New to forum

[mnl1]

I am 52 yrs. old and have hep c. Diagnosed about 8yrs. ago but really don't know how long I have had it. IV drug user for 18 yrs. been clean since '92'. The reason I am writing is I did an anual check up about 2 months age and it showed in the blood work for the first time my ALT and AST levels high. I tested twice since the June 17 test and my levels are going up. The AST is 160 and the ALT is 265. I do a ultra sound on 8/20 I guess to get an idea of whats going on.
The doctor has already mentioned treating with Interferon but from what I understand of the treatment I don't know if I want to go that route. I guess I am looking for answers and insight from you who have experience with this. Is there any other method of treatment? I read about herbal treatments and remedies. What if I don't do the interferon, what am I looking at as far as time and health? I work out everyday and I am in pretty good shape but am really feeling the fatigue hard to get going tired all the time hard to stay focused.
I would appreciate any and all feedback and insight.

Thanks in advance.

mnl1

[Marcia2202]

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum.

Marcia

[mnl1]

Thanks for all the info, you seem pretty well versed in all this. I will keep you up on things.

Thanks R Glass for the welcome I am glad I found this site.

mnl

[R Glass]

Welcome to the Forum

[Bill1954]

Two schools of thought on biopsy; if you're determined to undergo treatment regardless, a biopsy might be optional. I am Genotype 1 (hard to treat) and was offered the opportunity to treat without biopsy. Due to lifestyle, etc, I requested biopsy. I believe the E.U. does not require biopsy for Genotype 2 or 3 patients, for example. For what it's worth, I don’t personally endorse this approach, but some doctors support it. With biopsy report in hand, a patient with late stage damage might be more inclined to treat longer or stronger should they receive a poor initial response to treatment drugs. In my opinion, a biopsy is well worth the very small risk it presents. Additionally, it can motivate a patient to maintain Rx compliance should they suffer from adverse side effects from the treatment drugs.

I believe exercise is wonderful, as long as you can keep it up. Treatment can cause hemolytic anemia in patients, and most just don’t feel up to it. We have had members in here that ran and completed marathons, so it’s a very individual process. I have no reason to believe that exercise, particularly in moderation, is bad for Hep C patients. I’ve heard anecdotally that extreme “hit the wall” stuff can tax the immune system… perhaps someone better informed will comment.

Good luck to you, and keep reading—

Bill

[mnl1]

It sounds as though even after the ultra sound I am going to request a biopsy.
Can anyone tell me if exercise can have adverse effects on the hep c. I train in kung Fu San Soo a few times a week and do alot of technics that require we hit the ground braking our falls quite a bit and I am wondering if this could take it's toll on the liver.

[jmjm530]

Welcome. Your liver enzymes and viral load have nothing to do with liver damage. Both can go up and down for a number of reasons. Ultrasound has its uses, but also not good to gauge liver damage. You need a liver biopsy, then you will know.

[Bill1954]

There are a number of conditions that could cause elevated liver enzymes; alcohol use, certain medications, etc. Steatohepatitis (fatty liver) and other non-HCV related diseases can run concurrently with HCV, and cause elevated liver enzymes as well. Remember that two series of LFT tests over a short span don’t necessarily reflect a trend; and that ALT/AST can be somewhat dynamic when in the context of Hep C.

It sounds loike you are seeing a specialist already; what’s his take on this; make sure you fully understand the risk-reward ratio for treatment before you commit. Also ask him to elaborate on the new drugs in trial right now, and see if he thinks it’d be appropriate to wait for these in your case.

Be well, and stick around and read for a bit—

Bill

[mnl1]

It was a Gastroenterologist that I saw for the first time this past week. He is the one who re did the blood work and ordered the ultasound. The thing is I did a biopsy about 1 1/2 yrs ago and everything was great. My PCP said I was probably one of those that would never have problems, then I do check up in June and my blood work is abnormal. Is there any other condition other than the hep c that could cause these levels to go up.

