Hi Chris,

Sounds like you’re having a tough time but Dr James is, as you have already found out, right behind you. That should reassure you, as everyone on this forum knows.

I would certainly takes the Riba, potential side effects and all, if I were in your shoes. As with most things in life, anticipation is usually worse than reality.

With best wishes for 2019,

RSF

PS Have you ever read ‘Love, medicine and miracles’ by Bernie Siegel MD? It is about the way positive thinking influences health outcomes but also much more and how, practically, to help yourself. If your view of the treatment you are having is that it will work, you measurably increase the odds that it will. Further, you can minimise side effects of treatment using the visualisation techniques Siegel employs with his patients. R.

A very merry Christmas to everyone, especially Dr James,

It’s a long time since I posted on this forum but I do look in from time to time. Thanks to the good people at Fixhepc I no longer have Hepc and have just enjoyed a really good Christmas, with a few glasses of wine.

It was a sudden inability to cope with alcohol – having a glass or two with dinner gave me day long hangovers – that alerted me to the fact that I had a liver problem. People can be pretty stupid, especially myself! For several days I suffered and thought it must be an ordinary viral infection, but it didn’t improve at all until I stopped my (very moderate) drinking. That’s when the penny dropped.

Now the next bit may make you laugh. Many years ago, actually about 25, I had an HIV test which was negative but was told that I had contracted Hepc. At the time I said, when offered counselling, that it was about the least of my problems since I was going through a very painful divorce. So I did nothing about it. Some years on from that I moved to a new town and routinely signed up with a GP whom I told about the Hepc. He wanted to send me to a gastroenterologist who he said would do a liver biopsy etc. etc. What was proposed sounded very unattractive and the treatment sounded even worse. Please bear in mind here that I was quite healthy and had no symptoms – or not many but see below. Consequently I said to the GP that I wished him to take no action and decided simply to get on with my life and ignore the diagnosis! I actually forgot about it.

It must be said that I was right for all the wrong reasons (over many years certain people have had the temerity to suggest that I’m a posh, arrogant bastard who always KNOWS that he’s right though it’s a vile calumny) because the early treatments on offer for hepc were both unpleasant and often ineffective. In fact they caused long term damage to some patients without curing the disease. By the time I developed the alcohol problem DAAs had become available and thanks to Dr James et al they were affordable too, at a time when the NHS was rationing them and therefore keeping patients on waiting lists while their condition deteriorated leading to great suffering, an inability to work causing poverty etc. Frankly this is a damning indictment of a poor health care system which employs corrupt and uncaring medical personnel, but I digress.

So I want to express my enormous gratitude to an honest and caring physician and the good people around him here at Fixhepc as well as the many good people who post and have posted on this forum. One in particular stands out: Guy, or GAJ as he was known here, is no longer with us having lost his long fight with the disease. I think he was probably the kindest and most worthwhile man I have ever encountered in my 64 years on planet earth. If he hasn’t disappeared into the oblivion which I think awaits us all and is actually floating around on a pink cloud that’s within earshot then RSF says “Hello mate, hope the cloud is comfortable and there’s something good to read!”.

Again, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a much more settled (and entirely Trump free) 2019!

Love,

RSF

PS For years I had what I thought was irritable bowel syndrome. But it wasn’t because all the symptoms went when the virus did. Also, I am mildly asthmatic and believed that was why I got chest infections, needing antibiotics, every time I caught a cold. However I have had several
colds in the last two winters but no chest trouble, so that was hepc too. R

Hi Nick,

Welcome to this forum. Everything you need is here and some very nice people too. It shouldn’t take long to get the bloods you need and perhaps a fibroscan and then you can have a think about your options.

All the best,

RSF

Hi Tracy,

Welcome to this forum. By now you will have seen the evidence given by Dr James and Hazel that this site is legit, as it certainly is. If you explore it a bit, I think you’ll see that it couldn’t possibly be a scam as there is far too much of it, with a long time line too, and it is also far too complex.

It is sensible to go into this with your eyes open as there’s a lot of nonsense out there in cyberspace but this is entirely genuine. You can get all the help you need here.

All best wishes,

RSF

Hello all,

No longer being a regular contributor to this excellent forum, I have just seen that Guy (Gaj) has died. I didn’t know him personally but we exchanged a few PM’s which just confirmed what I knew anyway from his posts.

That was that he was a truly special man. Soon after learning that I was finally free of the virus I messaged him to let him know of my intention to continue monitoring the forum until he was too. I did this because I had come to love him and you all know why.

I thought he was in the clear until a few moments ago so this is a real blow, not only to me but to everyone here. I am selfishly relieved that in my last PM to him I told him what a good man he was, very directly, but perhaps that will be of little comfort to his family and friends who must be feeling their loss keenly?

I hope that they will find some solace in the understanding that his life and work meant so much to so many.

Of course his contributions to this space will continue to help people for quite a while, which is a lovely thought and the one I’ll leave with you.

RSF

PS I hereby give permission to anyone who knew him personally to reprint this post and to give it to Guy’s family and friends with my warm greetings. R.

Oh that’s good Vedruss, it won’t be long now. Do please let us know how it goes from here and feel free to ask anything you need to know. Someone will be able to help, almost whatever it is.

RSF

Hi Kaju,

On the basis of what you’ve said previously sof/dac is probably going to be best for you but a 12 week course of treatment would be preferable. 8 weeks may well work for you but statistically a 12 week period carries an improved chance of cure.

If your doctor will only give you an eight week course, because of his budget, you may want to consider contacting Fixhepc and asking if they could just get you enough for the last 4 weeks.

I know English is not your first language, so if you don’t understand please say you don’t.
All best wishes,
RSF