Not All The Same: It Varies

If there is one thing I have learned in my hep C experience, it is that there are lot of things that are not the same. When I say that, it is about so many things. I am sure I can only scratch the surface here in these few words. We could start with us, as in people. Yes, you and me and are not the same. Despite the clearly visible aspects of what makes us all different, there are tons of other things that do make a difference in how our individual experiences affect us. When I say affect us, even that is so variable... Where do I start?

Can hepatitis C go away without treatment?

Let’s start with something like age, one thing is a constant in hep C. There is no age that is immune to getting hep C. Sure, our immune response can change over time, but generally speaking, hep C is an opportunistic infection. Yes, it’s true that as many as 25% will clear the virus (spontaneous clearance) with our own immune response (without treatment); This group will never see the antibodies cause a chronic condition or even protect us, for that matter. But, 75% of us will develop chronic hep C if we are exposed to the virus.

Is hepatitis C dangerous?

How hep C affects our day-to-day life is also a huge variable. Back in the bad old days, many people were told by an uninformed healthcare provider that we didn’t need to worry; They said we would likely die with hep C, not from it. This always troubled me greatly, as it did for most of my peers who knew a thing or two about hep C.

Firstly, determining the progression of liver damage over time is impossible. Yes, impossible. We can look at data that tells us some general indications of disease progression, but it simply depends on so many factors I won’t get all “sciency” about it, but the generalizations that are made do not factor in the wide variations in people.

Does hepatitis C need to be cured?

It is believed by and large that infections do cause more harm over time, and that is why we do want to get cured after all, but the science and the anecdotal evidence can be predictive in saying that most people will develop complications and more damage over time. Living with hep C for 5 years is generally not the same as 50 years, right? Well, the thing is that some can live with hep C for a long time with little or no liver damage, as the liver is the focus most often, but what about all the other systems and how they are affected by chronic infection? Hmmmm...

The fact is that there is no way to accurately predict the course of anyone’s hep C. One thing that remains constant is that we are all better off without hep C, and now that we can cure it, we should seriously consider doing that for ourselves, for those we care about, and those who care about us. This is one huge constant and undeniable thing today, tomorrow, and always.