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Hep C Discussion Forum -> General Discussion -> Scared i have Hep C (not a baseless worry, had inconclusive tests)
Post Info TOPIC: Scared i have Hep C (not a baseless worry, had inconclusive tests)
James10500


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RE: Scared i have Hep C (not a baseless worry, had inconclusive tests)
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I suggested the footnotes from Wikipedia here is the footnote; http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v99/n5/full/ajg2004164a.html

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BJ


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Gidday,

You seem to be carrying on like a pork chop without really having a clue why.  I had been a path lab boss for years and had previously submitted my own blood numerous times as test blanks in various testing procedures over the years without registering any interest.  Started feeling a bit crook a few years ago and bingo - you've got HepC.  It lay dormant for 30 years before taking off like a wildfire.

Thr HepC virus is a wierd and wonderful beasty and it has been known to cloak itself and avoid detection while mounting massive damage simultaneously.  Now that situation is as rare as it is for it to have been the feature of a journal article in itself, but the number of people who have contracted HepC from sexual encounters, are sadly numerous enough and such an obvious possibility, to not rate a mention in a journal article. 

Sure, contracting the virus purely from sexual activity is rare, BUT IT HAPPENS !! I'm sick to death of hearing about how everyone reads **** in Wikipedia and even worse sites and yet they won't go to the doctor and get a simple blood test.

I truly hope that you haven't contracted HepC mate but unless you go and get tested, forget it.  Yeh' I know that's not very supportive sounding but tough love never is.  Stop cutting yourself up for what you yourself think might be pointless reasons, when the answer is only a blood test away. 

What's the problem. ?  I know blood tests don't appear to pay much - but surely a negative PCR result would be priceless.  I know it would be for me.

Cheers,

Brendan.

 



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Geno 1b 72wk tx (Sept '09- Feb '11) Tx sucks, Sx's suck, but no one quits on my watch.   Pre-tx VL - 7.6 Million - Wk 4 - 480,000 - Wk 12 - 19,000....Wks 24, 36, 48 and 72 PCRs were all - negative :-))))Achieved SVR August 2011 

Milk


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Thank you all for your answers. It's helped me deal with the stress. For one because i see how unlikely it is i might have ever caught it ince it seems to be really uncommon to catch except if you've had the risk factors.

I agree that it's strange that tests are "inconclusive". Like i said they had the idea i might have it 4 years ago and in the end said that i didn't. And i got tested like ten times for HEp C between that time and the last one when they told me about it being "inconclusive". Are they just being wary and not jumping the gun before i have more tests? (like was the result actually posivitve but they don't want to claim i have it until they know with more tests? i think it would be irresponsible to tell someone the results were "inconclusive" if they were in fact positive.) I'm supposed to receive the results by mail so i can give them to my doctor so i guess ill know when i get them if it really DOES say inconclusive.

Like i explained i did read it's possible for some people to, at least sometimes, not show antibodies for it even if they have it but usually these are people with immunosuppresive disorders, i don't have that so i don't know.

What i know is that in about a dozen times of being tested for Hep C in the last four years only twice have they had the SUSPICION that i had HEP C antibodies. Maybe anyone who gets tested that often for it gets the risk of having the same happen? I mean i did read that if you HAVE the antibodies at all, 97% of the time they'll see them. Which means that i pretty much could NOT have had any in my blood the ten or so times i was tested and it came out fine, because i can't have been in that 3% every single time.

Anyway im just speculating a lot right now. I'll see my doctor and wait and when i know, i'll see if i am to become a permanent member of this forum or not... At least if i do, i got a head start....

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BeccaJune


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Milk,

From what I gather, a small percentage of people (10%?) who get HCV will clear it on their own, but can still test positive, but most people who test positive have the virus.

I found out that I was positive for HCV a couple of years ago.  I was getting tested to find out if I had an STD, and when the test came back my doctor told me that No, I didn't have an STD, but I did have HCV. 

The point is she knew right away.   There was no doubt that I tested positive.  She ordered more test to find out my viral load and genotype.  

It seems strange that they don't seem to know.

 



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tobytucker


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53! Karen how old are you??? You look so young in your picture I could have guessed you to be in your late 30s early 40s!!! Darn girl you look good!!!!

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britlitkaren


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I agree it's not that easily transmitted. I had it til I was 53 w/o knowing. My husband of 30+ years n my daughter both tested neg. I had them repeat test 6 mos later. Neg. Like tobytucker, my daughter n I shared everything. We all 3 used the same razor. Oh, it made my ex mad when his got dull too fast. Call your local health dept. They require a registry in the US. Tell him of your concerns. Maybe try n calm your thoughts down by journaling it first. I've filled pages. I hope that posting here has given u some reassurance and that ur neg was a neg! Karen

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Diag 8-10. 1st VL 600,000. Gen 1a. Grade 4 Stage 4 cirrhosis w/ Esophogeal varices level 2. Viral load 1,750,000 7/12/10. Triple Therapy w/ Telaprevir began 7-15-11
tobytucker


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Dear Milk, I know the horrible worry, but Hep C doesn't seem to be sexually transmitted very often. It is BLOOD to BLOOD. My adopted daughter was found to have it this year at age 16. Now as her mommy, I have eaten after her, drank water etc after her, changed diapers, hugged and kissed her all the time, she had two instances where she had to have stitches when she was little and I held bandages on her boo boos and definitely touched her blood, we have showered and bathed in the same bathroom, maybe even shaved our legs with the same razor, possibly used the same mascara.... and I do not have it, nor do her dad and brothers. I remember one particular instance she and brother #2 were wrestling as kids do and she had a loose tooth and he knocked it out by accident and blood everywhere!!! So unless YOU had an open bleeding cut on yourself and the woman had an open bleeding cut on herself and they rubbed together...ewww...not really a sexy thought..you are probably fine. My DIL's brother had the same kind of inconclusive thing with Hep B when he donated blood and it turned out to be nothing but he still shows up for antibodies and can't donate blood. Get tested but don't make yourself sick worrying. Oh I forgot, we also have pierced ears and might have worn each other's earrings from time to time...not bloody earrings lol but still...

