Shocking!! You must have the patience of Gandhi not to have a melt down.
I feel very spoilt by my GP who is the best blood taker in the business. For the last couple of decades he has been painlessly extracting my bloods. He is such a lovely man. The secret to finding a good Hep GP is to look for a gay HIV expert.
I feel almost guilty for two timing him with the lovely GP lady who is trained in the Hep meds, but she is willing to prescribe for me straight away. And then there’s my specialist who is also adorable! Actually he only immigrated from London last year so you have lost out there big time. Perhaps thats what everyone should be doing.
Chejai if you ever need a doctor in Brisbane, I will send you some recommendations.

Yes DT thats what I found out the hard way.
In the end it was the Turmeric that won the day.
But I also realised that whole herbs are whole for a reason, and that extracts are almost always inferior.
Human beings always meddle with things too much.
Whatever I’ve done to myself it hasn’t been too detrimental to my liver. I had a fibroscan yesterday…4.7kpA.
Not too bad after probably thirty years with this virus and an extremely misspent youth.

Extracts are never reliable really. Herbs I’m happy taking in large amounts when fresh or dried become toxic to me when in extract form. I’ve tried several times and its always the same. I take extracts , even from trusted sources and I get liverish headaches and infernal itching.
Its so predictable now I stay well clear of them. I wonder if it will be the same after treatment. I do think you can mistakenly overstimulate your immune system when you have hep and suffer for it.

Wow LG thats three times the price of private fibroscan here! Heppers are really doing it hard over there these days.
We get a great deal here as far as blood tests go, with Medicare paying for most of them, though sadly that could well be about to change.
I would also be very interested to know if it was possible to bypass a doctor to get tests here in Australia (I don’t think it is and I guess partly thats due to having to monitor the subsidising of tests).
Also looking for a way to access my own records of past tests. I am continually frustrated by my GPs reluctance to give me copies of my own results. The medical fraternity are a bit like the mafia I sometimes think, always looking to protect their interests. Must be especially hard for them in the internet age when everyones a google expert. And lets face it, most people are not capable of managing their own health care.
Presumably Australians could use international online testing services but thats obviously going to be expensive.

I think it is a systemic issue. I have had good LFTs for a long time now, and low viral loads, and yet I was offered Interferon by my GP. Admittedly at that time there wasn’t an alternative, but still, for someone who is essentially not sick, to poison them like that is crazy!
I think the system encourages practitioners to dehumanise patients, and it also encourages and rewards those who are already psychopaths in so many fields.
I guess as a very low income artist I have been exposed to so much beaurocratic cruelty over the years that I am automatically suspicious of everyone. Its totally endemic in the system that caters to the sick and the poor.

I guess they go quiet because they don’t have a clue. Hep C sufferers haven’t been listened to, and their experiences are not officially recorded or validated.
It really is only since I found this forum and the Facebook and started reading other peoples experiences that I figured out just how many of the problems I was having was common to us all. Of course there are other factors to consider. Modern diets are pretty dodgy. Everyone feels better when they eliminate refined carbs, not just heppers. But I believe the virus uses up our credit points, on the health front, so we are especially sensitive to environmental stresses and strains.

My bad, grief is lungs and fear is kidneys. But still…once I am done tx I am going to be giving my kidneys some major tlc.

Probably a good idea to take it at the opposite time of day to the meds, just to make sure it doesn’t interfere with absorption.