interfuron treatments worth the pain?

[caiti87]

I was recently diagnosed with hep c, weird thing is that for months now my blood work had been showing really high liver enzymes and my doc screened me for hep a,b,and c three times and they ALL came back negative. Finally I was feeling soo sick and in so much pain that they admitted me to the hospital, and did an ultra sound and more blood work, when they got the results they decided to fly me to another hospital in a city two hours away, I was too sick to even be scared. after being there for a day the docs came in and told me that i had hep c and it was in the chronic phase, which is also odd to me since i've read that people have hep c their whole lives and dont suffer any symptoms. Why is mine so aggressive soo early? The doctors advised me to start interfuron and rivabbaren (sp?) as soon as im able, that if I dont I will almost certainly need a transplant or develop caner down the road. I've been reading  and trying to educate myself on this disease as much as possible, but everything I'm reading states that most people dont have many issues with it, not like mine anyway. also i've read that the treatments have terrible side effects, a nurse even compared it to chemo, which i found a little excessive but still sounds awful. So my question is, are starting the treatments immediately really that necessary and important enough that it will save me from having to get a liver transplant an or possibly cancer?? And is it worth the horrible side effects? i cant imagine going through those for up to a year, but if it means saving my life, I'll do it.  

[LookingForward12]

Beautiful, OH.

[orphanedhawk]

Last night when desrt posted about Caiti living in a rural area with bad health care it was like he threw a glass of water in my face.
My liver doctor is a top notch doc in S.F. Hector's is quite renown.

I made opinions based on what Caiti  told us without really being in her shoes. She's not as aware of some of us about these issues not just because she's young, but more so, because of where she lives.

If her words sound somewhat unbelievable, it may be because her doctor's are somewhat unbelievable.

Years ago, when I was pregnant with my daughter I lived in a rural area. When I told the doctor I planned to have a home birth, he told me if I did he would refuse to give me prenatal care. It was him and the hospital or no doc.
( My healthy happy baby girl was born at home, delivered by her dad)

In the spirit of compassion, lets either try and help Caiti or go on to the next post.

Trying to make peace~
OH

[caiti87]

i've made some phone calls today out of confusion of so many people on this forum doubting whether or not i have it or not. I have been assured over and over to my dismay that I do. Opiates are going to be a part of my life while there is the chronic pain, so thats a moot point as well. I will seek whatever treatment for the hep c that the health professionals deem necessary, and if that includes opiates for pain control then so be it.... im sure i cant possibly be the only person in the world with this predicament, i have faith that there are solutions. but as the others have so greatly advised me, one step at a time, meaning biopsy and counsel from a hepatologist or other qualified medical professional....

[desrt]

I got curious and looked up"chronic intersticial cystitis" on Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstitial_cystitis
Apparently it can have an autoimmune component. Alpha-interferon may not be an option in any case. Get the biopsy, get a good hepa' or an experienced gasto', and stay up with what's going on in the all oral / non-IFN trials. Take care.

[rivll]

While I am sympathetic to your struggle, I think that this is the wrong forum for you. Assuming you have Hep. C, what everyone has told you is true, treatment is meaningless until you have overcome your opiate addiction.

[caiti87]

doesn't sound too bad at all.... thanks guys