Thanks James. The lady in question is in the US, so I suppose, to do a test on herself might be expensive, I will let her know the best course of action…….. fore armed is fore warned.

Thanks… That is what I thought it meant but I couldn’t believe it. Maybe the cocktail of alcohol and prescription drugs he takes frightens the little buggers off.

My mate has had another LFT and yes, they didn’t do AST either. They did do his platelets this time and they are 291.

The abdomen scan only suggests an enlarged liver, no further info on the liver. However the scan has found two kidney cysts and and a prostate on the upper limit of enlargement. He is treatment naive but has a long history of alcohol abuse.

The SVR calculator asks for an F score, which he does not have and I’m guessing he is at least F3 …… a doctor has said recently he doesn’t have cirrhosis. I’m thinking he must be close. When I put his figures in, it says twelve weeks and I’m convinced he will require more. Of course I’m a lay person.

So…ALT 37
AST 73 tested a month ago.
291 platelets gives an APRI score of 0.627

The calculator will only go to 24 weeks if I put in treatment failure and/or F4.

I will be getting him an appointment as soon as his viral load and genotype confirmation come back in a week.

I suppose I’m wondering if these figure suggest that Dr Freeman or his offsider Dr Devsham will give him 24 weeks or at least more than 12. I’ve heard of too many relapsers on twelve weeks and I’m sure my mates liver is pretty stuffed. A fibroscan will take far too long to get done and we want him treated ASAP.

Perhaps James can tell me when he will return and be available or maybe he can ease my concern by suggesting which treatment length he would give. I don’t want to make an appointment without having the ducks lined up. He is G3.

Thanks for your reply and time.
I will re-check the paperwork later tonight….. Is it possibly called something else?

He is seeing a local doctor today and apparently the Qld paperwork is going to be there. I want to get him organised before he sees you. His brain is pretty fried and he is on too many pills so it’s a nightmare getting info. Will make appointment when we know a bit more.

As an aside…. I was told by a world leader in enyzmology that virus feed, in fact feast, on undigested protein floating around the bloodstream and in sitting in the bowel. This is also true for bad gut bacteria. He suggested a very low protein diet to control it. I also did this to a certain extent. Of course I’m a pretty normal dude and still ate normal food but I’m pretty sure it helped keep the virus in check and helped my liver stay at F1/2 over the many years.

You guys are being very helpful, thank you.

My sister tells me that because I juice a litre every day……. Carrots apples and celery, that I am doing myself an injustice . I thought I was doing a very good thing. time for a re-think and a better load of fibre from different veggies too.