Have you heard that people living with Hep C and has had treatment may have organ failure?

Did you hear this that it can affect the organs? That the person will be weaker due to the interferon and the harshness of the treatment. Is it the treatment that is harsh or the Hep C itself. And is it ever really cured if it doesnt show on the blood test?

Have you heard that people living with Hep C and has had treatment may have organ failure?
No, I haven't heard this...I've been through treatment and I am fine. Healthy and no sign of HCV. The horror stories you hear on the web are just that.





Don't get me wrong here I am not discounting people who had to stop treatment, some people's genetic makeup make them very sensitive to the treatment...but interferon is nothing different than what your body is already used to making on its own. It's basically an oversupply of interferon added to the body to overpower the speedy replication of Hep C. If anything, its usually the Ribivirin that tends to make people "sicker".





I would be interested to hear some stories of folks who had any kind of organ failure, but I would think that it is usually due to late stage HCV.





The newer Pegylated Interferon can cause kidney problems since the plastic molecules added to the interferon can clog up the system. It can also invoke hyperthyroidism since extra Interferon overtaxes the balance of your metabolism.





You also need to realize that many of those "bad treatment" stories you hear are from pre-pegylated interferon days - Prior to 2003, you had to take Interferon every 1-2 days a week so it really was harsh, back then. Now you take it once a week.





If you are obese or already unhealthy from some other disease then I recommend to others that they do not start treatment until they fix those issues first.
Reply:My dad has HepC and hasn;t started treatment. he is stage one and gets to choose to wait for treatment or start the interferon now. So, I don't think it affects anything else and if it does it's apparently not that important...
Reply:Hep C affects the liver and typically require liver transplant regardless of the interferon. My father was on the interferon and it made him extremely sick. He still needed the liver transplant.
Reply:My sister had Hep C - her enzymes remained very low for years and years(10 years) until about 5 years ago when they started to become elevated. She chose to have a new dual treatment of Interon and Riberveron (sp?) She has been Hep C negative for three years now. Now signs and liver biopsies are normal and enzymes are normal.


The doctors all said the reason she has done so well and was able to go years without major problems or treatment was because she was very active (Ballet Dancer for 25 years) and has always been on an organic diet (not vegetarian) but stayed away from foods with pesticides, meat without antibiotics etc.....


Remember there are also more than one strain of Hep C. So it just depends from person to person, the way they got it and which strain of Hep C they have.
Reply:It probably not the treatment.It could be the Hep c it's self know body knows if it affects other organs as Hep c its self has only had a name for about 20 years or so before that it was known as non a non b Hepatitis so the doctors don't know that much about it


Hope that helps

bouquet