Sometime early last
year a friend of mine confided in me she had hepatitis C. And she had
been infected for over 20 years. She found out when she tried to help
out with donating blood. First she was angry because she was only trying
to help a friend take care of himself who didn’t know he had hepatitis
C. Her next emotion was fear. Then hopelessness set in.
She had heard there
was no real treatment. And the treatment that was available was not
effective and had a lot of physical and mental side affects. I assured
her that there was a cure. One treatment was advanced. And the treatment
had an almost 100 percent success rate. I got her in to see the doctor.
They put her on a new treatment for six months.
The medication had its side affects. Moodiness,
tiredness, depression and hopelessness were just a few of the mental
hurdles. But none of them are as lasting if she had not gotten the
treatment. Working was a chore during those six months of treatment. Six
months later she had no traces of the virus in her system. All of the
side effects stopped after she finished all the medication. She has two
more tests to take.
The hepatitis C virus is one of the many causes of chronic liver disease in the United States. It accounts for about 15 percent of acute viral hepatitis, 60 to 70 percent of chronic hepatitis, and up to 50 percent of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and liver cancer. Four million Americans, or 1.8 percent of the U.S. population, have antibody to the hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), indicating ongoing or previous infection with the virus, most who are baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965.
Hepatitis C affects the liver. The liver is the largest internal organ of the body and is located on the right side of the abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and is protected by the lower right ribs. It is about the size of a football. The liver is divided into two sections and needs a good blood supply. This blood comes from two sources, the portal vein which delivers blood from the gastrointestinal tract (stomach, intestine, colon) and spleen, and the hepatic artery, which supplies blood from the heart.
The liver has over 500 functions. It makes many of the chemicals required by the body to function normally, it breaks down and detoxifies substances in the body and it also acts as a storage unit. Hepatocytes found in the liver are responsible for making many of the proteins in the body that are required for many functions, including blood clotting factors, and albumin, required to maintain fluid within the circulation system. The liver is also responsible for manufacturing cholesterol and triglycerides. Carbohydrates are also produced in the liver and the organ is responsible for turning glucose into glycogen that can be stored both in the liver and in the muscle cells for energy. The liver also makes bile that helps with food digestion. The liver plays an important role in detoxifying the body. It converts ammonia, a byproduct of metabolism in the body, into urea that is excreted in the urine by the kidneys. The liver also breaks down medications and drugs, including alcohol, and is responsible for breaking down insulin and other hormones in the body. The liver also stores vitamins and chemicals that the body requires as building blocks.
Hepatitis C is spread through the blood or body fluids of an infected person.
You can contract the with behavior listed below:
Sharing drugs and needles
Having sex, especially if you have an STD, an HIV infection, several partners or have rough sex
Being stuck by infected needles
During birth, passed from a mother to a child
You can also contract hepatitis C from getting tattoos and piercings if the equipment is not properly cleaned. You cannot get hepatitis C from hugging, kissing, sneezing, coughing, or sharing food or drink.
Chronic hepatitis C will cause cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. Researchers estimate that at least 20 percent of patients with chronic hepatitis C develop cirrhosis, a process that takes at least 10 to 20 years. After 20 to 40 years, a smaller percentage of patients with chronic disease develop liver cancer. Liver failure from chronic hepatitis C is the most common reason for liver transplants in the United States. Hepatitis C is the cause of half of the cases of primary liver cancer in the developed world. Men, alcoholics, patients with cirrhosis, people over age 40 and those infected for 20 to 40 years are more likely to develop hepatitis C virus-related liver cancer.
Seventy-five percent of people with hepatitis C are not aware their livers are being slowly damaged. Hepatitis C often has no noticeable symptoms for years and even decades. If symptoms are present, they are usually mild, nonspecific, intermittent and appear as another disease. They can include:
Fatigue
Mild right-upper-quadrant discomfort or tenderness (“liver pain”)
Nausea
Poor appetite
Muscle and joint pains
The CDC recommends you get tested for the disease if you:
Received blood from a donor who had the disease
Have ever injected drugs
Had a blood transfusion or an organ transplant before July 1992
Received a blood product used to treat clotting problems before 1987
Were born between 1945 and 1965
Have been on long-term kidney dialysis
Have HIV
Were born to a mother with hepatitis C
The major conditions that
can be confused with
Hepatitis C include:
Alcoholic hepatitis
Chronic hepatitis B and D
Autoimmune hepatitis
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (fatty liver)
Sclerosing cholangitis
Wilson’s disease
Alpha-1-antitrypsin-deficiency-related liver disease
Drug-induced liver disease
Hepatitis C can be cured. You are considered cured when the virus cannot be detected in your bloodstream three months after treatment is completed. The therapy for chronic hepatitis C has evolved steadily since alpha interferon was first approved for use in this disease more than 10 years ago. Scientific advances have made treatment for hepatitis C shorter, more effective and injection-free.
