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[Guest guest]

Hi I'm Barb, from Wisconsin, single, female, 42 yrs old w/no kids. Been on

disability for about 12 yrs due to mental stuff. They say I'm bipolar now. I was

dx'd with hepc in 1993 but am pretty sure i got it through tattoos in the early

80s. I've been on IFN before years ago, but had to quit cuz of labs plus a lot

of

other reasons that I won't go into here, and also because I didn't clear the

virus in 3 months. I'm genotype 1A.

I've been having all the symptoms of hepc.....itching, rashes, blurred vision,

weight gain w/SEVERE swelling and pitting edema, nausea, poor appetite

and severe chronic fatigue. I have the BEST hep doc in the USA I'm told (and I

believe it!) but i feel that I shouldn't have to feel this awful and for so long

(months now). I also suddenly got these little 'cyst' things on my legs stomach

and one on my lower arm....they were SUPPOSED to do a biopsy on it

(through a transplant doc) yesterday but I have to go through all this " pre-op "

bullshit first. They say that they can't do the removal and biopsy (it's about 1

cm x 2 cm big..really small) in the office cuz my platelets are so low and have

been ever since I went on the IFN before. They're like in the 60 - 70 range. So,

they need to have platelets on hand in case I won't clot.

I put myself into a psych unit for the past week cuz of no sleep for nearly a

month (3-4 hrs a night MAX with no naps) and because i can't deal with this

stuff much longer.. I'm home now and am all swollen (feet and legs) again and

feel miserable....like someone just beat the shit outta me...i feel like this

constantly. My GP says to " get on the IFN NOW " but I don't see my liver doc for

another 3 months. i feel as though I'll just have a nervous breakdown before

then.....

I feel like I'm out here all alone, even though I have excellent docs, but the

WAITING TO SEE is just killing me. My labs and recent CT scan showed

portaal hypertension, enlarged spleen, low platelets and stage 1

cirrhosis......I'm at a loss here......I hope that maybe someone will be able to

shed some light on this situation. I will be more than happy to help others

too,

if that's at all possible.

Sorry this was such a long intro but there's a lot going on......Take care and I

hope to be chatting with you soon.

Barb