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James10500


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Hi,

Welcome to the forum. You seem to have done quite a bit of research. One thing I must say is it's pretty rare for sexual transmission of HCV. Go to Wikipedia and read the footnotes regarding sexual transmission. So we can rule that out. If you've never done drugs or had a blood transfusion I wouldn't worry about it. I know I know easy to say. To put your mind to rest get a PCR that test will test for the virus not ABs. We all went through this first the anti bodie test then the test for the actual virus it is stressfull !

Good luck,

James

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Milk


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Hello Everyone,

I didn't post in the introduction thread not because i am rude but because i'm at a stage where i don't know yet if i have Hep C but i am really scared.

Here's my story. I am 32 and i (used to) do a lot of medical trials to help support myself. That means that everytime i went for one i am tested for Hep C (among other things). I'd been doing these trials since 1999 rather frequently (and so geting tested for hep c at least 3 dozens of times in that time) when in 2007 while attempting to participate in a trial, i was told my blood results had been sent to an outside lab for further tests. At the time i was actually VERY SCARED about HIV because i had a gf that well...had been with a lot of guys before and also cheated on me once when we were together (which caused us to split) and i did rememebr getting a really bad flu around 5 months (in the dead of winter but still) before those results were done (as you know HIV can give flu like symptoms, HCV too, of course). Finally after two months i learned they had THOUGHt i had Hep C but further tests had apparently proven them wrong.

At the time i searched about HEp C and found out things like that you can (rarely) have had the virus and cleared it in which case you would still show antibodies for it without being infected anymore. Anyway, i wasnt told to follow up with a doctor or anything so i put it off my mind.

Because of the scare this gave me i put off doing more medical trials for about a year. When i started again in 2008, it was with a different company. My first time trying my results were also delayed by about two weeks so i couldnt do the study but they said in the end my results were fine, never mentionning if there had been a suspicion of Hep C. I ended up then doing about ten medical trials in the next 3 years, eveyrtime being tested for Hep C, everytime coming out fine.

THEN in something like march of this year, i try for another one. My results are held up. I end up having to wait FOUR MONTHS for them to tell me anything, im geting so impatient i cuss them out on the phone for the 2nd time no later than yesterday.

Finally today, so the very day after, i get a call from a doctor of the trial company. he tells me they had to send my blood to winnipeg (i live in Montreal, canada) and its why it took so long. And THEN he mentions the same suspicion about Hep C, except this time instead of being told i'm clear, he says the results were "inconclusive" (i think mainly because they only do ELISA and POSSIBLY RIBA..i'd hope that if it took foru motnhs and an outside lab in winnipeg, that they DID test more than ELISA) and that i should do my own further tests with my own doctor.

Which brings me to now. I just spent the whole day unable to do anything but pace back and forth while feeling like breaking down and crying. I know you'll tell me i dont know yet, i know even having this reaction when all of you actually HAVE (or had) it and are ACTUALLY suffering from it could downright seem terribly insensitive and i am sorry for that. At first i wasnt so worried, the doctor said its possible sometimes that antibodies show up and it turns out theyre different antibodies but similar to hep C (i wasnt sure i believed that but i found info on this on the net). I searched online and found out that not many but SOME people who have chronic hep c produce no or barely any antibodies, in which case finding it can be problematic as the amount of antobodies can fluctuate heavily every few months. This is what i'm worried is happening with me! That maybe ive had it since the first time they worried about it but that since then i didn't have enough or any antibodies for them to see it again until last march.

I have no real risk factor, i never had blood transfusion, never injected drugs i am 32 and I had only 5 sexual partners, all but the one mentionned above, serious monogamous relationships. I know that there's been recent studies saying that catching Hep C from sex was extremely rare, still it is i beleive the most likely way i could have caught it, if i have it. The gf i was with at the time the first worrying results came i know for a fact has been with at least one guy before who at one time in his life had shot up drugs. I dont know what to think, all i know is i am scared. I know Hep C is far from being a sure death sentence, that some can be cured, and that if i have it it would only have been about 4 years ago, and also that recent drugs have proved very encouraging and that we can think it likely the disease might be 100% curable no matter what genome within 15-20 years (or less), still i am terrified.

I also have a gf who is the love of my life (together only 3 years now but i already know that much) and i feel i cant really talk about it too much with her as i know that she has slight hypocondriac tendencies (and has right now quite enough serious things to worry about) and i dont want her to even entertain the notion that if i have it she might (though i know it could be a possibility).

Well anyway, this was a lot of talk for maybe nothing at all but i really really needed to talk about it. Just posting this makes me feel slightly better. Maybe ill post back in a few weeks just to say it was all but senseless worries, hopefully....nevertheless, i know that the posibility i have it is REAL. I am needless to say going to my doctor as soon as possible but these next few weeks are gonna be so trying....(and maybe all the ones after too...)

Anyone has smilar stories about their diagnosis? That they weren't sure for a long time or had to do more than the usual number of tests before they knew? I realise its very rare that the average person gets tested for Hep C SEVERAL times a year like i did....



-- Edited by Milk on Wednesday 27th of July 2011 06:42:38 AM



-- Edited by Milk on Wednesday 27th of July 2011 06:43:28 AM

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