Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Prevention, Transmission and Testing => Am I Infected? => Topic started by: annasmommy2 on July 04, 2017, 04:34:32 pm
-
Hi! First thank you for this wonderful forum. My story might sound strange but bear with me.
Approx 20 years ago I used heroin for about 3 years. During that time my then boyfriend was hospitalized and they found something on his liver so ran all kinds of tests and he was found to have Hep C. Ever since that time I just always assumed I had it and told every single Dr. I've ever seen that I had it, I even had my future children tested when each was around 1. Here is the thing that is crazy, I never got tested, but always 100% believed I had it! I mean I shared needles with him and others so how could I not have it, right?
Ok flash forward approx 20 years to now. Here I am, almost 41 years old. I'm scheduled in a couple weeks for Gastric Bypass and I think, oh my, what if I have liver damage from my hep c and they go in there laproscopicly and see it and don't do my surgery! I better see how damaged my liver is! So, I go online and order myself some tests, including the HCV antibody, which there is no doubt in my mind that it will come back positive.
I got the results today and much to my confusion it says the HCV antibody is .5 and that a negative result is < .8.
Can this truly be possible??? I know for a fact my ex of 3 years had it because I talked to him a few years ago and he told me he went through treatment and is now hep c free. I just don't understand how I didn't get it? All these years I've told everyone I had it.
Anyway I guess I need some insight. Thinking I've had this for the past 20 years makes a negative result seem impossible.
Thank you.
-
Yep, you don't got it, unless those are someone elses results, which would be odd.
Congratulations!
Maybe you should have thrown a Hep B screening into the mix?
But, according to the tests you ordered, your liver is functioning good.
EDIT: I hate when people back edit - now I've done the same :)
-
Thank you for the reply. The Dr didnt see anything, I just went on my own to get tested because I was worried when he was doing the surgery he might see liver damage and not do the surgery. I never even thought of Hep B. I'm just in shock right now I think.
Thanks again.
-
You are very welcome.
If you clear Hep B you can rest assured you have no liver viruses - which would be the only reason I mentioned it.
Couples don't have to pass Hep C to each other, and is it the least bit possible that your BF could have been lying about being positive and treated? I only ask because it DOES seem weird you guys could share needles for a prolonged period of time and not pass it.
But, consider yourself lucky, nonetheless! :)
-
It is possible but I don't think. I remember being in the hospital with him and his parents were there too when he was talking about it. You never know. We definately shared needles. I guess it's a miracle.
-
No worries! Maybe he wasn't lying.
Maybe someone will chime in with a reasonable explanation for your not getting it.
Maybe something like it was too early in his infection to be a threat to you yet.
At any rate, you don't even seem to have the antibody - so you didn't even come into contact with the virus at any point.
There are a lot of people on these forums that believe in miracles, lol. Welcome to the club! :)
-
The only thing I can think of is even a health care worker who has an accidental needle stick only has about a 1.8% chance of infection.
I guess you are just very lucky!
-
annasmommy2,
You really should get HBV off your plate too. Here is a link to a serologic chart from the CDC.
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hbv/pdfs/SerologicChartv8.pdf
Hep B is much easier to transmit than Hep C, and even something as simple as having unprotected sex - which is common amongst couples - with an infected person can transmit the virus. The two viruses sound similar and are easy to confuse.
If you decide to get tested, please post back and let us know how you did.
Thanks and cheers for continued good luck! :)
-
Ok yes. I never thought too before because I just thought I had Hep C, but I'm going to order the Hep B and get it done today or tomorrow. Thank you both!
-
Ok so I got tested yesterday and just got the results. Hep B is negative. I also did Hep C again because I am still in disbelief. It was negative. The number was .6 this time instead of .5 but I guess that doesn't mean anything anyway since they both mean negative.
It's still hard for me to believe and hard for me to grasp that I don't have it.
I'm extremely happy though of course.