Is Hepatitis C an Emergency?

Is hepatitis C an emergency? Well, that depends on a few things, and certainly in this covid-era, it appears to be seen as far less an emergency than in the past, or at least not as urgent. It was not so long ago that people were being told that they would die with hep C and not from it. This was true for some, but never was an accurate statement for everyone, and if we see good quality of life as being the goal, it made no sense at all.

Hepatitis C can cause many health problems

The truth is that hep C is not likely to be an emergency for any of us. The unfortunate thing is that even though not an emergency in the short- or mid-term, it can and likely will cause all kinds of health problems for you over time. Predicting how soon any one of us is affected by living with the virus is impossible. Like we see with everything, we are all uniquely different, and it applies here as much as in any other way.

There are studies that can look at groups or populations and predict in statistical ways, looking at age and other factors, but those are estimates and may apply to you and may not capture your progression of damage caused by the virus. How long and how severe is measured in the same way and is, again, looking at averages based on indicators/measurements of study groups (cohorts). Some are age based, while others may be gender, race, geographical location, and other factors.

New hep C treatments are better than ever

None of this data will tell us what any one person will experience, absolutely. The one thing I can say with certainty is that being cured of hep C is a good thing. It may not solve each and every health issue you have, whether related or not to living with hep C, but it is one really big thing that you can do easily, by and large. When I say easily, I am speaking of the hep C treatment itself, which unlike the past, is short and generally well-tolerated. We rarely hear that when talking about a serious illness like virus can cause.

We can't forget about hep C

Again, is hep C an emergency? No, and that does not mean for a second that it should be ignored or forgotten. If one does, I can almost guarantee that it will cause you much grief down the road. Maybe we can count on luck, in that we live with the virus without serious damage apparent, but that is one of the worst kinds of luck in a way. Without any obvious symptoms, we may never find out until we are in fact very ill. This is why some call hep C ‘the silent killer’.

Not an emergency, no. Don’t ignore it, and seek out care and support as well, and you can be free of this clever virus that can hide for decades as it chews away at your liver, and causes a long list of problems, and who needs that, emergency or not?