The Iron was already checked.

I am trying to figure what has changed in the past year to cause these elevated levels.

Thanks for everyone's welcome and responding.

mnl1

[fretboard]

Welcome to the forum, someone will chime in later I'm sure.  I haven't treated as of yet, but I just had an ultrasound done myself and I'm waiting on the results.  All I know about the tx is that it consists of Pegasys or pegalated interferon and Ribaviron, so it's like 180mg. of the Peg, one shot per week and 1200mgs. of the Riba daily.  Some Countries use weight base tx.  Oh, herbal treatments and remedies will not clear the virus, ever.    It's a little slow here on the weekends as ppl are busy.  Good luck, read around.  Read as much as you can, you can also watch some videos on youtube.com.  Oh on the lower right hand side of this screen you will see a box that says "Most viewed health pages" and in there it says "Common Hepatitis C Acronyms", be sure and check that out so you will learn the abbreviations that are used.   God Bless  

[fretboard]

Welcome to the forum, someone will chime in later I'm sure.  I haven't treated as of yet, but I just had an ultrasound done myself and I'm waiting on the results.  All I know about the tx is that it consists of Pegasys or pegalated interferon and Ribaviron, so it's like 180mg. of the Peg, one shot per week and 1200mgs. of the Riba daily.  Some Countries use weight base tx.  Oh, herbal treatments and remedies will not clear the virus, ever.    It's a little slow here on the weekends as ppl are busy.  Good luck, read around.  Read as much as you can, you can also watch some videos on youtube.com.  Oh on the lower right hand side of this screen you will see a box that says "Most viewed health pages" and in there it says "Common Hepatitis C Acronyms", be sure and check that out so you will learn the abbreviations that are used.   God Bless  

[FloridaMouse]

If I was in your position, I'd want a liver biopsy or at the very least a fibrosure blood test to find out the amount of your liver damage, if any.  Trust me, viral load, symptoms or lack thereof and enzymes (ALT/AST) mean nothing when it comes to how much liver damage a person has.  I had a very low viral load of 90,000, my enzymes were always normal to just slightly elevated and I had very vague symptoms.  Despite all this my biopsy revealed I had stage 3/4 damage (on a scale of 4).  For me it was a no brainer ... I had to treat.

Mouse

[Bill1954]

Hi there, and welcome to Medhelp. I’m 53, and have treated twice with interferon and ribavirin.

The liver enzyme results are interesting, but really don’t give a good indication of the amount of fibrosis you have developed, if any. A certain percentage of HCV patients can progress into and through cirrhosis with normal enzymes, so this is a rather antiquated method of surveying the damage.

Are you being seen by a primary care doc, or a specialist now? A Gastroenterologist or Hepatologist will probably be able to guide you through treatment decisions far better than your PCP doc.  

The ultrasound can be a fairly good indicator of cirrhosis, but stops short of identifying low to mid range fibrosis , where many of us are. Liver biopsy remains the most accurate way to determine inflammation and stage of fibrosis, and guides the majority of patients in their treatment decisions.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine remains a contentious subject in here; the only *proven* way to viral eradication is via interferon and ribavirin. Some in here believe that certain supplements will help relieve some symptoms and buy time; but most that have gone that way eventually learn that CAM has it’s limitations.

Not all of us decide to treat, nor is it always in our best interest. Many folks adopt the ‘watch and wait’ approach; this usually involves monitoring progress with occasional (4-5 years) biopsy. Newer treatment drugs are currently in clinical trial; and while they look promising at this time, they will be used as an adjunctive therapy to the current treatment. They might reduce the exposure to interferon in terms of time, and provide a higher rate of treatment success as well. You might want to ask your doc about ‘STAT-C’ or more specifically Teleprevir, Boceprevir, as well as Roche’s new polymerase inhibitor, R1626.

For more basic info on HCV, try:

http://janis7hepc.com/

Click on any item of interest in the blue box.

In the mean time, good luck and take care—

Bill