Hepatitis C

A few weeks ago I donated blood and this Thursday a letter came in the mail to inform me I'm positive for hep c. Talking about a kick in the balls, but not really looking back on my crazy life, still, it caught me by surprise. Got a doctors appointment tomorrow to find out how bad it is. A few good things is that I gave up drinking 7 years ago and threw away the cigs over 5, haven't used dope in over 27 and I'm not showing any symptoms. The best part is knowing I have some kick ass health insurance. Wish everyone did... I'm over weight by 40 pounds or so but I've already been working on shedding the pounds because of high cholesterol, lost 15 so far. Anyone have any good links or knowledge about hep c and marijuana? Are other folks in the same shoes here on RIU?

well be careful with rick simpson oil! it works for cancer and pain but the is a controversy on how cannabinoids effect certain viruses at certain points in disease progression!!!1 here is a link you be judge and do research , i personnally would go with the oil but.....i received this from a fellow riu member.... Re: no product?

Thanks for the link angel! Off to read it now.

Getting a liver biopsy tuesday. Scary stuff..And it was all preventable.....

I was in the trial for the meds that are used today for Hep C. That was about 15 years ago. My biopsy showed 60 to 70 % scared and fibrous. I test neg. for it now. It's a little scary but it's much easer today and you will be fine. You will worry no mater what but your going to be OK. Good luck

Hey kevin! Hang in there my friend. I have had Hep C since 1982 and I'm pushing 53 yrs old. I have never done any standard treatment fot HCV and never will. The awful side effects of interferon are not worth it IMO. The only meds I take now are medical marijuana. It gives me an appetite, improves my mood, and has drastically improved my liver function test. My LFT are completely normal, in 2010 liver biopsy was only Stage 1 with very minimal scarring, and Grade 1 slight inflammation. Liver has returned to normal size and all my cholesterol and CBC are all back to normal. I don't believe the HCV/RNA is lysogenic in action. HCV is a RNA virus, not a DNA virus. I had read this NIH study Angel posted before and I never gave it much merit at all. We have to remember standard medicine is normally against finding any good in marijuana anyway. I go by my excellent medical test results and how good I feel.
The biopsy is very important indication of how your liver is functioning. You will know more after you get that done. Have you had your RNA counted yet? Take care!!

kevin said:

Getting a liver biopsy tuesday. Scary stuff..And it was all preventable.....

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Trying to get ahead of myself. I've got an appointment to see a gastrologist Tuesday, but Im sure that would be the next step.

You guys give me hope. One of my best friends went through all the stuff about 8 years ago and he test neg. too. I also know a few that said fuck it and drank harder and did more dope, Im not going down that road.

MI Dude said:

Hey kevin! Hang in there my friend. I have had Hep C since 1982 and I'm pushing 53 yrs old. I have never done any standard treatment fot HCV and never will. The awful side effects of interferon are not worth it IMO. The only meds I take now are medical marijuana. It gives me an appetite, improves my mood, and has drastically improved my liver function test. My LFT are completely normal, in 2010 liver biopsy was only Stage 1 with very minimal scarring, and Grade 1 slight inflammation. Liver has returned to normal size and all my cholesterol and CBC are all back to normal. I don't believe the HCV/RNA is lysogenic in action. HCV is a RNA virus, not a DNA virus. I had read this NIH study Angel posted before and I never gave it much merit at all. We have to remember standard medicine is normally against finding any good in marijuana anyway. I go by my excellent medical test results and how good I feel.
The biopsy is very important indication of how your liver is functioning. You will know more after you get that done. Have you had your RNA counted yet? Take care!!

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Yes , I had the RNA test, the protiens and all that is within range but the quantitation by rt 43,000,000.
I'm also 52 and guessing I picked up the HCV in the early 80's, I did a lot of hard drinking for a few years, hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.

Hey man good luck. I've always worried about hep C so I got tested after I stopped fucking around and was shocked I didn't have it after all the stupid shit I did 9+ years ago.

But then I've been 1.5 years in agony from something they can't find on a test but they find lesions on my brain images giving me the worst cranial nerve pains constantly for a full 1.5 years now. My neuro taught at yale and teaches neurology at UW here now and I had to go through half a dozen to get to him but he finally is pinning it down to thalamus pain syndrome at 28 years old and I can only think it's from all the shit I put in my body and all the shit it was probably cut with.

