6/01/2011

I think I might have Hepatitis C...?

These are useful and collceted by ying!

I think I might have Hepatitis C...?I grew up with a parent, (Mother) that suffered from Hepatitis C for 5 years without knowing. During those years; we probably did share toothbrushes, razors, etc etc.

I've lately noticed that sometimes, (fairly rarely) I have striking pains down my side; fairly close to my liver. I also do have yellow in the corner and bottom of my eyes.

I don't drink alcohol, I don't take IV drugs. Should I get tested for Hep C? My Mother wants me tested when I turn 15 so I'm more mature. (I'm 13 now).

Thanks in advance!

turbo_POWER
Whatthef#ck

If she wants you to wait two years, she obviously doesnt like you that much.

Go get tested now before you croak.

<3

Sara
Seriously kid,just get tested as it'll help to get a possible diagnosis.
I normally go to the doc on my own but that's probably due to me being 19.

Good luck

azeez o
There's no basis to your mum's idea that you have to wait till you are fifteen, however there may be a psychological aspect to your symptomatology.
Never-the-less, there's no harm in testing so i suggest that you go for it.

girl
you should discuss this with your doctor

Stephanie
First of all, waiting to test is not in your best interest. The reason being is that we now know that the earlier you treat,the better chance at a sustained response to antiviral chemotherapy. While liver damage is at its minimum, alt and ast levels as low as they can be can all play a major role in sustaining the virus. (cure) Regardless of genotype. (there are several genotypes and certain genotypes are hard to treat)

You say your mom has only suffered with HCV for five years. She may have suffered with HCV the last 5 years, but she could of carried the chronic virus long before you were born. There are over 246,000 children in the United States with "known" infection. We have no idea how many more children are out there with chronic hcv infection.

While HCV infection is not spread through pregnancy, it CAN be spread during birth.

My suggestion for you is telling your mom you do not want to wait to get tested because you know you have a better chance at resolving your infection while the virus is considered fairly "new". You are 13 years old, but you could also have had the virus for 13 years- three years past a decade.

I suggest asking your mom to be tested now. Tell her that kids are more resilent to treatment (treatment tends to be easier to tolerate for children). A person doesn't have to have many, if at all symptoms to be treated either. The point is treating as early as you can if you test positive. Secondly, by treating early, hcv has less chance of causing some irreversable diseases.

Babies born to mothers with HCV have about a .06% of carrying the virus past their 18th month of life. This is usually when most the time, hcv antibodies "drop off"...anotherwords, sometimes children born to those with hcv infected mothers will carry the mothers antibodies, but not be infected. The only way to make sure you do not carry the virus is to get tested.

HCV is a chronic liver disease- most of the time it takes a decade or more before you know you have it. If your mom has suffered for 5 years with HCV, shes probably had it more than a decade prior to that- so that leaves it at two years before your birth- (as an example)

Certainly sharing toothbrushes and razors with your mom is a risk factor- had you cut yourself after she had cut herself with the same razor, however, household exposure is about .06% chance you can acquire HCV...so in reality, you have a .12% risk for HCV.

Hugs and best of luck to you! :O)

Give your answer to this question below! Explains the prevention, causes, symptoms, modes of transmission, and treatment of hepatitis C.


Orignal From: I think I might have Hepatitis C...?

No comments:

Post a Comment