I was first diagnosed Hep C positive in 1992 by a country doctor, who’d just told my partner we were having our first child. He then told me that with hepatitis I had maybe five or ten years to go! Well fuck me — what a give and take situation. My first thought was you play the game and it finally catches up with you big time.
At the time, the information just wasn’t available. No one really knew how this disease would progress. After the initial shock, I decided to take things as they came. I felt alright after breaking a ten year habit, having just moved to the country from the big smoke for obvious reasons. As the GP couldn’t tell me anything, the Hep C thing just sort of went into the backburner in my mind as fatherhood and other life stuff took hold.
Hep C! A death sentence!?
I started to have the regular blood tests the doctor was pushing me to have, and new information gradually suggested it wasn’t definitely a death sentence. I was enjoying life for the first time in years. No monkey on my back, the new child and being accepted into the community as a young family man. A different life from running around the streets of Sydney, doing what I knew was a dead end and self-destructive behaviour.
But I did start to drink more alcohol as in the country areas it is a common social ice breaker. Being a muso too, I was surrounded by the stuff. As the years rolled along, my drinking increased but I reckoned it was an acceptable level. It slowly crept up on me — feeling flat after social occasions, not happy with the family, mood swings, so I started self-medicating with alcohol to get me through the dead days.
Dance with the bottle & hepatitis C
There was always this dark undertow inside my own head, and moods that came from nowhere with no rhyme or reason. The doctor told me my ALT (enzyme) levels were elevated, and asked how much I was drinking, but I didn’t tell him the truth. Meanwhile, my moods and drinking were going out of control — avoiding going out, crying over stupid things and getting depressed.
I hid a lot from my partner and started sly-grogging. I knew I was starting another merry-go-round with bringing up past events, disappointments, what-ifs and losing friends to drugs. What I didn’t know was that Hep C was part of the picture and that much of this came from having a sick liver. Heavy drinking can damage a healthy liver, but with Hep C my liver found it almost impossible to get waste products out of my body. It was only later I realised that the liver makes the good enzymes that keep your mind and body in balance.
In the meantime, I was so down and out of control that my ability to make sound judgements flew out the window. My partner tried to help but I pushed her so far away she had to take our child and leave. I tried counselling but the mood swings were doing me in and alcohol was a solace. My energy levels dropped and I wound up living in a black hole of my own making.
On the mend from hep C
When I realised Hep C was involved, my first step was to tackle the binge drinking. A counsellor helped me to work out the things that got me down and made me drink. Once I stabilised a bit, I went to work on my health to help my liver stop poisoning my body and head. Eating right, plenty of vegetables, cutting down on fat, exercising. Avoiding stressful situations, taking time-outs, eating nutritious snacks instead of large meals.
My energy levels were on the rise and I started feeling good about achievements on a day-to-day basis, looking forward and not backwards. Fuck, it wasn’t easy and it all depends on how much damage you’ve done, but even with cirrhosis (death of liver tissue) there is still hope.
Treatment
I also learned of the great new treatments that can totally eradicate the disease from your body. Combination anti-viral therapy uses a number of medications together to fight the Hep C virus. The treatment is a combination of injections and tablets — the injections are called Interferon and the tablets are called Ribavirin.
Your doctor works out the best treatment, which can last from six to twelve months. There are side effects, and you’ll need to think about how the treatment will affect you, your family and lifestyle.
There are many different strains (genotypes) of the hepatitis C virus. Before you begin treatment, your doctor will ask you to have some blood tests, one of them will test what type of genotype you have. The length of time you are on treatment and the decision to start will depend on your genotype.
Once you have finished treatment you will be asked to attend the clinic for regular check - ups. This will enable your doctor to monitor your health. This is especially important if you do not respond to the treatment.
Decisions
For me, it was a case of hanging in there with my doctor and making the ultimate decision to want to change my lifestyle, for me and not others. It wasn’t easy because it’s human to get hard wired into negative ways of reacting and behaving in different situations. It did help to know the depression came from the virus attacking my liver, and that there were a lot of support groups out there. The guys at the Hepatitis C Council were wonderful professionals who pointed me in the right direction and answered all the questions I had.
So if you’ve got Hep C, don’t suffer in silence. If you reach out you’ll find there’s someone to help and give that hand up. Stay strong, stay cool and don’t fall into that black hole! All the best.
- P
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