she had PCR (Qual) test later and it was positive. Her doctor framed her opinion that she had HCV and cought it 5-6 years back on the basis of Elisa test and general body check up only.
And how will she know that she found a better one and not just another one who doesn't know what they're doing? Any recommendations on how to find a good doc in Pakistan?
Samnomi, start looking into treatment and find out your genotype for starters - and get a PCR test as scruples is saying you haven't had the right kind of test that tells you if you have active Hep C virus yet - only that you might have had it at one time but that you might not have it anymore.
question : " u all people are confusig me more. now tell me what should i do. "
Ans; Go to other doc.
u all people are confusig me more. now tell me what should i do.
I Must appreciate the divine and spiritual powers of your doctor who with Elisa test and general body check up told you that you having Hcv from last 5-6 years.
as far as i know ( pls any body correct me if i am wrong) Elisa test is only an improved HCV antibodies test and nothing more than this. This test even dont suggest than presently HCv virus is in your body or not and there are 70-80 % chances that your HCv antibodies test show positive results even after you have suceessfull treatment and there is no HCv is your blood ( means your pcr is negative)
The reality is , our doctyors are dojng disservice and dtiching us . Yo know what happened in my case. I was not recomended for 4 weeks pcr after starting treatment by my doc and resultatntly i am forced to extend my treatment as i dont have any proof about the effect of medicine on my body. If my doc had advised me 4 weeks pcr and had its result showed negative , then was a very strong chance that my treatment was reduced to 4 months only and in the absence of this test i have to extend my treatment to 9 months ... see whats this mistake costs me ........
I think you have skipped following line from her first post before replying......
Quote : "we both love each other,we had our dreams to have a sweet home, we both love children, we wanted to have many."
Thanks Trish
I m from Pakistan
I looked at your profile and didn't see where you are from. Are you from outside the U.S.? I'm from Canada, btw.
If you can't afford a biopsy, can you afford a PCR that will tell you what your genotype is? Then you'll know what is the recommended length of treatment for you and you can start looking into treatment options to see if you want to go through treatment to get rid of your HCV.
If you use a condom with your husband when you get married, there is no chance whatsoever of you spreading HCV to your husband and a less than 5% chance of spreading it to him without a condom. The only way is if you bleed when you have sex and he has an open wound on his body somewhere that the blood can enter into. Hepatitis C is spread through blood to bloodstream, not body or sexual fluids in general. There are many many many people on this forum where one has Hepatitis C and their husband or wife does not and they do not use a condom and their partner has never gotten Hepatitis C - and this is also the same for those people who didn't know that they had Hepatitis C until later in their married years.
However. If your culture looks at this a certain way and you will be forced to give each other up because they will not understand or accept the truth about your HCV, I would consider looking at treatment. If a biopsy is too expensive for you, going through treatment without one is okay. If you get a biopsy, either you will find out your liver damage is not much and you can wait for treatment if you want to or you will find out your liver damage is advanced and you need to take treatment right away. However - if you are going to do treatment anyway and the biopsy is too expensive, then it's more important to get the treatment and get your cure.
Something to think about.
If you can't afford the drugs for treatment, perhaps there are ways of getting them that other people can suggest to you.
I wish you good luck.
Trish
yeah. my doctor didnt suggest me any biopsy.she already knew that i cant affoard expensive medicines.
Scruplus ! i had qualititative PCR .
I KOW about SGPT rate which is decreasing after checking frequently. 109 to 66. next month i will be having some other tests suggested by dot including SGPT.
i went to my doctor with my ELISA method result.she got my body check up, asked some questions and then simply told, that u r experinecing the disease from 5 to 6 years.
What's unfortunate too is that geno 3's have a much higher incidence of fatty liver and accelerated fibrosis progression. It seems that strain is more elusive in clearing the virus
as well.
Yes, we have to make the best of what we have available. Even with all the technology and assistance programs in this country, people are unable to get treatment because they lack medical insurance or the means to pay for tests. Very sad.
Forgot to mention that I have consulted three liver specialist and beleive me none has advised for biopsy :)
I agree Biopsy is the only accurate source for determining the liver helth and raised ALT is an indication of inflamation. But in our part of the world ( pakistan) 80-85% patients have Geno 3 and its was a previous conception that in case of Geno 2 & Geno 3 , there is no need of Biopsy and only ultrasound is sufficient and still our doc are following this. Moreover, Biopsy test is very expensive in pakistan and people try to avoid that test. I can bet her doc hadnt advised her for biopsy. Even in my case, i was geno 3 and my doc didnt ask me for biopsy. I know its wrong but its reality.
Correction: People with normal ALT can have cirrhosis.
ALT does not tell you the amount of damage done to the liver. It is only an indication of the degree of inflammation in the liver at the time of the test. Please with normal ALT can have cirrhosis. Majority of people with hepc have elevated LFT.
Biopsy is the only accurate method of determining the exact health of the liver.
would you like to share what test your doctor done after the diagnosis.
Was genotyping done ???
What was the PCR test ??? whether it was Quantitative or Qualitative?? if it was qualitative then the Viral load will be mentioned on it and what was that viral load ???
If it was not quantitative then what was the method from which your doctor suggested that you have it 5 years ago???
What was your ALT level ( ALT or SGPT is one item in Liver Function Test which normally indicates the demage being done to liver)
sorry for typing error. i repeat my statement,
chances of transfer of HCV through sex is LESS THAN 1 %
people of uneduvated society face this problem , I also faced this too. I am from Pakistan and here people are not so much educated on HCV and even some year before it was thought that one caught this disease only due to illegal sexual activities. Thanks to medicine companies especially Roche who bring some awareness in the society about this disease.
Coming to your question, it is scientifically proved that chances of transfer of HCV through sex is LESS THAN % ( got it less than one percent only) . Now sorry for being so blunt, but these chances are only if you have rough sex, rough sex means there is exchange of blood from both sides, which is very rare. i think you got my point.
i can send you some published research or can give you links to download these research and you can show them to his family.
I was also told by one doc that you cant marry untill you have HCV but that was because of ignorance of that doc, i personally know some couple , in which one have HCV from 15 years and her spouse and childern dont have , any good liver specialist, heptalogist can explain this too.
I had the same story as you had and somewhat the reactions faced by you are also similar.
Dont worry , nothing gonna happen, Its a disease like other diseases , only problem which highlighted it as a silent killer is its undisclosed progress. you are luck your hCV is disclosed, you are lucky that your are female coz chances of clearence is more in females, you are luck that you have been informed about its presence in young age coz chances are very bright in young age and side effects of medicine are also low and some time negligible in young age, Depending upon your genotype, you can clear it in six months or in one year with medicine.
hepatitis is infamous for being called a "silent disease" due to it's lack of symptoms until end stage conditions. different people react differently to the different types of hepatitis c viruses, some can live their entire life with hcv and die of natural old age causes, while it could prove lethal for few others.
this disease can be passed on through blood to blood contacts, and mother to baby transmission is around 4-6%.
ultrasounds should be expected to show up normal unless one has cirrhosis bumpy scars or enlarged liver, or spleen. but a positive pcr means you have the virus in you.
for more information, you can visit the fact sheets on: hcvadvocate.org
good luck