As I write this blog about having hepatitis c, I thought best start at the beginning & build a picture. The who, what, where, when & why ? A very familiar story for a lot of people I'm sure.
I was tested for HCV & HIV, without my knowledge or permission. I went to my Dr's one day & she told me what was going on, that I had been tested for hepatitis C & it had come back positive. As I was a heroin user & on a script, facts which available to the government but in an anonymous form, or so we thought, I guess was the reason they tested us...The people who were deemed to be in the "at risk" group. Anyway they seem to have just blanket tested all people with a drug history. We could look back & think that it was out of order or just be thankful to have the knowledge, all be it minimal. Just being aware that there was a problem ahead for our livers was enough to help us make what turned out to be very important lifestyle decisions, decisions that would determine the future condition of our liver, giving us a better chance of doing treatment (not even an option then) many years later, when it was discovered & later marketed as a dual treatment. Also we could look back & wonder why did they bother testing us then, they must have had something in mind or why bother ? After all hep c was & is still a very little advertised health issue & is only recently being brought to the fore thanks to the Hepatitis C Trust & the selfless bravery of a few celebrities like Natalie Cole daughter of singer Nat King Cole & Anita Roddick RIP, founder of the body shop. who went public about being infected with a virus, usually thought to be a virus caught by drug abusers or gay men, ( actually there are many ways, innocent & reckless ), the main reason most tend to keep it quiet. Respect to a brave Lady for her decision to go public & putting HCV firmly into the public domain.
My Dr was quite clued up but reading between the lines & after hearing others diagnosis stories, it sounds like the general party line handed to me & my fellow Bio hazards was... that it would or could affect our livers but could take many years to get to a problematic state. I remember saying " just get me to 60 brick & I'll be happy ". Easy to say when your in your mid twenty's.
So that was it I had hep c & it was no major trauma, besides your liver repairs itself, right ! ( wrong ! the biggest misconception ) So whats the big deal ?
Peace.