Right? ive always been more scared about all the cuts ive been putting into my body that the actual drug...even though neither is good at least 1 of them is consistant... and the other could be almost anything

interferon....look it up, you most likely will be taking this in your cocktail. those 40 lb's will be gone soon. good luck. i just passed 25 years myself.

The dr.s visit went well. He said with all the readings it looked like my liver is working at 100% but they'll know for sure after an ultrasound tomorrow. I went through a small fight with prostate cancer a couple of years ago with the same dr. and I just had a follow up colonoscopy in Aug. that gave me an all clean review but he wants to give me another before I start treatment to make sure all is good. He also wants me to see a psychiatrist because one of the side effects of one of the drugs is severe depression. A friend of mine said they'll keep you plenty fucked up if that's what you want during treatment, I'll cross that bridge when i get there. I smoked my first joint in days today, boy did I need a tolorence break, had a good case of the grins. A little good news, i'm getting a new Harley by the end of the week. It's going to be new to me anyway. Peace out guys and thanks for the replys.

kevin said:

The dr.s visit went well. He said with all the readings it looked like my liver is working at 100% but they'll know for sure after an ultrasound tomorrow. I went through a small fight with prostate cancer a couple of years ago with the same dr. and I just had a follow up colonoscopy in Aug. that gave me an all clean review but he wants to give me another before I start treatment to make sure all is good. He also wants me to see a psychiatrist because one of the side effects of one of the drugs is severe depression. A friend of mine said they'll keep you plenty fucked up if that's what you want during treatment, I'll cross that bridge when i get there. I smoked my first joint in days today, boy did I need a tolorence break, had a good case of the grins. A little good news, i'm getting a new Harley by the end of the week. It's going to be new to me anyway. Peace out guys and thanks for the replys.

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I'm not a big fan of psychiatrists. If it were up to them they'd write everyone with chronic conditions off as a mental case, they tried to add a criteria to their psychiatrist bible, the official book for them to use, which would let them diagnose anyone with a number of physical ailments as head cases. Here's a quote from a story about it:

The DSM working group which deals with psychosomatic medicine has proposed to combine and broaden definitions of so-called "Somatic Symptom Disorder" to such a degree that anyone with an unexplained pain disorder and depression could be written off as a head case and refused effective medical therapy.

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My general doctor would write antidepressants if I wanted them. I'm already on a couple for chronic pain(nortriptyline and cymbalta).

I had a colonoscopy last year, not fun hehe, drinking that nasty fluid sucks big time. My gastroenterologist was a smoking hot blond babe, I was embarrased that she got an up close look at my browneye.

Good luck!

Well Hell, still no results from the ultrasound and the the test for the genotype came back undectable. The nurse has never heard of this and the doc is on vacation until Monday. I did get my bike yesterday, been out getting wind therapy all day today.

A few updates. All went well with the head shrink, he okay-ed me for treatment. The ultrasound showed no signs of scarring of the liver. The genotype I have is type 2, the strain with the highest success rate for non detection after treatment. So all that is left is a colonoscopy Wednesday. The doc said you feel the worse the first day or 2 after following the shot of medicine so I decided to do it Sunday nights. I figure if you're going to feel like shit, it might as well be on Mondays like old times. Peace out!

good luck kev! hope it goes easy on ya....peace

Thought my two cents may be of interest to you...

I've spent the better part of the last two years researching/investigating, experimenting on myself and family members, and listening and talking with my biology professor and its all been focused on natural healing methods.
Back at the beginning of the 2012 I got Epididymitis (infection in your epididymis) and it stayed with me for about 3 weeks during the first course of antibiotics then all pain left. Pain returned in late July of 2012 and went on antibiotics again and to my surprise they didn't work. So I said screw it I'm going to heal myself naturally... and so began more research but narrowed into how to cure infections. 5 cloves of organic garlic, crushed and spoon fed 5 times a day for two weeks plus 4grams of Vit C a day and about half of an organic onion a day and my pain was gone, my infection was gone and my epididymis has went from swollen and noticeable to normal. Ever since, I have given up on Western medicine for dealing with disease and illness and only look at the natural ways to heal the body. I highly recommend scrolling through Google searching up natural and/or organic remedies for your diagnosis.

And when you can, always buy organic produce-you're not getting any industrial chemicals, irradiated food, no GMO products, not supporting farms that have chemical run offs that screw the local and world wide water table and the list goes on

Hope this helps mate, take care and good luck!