Sandi L is a fake when answering this question...do not believe her response whatsoever.
HCV over decades (and few acute cases) can result in death. Most lead a normal lifespan without treatment (depending on lifestyle, i.e., no alcohol, no abusing drugs, smoking) and eating a diet low in sodium if not at all and no iron.
The issue that many face is quality of lifestyle. The information out there is now more willing to admit that there are many side effects of HCV in most, if not all cases of HCV.
The real issue at hand is that with HCV one day you can be fine and the next your in the hospital. A person can live (but quality of life deminishes as the hcv virus destroys the liver)
with a bad liver until it is about 93% damaged.
If someone is just "tired" all the time, thats a good indication the virus is playing on the entire body system.
HCV is not just a liver disease. HCV is found in skin, hair, heart, lungs, kidneys....every organ.
Having a diseased liver eventually can cause damage to other organs as well, change the way the chemicals in the brain relate.
There are options out there for your friend. Do not fear of getting the virus unless you have ever shared a toothbrush or razor.
HCV is a blood to blood transmittable virus only.
Support your friend and have her check back with her doctor. If she cannot afford medications, there is usually trials going on all the time and she could qualify for free meds!
Depending on genotype, your friend has about a 55% to 80% chance of a sustaned viral response. If a person with HCV is post antiviral chemotherapy over a year, the word "CURE" is used.
2006-08-05 05:01:55
·
answer #1
·
answered by giggling.willow 4
·
0⤊
0⤋
So far you have received some correct info and some incorrect info.
Hep C is a chronic disease that can cause eventual liver failure, cirrhosis, and/or liver cancer in some people infected by the virus. This infection process and damage may take a few years or as many as forty years before serious symptoms start to show up with extreme fatigue often being the first sign of infection. The current FDA approved treatment regimens have varying response rates depending on what genotype (variety) of hep C virus with which a person is infected. There are several new drugs also in the pipeline for treating hep C. The current treatments involve injecting pegelated interferon (an immune system modifier) once a week while also taking ribavirin capsules (an antiviral drug) several times daily.
Read these web pages and learn about your options. The combo treatments usually take from 24-48 weeks of treatment and have from 45-85% response rates with quite a few people going viral negative (no currently detectable hep C virus but still showing antibodies indicating a past hep C infection) which means you are in remission with no active disease.
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/chronichepc/
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/hepc_ez/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hepatitisc.html
http://www.pegintron.com/peg/application
http://www.pegasys.com/
2006-08-03 16:11:48
·
answer #2
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
0⤋
No, Hepatitis C is not fatal on itself. However, it is a chronic disease and, with time, it often leads to liver cancer and other potentially deadly complications.
Currently there are no approved effective medications. But several are in clinical trials and many more in different stages of development. So, there is a good hope that we will be able to at list control (if not cure) Hep C in near future.
2006-08-03 11:18:17
·
answer #3
·
answered by svikm 3
·
0⤊
1⤋
All I know is what a co-worker told me that had it. Yes it can be fatal, it effects the liver and eventually shuts it down. She was on a once a week treatment for 3 months to see if the damage could be reversed and in her case, she was improving. If your friend is on treatment, time will tell if it will work for her.
2006-08-03 10:41:19
·
answer #4
·
answered by hummingbird 3
·
0⤊
0⤋
Hepatitis c attacks the liver and you need that to live. Medication can help that. As with any disease, you can die from complications also.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/c/fact.htm
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/299_hepc.html
http://familydoctor.org/071.xml
2006-08-03 10:42:55
·
answer #5
·
answered by lala<3 4
·
0⤊
0⤋
Organic Virgin Coconut oil will reduce her viral load. 4-6 tablespoons a day for at least 6 months.
http://www.coconutoil.com/viruses.htm
2006-08-07 03:15:48
·
answer #6
·
answered by Outdoors G 2
·
0⤊
1⤋
how can she be rescued. by getting proper treatment by a qualified doctor, that's how.
2006-08-03 20:21:27
·
answer #7
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
0⤋
Yes it will kill your friend. there is no treatment to cure the problem.
2006-08-03 10:53:23
·
answer #8
·
answered by Sandi L 1
·
0⤊
1⤋