Aa
shame?
i have just been diagnosed with hep c and have read that some people fell shame at having this. I do not feel shame and no one eles should either. it is not like we asked for this to happen and not like we purposely went out and got it. so PlEASE do not feel shame.
Judge me all you want but I live in a small town and don't want my family to be drug into small town mentality/judgement.
I suffered no shame because I hardly told anyone I had it :) Disclosing your status is really an individual decision, no right or wrong here.
It's not that I feel shame, It's more like...'Why the heck did I do that horrible thing to myself ONE TIME' I beat myself up b/c I was stupid and now I have to finally deal w/it after 33 yrs. I know 24 weeks isn't a long time, but the unknown is worse then anything.
I disclose my status to everybody, and I tell them that I never had a transfusion or shot drugs, and that they should be tested too, because anybody can get hcv. I don't tell them about the other drugs I took (smoked or swallowed) because that doesn't pertain. And for those here who did inject, how do they know they got the virus from a needle? Maybe it came from the manicurist.
I still haven't told the majority of my family, and will definitely not tell anyone at work. I don't know how I got it, but because I'm gay, the consensus seems to be that I must've gotten it sexually (even from my doctor). To complicate matters, I don't have "intercourse," and the CDC says that transmission through oral sex is not documented. But, no matter how I got it, I still think many would say, "Well, you're gay, so there you go."
Down here in Indonesia there is a lack of awareness about hep c, though seven million people have contracted this disease. I presume this applies to the rest of Asia
So when I inform anyone I have hep c I get a "duh" and then I spend 15 minutes explaining about it!
surprised and sad to know that there is a stigma attached to hep c since there are any number of ways you could get it
So when I inform anyone I have hep c I get a "duh" and then I spend 15 minutes explaining about it!
surprised and sad to know that there is a stigma attached to hep c since there are any number of ways you could get it
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