since my 12 weeks of treatment.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
BEAGLE
Unfortunately there is no pat answer to your question because EVERYONE handles treatment and it's side effects (or complete lack of them) differently.
In GENERAL I can tell you that it's not a fun experience but it is mostly "doable". Meaning there might be a few days you have to take off sick...(I have taken three in the 32 weeks I have already been doing treatment) because I was just too ill with the anemia to get in to work.
Most of us come to work everyday and live pretty normal lives. Oh yes we are much more TIRED than the average person usually I think as a group...but it's not like you are SO tired you can't get up (unless the anemia hits) or anything like that.
As a 2 you will probably only have to treat for 24 weeks so you are very very lucky about that.
The first few weeks are usually the hardest until your body gets used to accepting the poison in...then it just becomes a new type of normal and you just go along with the flow.
I wish you the best of luck.
In GENERAL I can tell you that it's not a fun experience but it is mostly "doable". Meaning there might be a few days you have to take off sick...(I have taken three in the 32 weeks I have already been doing treatment) because I was just too ill with the anemia to get in to work.
Most of us come to work everyday and live pretty normal lives. Oh yes we are much more TIRED than the average person usually I think as a group...but it's not like you are SO tired you can't get up (unless the anemia hits) or anything like that.
As a 2 you will probably only have to treat for 24 weeks so you are very very lucky about that.
The first few weeks are usually the hardest until your body gets used to accepting the poison in...then it just becomes a new type of normal and you just go along with the flow.
I wish you the best of luck.
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