Hepatitis C relapses are uncommon among those proclaimed cured, but reinfection is a concern. Reinfection rate was an estimated 19.06 per 1,000 person-years. Prisoners had the highest reinfection rate, at 45.48 per 1,000 person-years.
Good health doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it. We make advances in medicine every day. Read and gain an understanding of the advances that have been made. Then use them.
The hepatitis C virus is one of the many causes of chronic liver disease in the United States. It accounts for about 15 percent of acute viral hepatitis, 60 to 70 percent of chronic hepatitis, and up to 50 percent of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and liver cancer. Four million Americans, or 1.8 percent of the U.S. population, have antibody to the hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), indicating ongoing or previous infection with the virus, most who are baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965.
Hepatitis C affects the liver. The liver is the largest internal organ of the body and is located on the right side of the abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and is protected by the lower right ribs. It is about the size of a football. The liver is divided into two sections and needs a good blood supply. This blood comes from two sources, the portal vein which delivers blood from the gastrointestinal tract (stomach, intestine, colon) and spleen, and the hepatic artery, which supplies blood from the heart.
The liver has over 500 functions. It makes many of the chemicals required by the body to function normally, it breaks down and detoxifies substances in the body and it also acts as a storage unit. Hepatocytes found in the liver are responsible for making many of the proteins in the body that are required for many functions, including blood clotting factors, and albumin, required to maintain fluid within the circulation system. The liver is also responsible for manufacturing cholesterol and triglycerides. Carbohydrates are also produced in the liver and the organ is responsible for turning glucose into glycogen that can be stored both in the liver and in the muscle cells for energy. The liver also makes bile that helps with food digestion. The liver plays an important role in detoxifying the body. It converts ammonia, a byproduct of metabolism in the body, into urea that is excreted in the urine by the kidneys. The liver also breaks down medications and drugs, including alcohol, and is responsible for breaking down insulin and other hormones in the body. The liver also stores vitamins and chemicals that the body requires as building blocks.
Hepatitis C is spread through the blood or body fluids of an infected person.
You can contract the with behavior listed below:
Sharing drugs and needles
Having sex, especially if you have an STD, an HIV infection, several partners or have rough sex
Being stuck by infected needles
During birth, passed from a mother to a child
You can also contract hepatitis C from getting tattoos and piercings if the equipment is not properly cleaned. You cannot get hepatitis C from hugging, kissing, sneezing, coughing, or sharing food or drink.
Chronic hepatitis C will cause cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. Researchers estimate that at least 20 percent of patients with chronic hepatitis C develop cirrhosis, a process that takes at least 10 to 20 years. After 20 to 40 years, a smaller percentage of patients with chronic disease develop liver cancer. Liver failure from chronic hepatitis C is the most common reason for liver transplants in the United States. Hepatitis C is the cause of half of the cases of primary liver cancer in the developed world. Men, alcoholics, patients with cirrhosis, people over age 40 and those infected for 20 to 40 years are more likely to develop hepatitis C virus-related liver cancer.
Seventy-five percent of people with hepatitis C are not aware their livers are being slowly damaged. Hepatitis C often has no noticeable symptoms for years and even decades. If symptoms are present, they are usually mild, nonspecific, intermittent and appear as another disease. They can include:
Fatigue
Mild right-upper-quadrant discomfort or tenderness (“liver pain”)
Nausea
Poor appetite
Muscle and joint pains
The CDC recommends you get tested for the disease if you:
Received blood from a donor who had the disease
Have ever injected drugs
Had a blood transfusion or an organ transplant before July 1992
Received a blood product used to treat clotting problems before 1987
Were born between 1945 and 1965
Have been on long-term kidney dialysis
Have HIV
Were born to a mother with hepatitis C
The major conditions that
can be confused with
Hepatitis C include:
Alcoholic hepatitis
Chronic hepatitis B and D
Autoimmune hepatitis
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (fatty liver)
Sclerosing cholangitis
Wilson’s disease
Alpha-1-antitrypsin-deficiency-related liver disease
Drug-induced liver disease
Hepatitis C can be cured. You are considered cured when the virus cannot be detected in your bloodstream three months after treatment is completed. The therapy for chronic hepatitis C has evolved steadily since alpha interferon was first approved for use in this disease more than 10 years ago. Scientific advances have made treatment for hepatitis C shorter, more effective and injection-free.
Hepatitis C relapses are uncommon among those proclaimed cured, but reinfection is a concern. Reinfection rate was an estimated 19.06 per 1,000 person-years. Prisoners had the highest reinfection rate, at 45.48 per 1,000 person-years.
Good health doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it. We make advances in medicine every day. Read and gain an understanding of the advances that have been made. Then use them.
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