Hi Kayla, that sounds great. Can you talk with your hepatologist and aiding your immune system clearing virus? I know there have been some studies about treating hcv in acute phase and results were pretty good.

fingers crossed for spontaneous clearance! :)

best

Hi Kayla, this huge drop in your viral load, together with your account of how and when you were most likely infected, looks very promising indeed.  And yes, the fact that you were jaundiced is a good indication that you were in the early stages of infection at that point, and that your immune system is clearing the virus on its own.  As Malcolm said, young women have the best chance of spontaneous clearance. 

Wishing you all the best, it looks like you`re one of the lucky ones! 

Hi Kayla,

If your VL has dropped from 1.02 million to only 750, there is only one conclusion. You have acute HepC. Could you confirm that you may have been infected at a Tattoo Shop earlier this year?  From previous posts you said you became sick in August and had raised LFT's. You then had a +ve antibody test, confirmed by the Bayer CIA test. The VL test in August was 1.02 million.

Acute HepC usually manifests itself within 12 weeks of infection, but only ~25% of patients are 'sick'. That is why it is so easily missed. The first 6 months of infection with the HCV virus is called acute HepC. Up to 30% of patients clear the virus spontaneously. The VL will then be Undetectable. If patients remain infected for more than 6 months, they are said to have chronic HepC.

It sounds as if you are in the process of clearing the virus. If so, your LFT's should become normal, and a followup VL in a month or so should be Undetected. Typically young females (such as you), are most likely to clear the virus. Talk to your doctor, but I think you have been very lucky. Cheers.

Hello Kayla,

That is certainly a dramatic change, if you mean from over one million to 750( and not 750,000).    Has your doctor commented on this VL change?  If not, be sure to ask what the significance could be.  

To answer your question, I'm going to go out on the limb and say that this is quite out of the ordinary.   But, be sure and double-check with your DR.

Hello everyone!

So, I haven't started treatment yet-just waiting on insurance to come through!

Anyhow, my doctor took one more set of labs before I start treatment.

My first viral load (in August) was 1,020,000. This time (about 10 days ago) it was 750!

Is this a normal change without treatment, or does it mean anything? Any info/advice/experience is appreciated!

Hello everyone!

hrsetrdr/Tim :) --- Yes, my initial test was 1,020,000 (over a million) and my second test here recently was only seven-hundred and fifty. It was the nurse in my doctor's office who called to tell me, and she said "Your number has dropped very low, to seven-hundred and fifty, and the doctor wanted to make sure we called to let you know. It is still positive, but very low."

Mallani: I can say with near certainty that I contracted HepC this spring from the tattoo shop. However, IF that hypothesis happened to be incorrect, I can say 100% for certain that I contracted it at least within the past year. I donated blood with the Red Cross in 2012 and there were no issues with my blood then. I have also had a lot of labwork done this year (gallbladder issues, etc...) and my liver enzymes did not start presenting as elevated until after the time of the tattoo.

The nurse did tell me that one of my liver function tests was still high, though.

I plan on finding out more from my doctor soon, but I am fingers crossed that I am clearing the virus on my own! :)

Also, I found this information online: "Symptomatic patients with jaundice have a higher likelihood of spontaneous viral clearance than do asymptomatic patients." When I was diagnosed with HepC, it was actually an Emergency Room doctor who noticed I was jaundiced and therefore suggested Hepatitis testing (this may not be of any relevance, but thought I should include it).

 Thanks everyone for your kind words.

AS far as I know it really only as relevance in testing for VL to measure how well the treatment is working and not really about how sick you are. And I don't think that really answers your question LOL mallei will most likely know. I would think there is a testing error or something like that.