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If You Have Hepatitis C
Many people with hepatitis C do not feel sick until their liver disease is very advanced
Symptoms that may occur include:
- • Fatigue
- • Nausea and vomiting
- • Flu-like illness (fever, joint pain)
- • Yellow eyes and skin (jaundice)
- • Light-colored stool
- • Dark urine
- • Problems with blood clotting
- • Mental confusion (cloudy head)
What to do if you test positive for Hepatitis C
- • See your doctor regularly for check-ups to monitor liver health.
- • Avoid alcohol or reduce intake to the smallest amount possible. Alcohol greatly speeds up hepatitis C liver damage.
- • Talk with your doctor about treatment options.
- • Get vaccinated against hepatitis A and B.
- • Check with your doctor before taking any medicines, even over-the-counter and herbal medicines.
Information for Pregnant Women
- • Five out of every 100 babies born to women with chronic hepatitis C become infected at birth. There is currently no treatment to keep babies from getting the virus from their mothers. Babies born to women with hepatitis C should be tested for the virus and receive proper medical care.
- • Breastfeeding your baby is good, even if you have hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is not spread through breastfeeding.
- • Some hepatitis C medications can cause birth defects in unborn babies. Women who can become pregnant, and men with female partners who can become pregnant, must use 2 reliable forms of birth control during treatment and for 6 months after treatment is finished.
Information for People Who Have HIV
Because these two infections are transmitted in similar ways, many people with HIV also have hepatitis C virus. It is estimated that up to 9 out of 10 people who got HIV through injection drug use also have hepatitis C.
HIV affects the immune system, including the body's ability to fight off hepatitis C. Someone with both HIV and hepatitis C is more likely to:
- • Develop more serious liver disease
- • Develop liver disease in a shorter period of time
Also, some HIV medications can harm the liver, so people with both infections may need to take different medications than who only have HIV.
For more information about having both HCV and HIV, click here.
How to Protect Your Liver
| Alcohol is a direct toxin to the liver. Drinking alcohol is known to increase liver damage in people who have hepatitis C. |
KEEPING YOUR LIVER HEALTHY IF YOU HAVE HEPATITIS C:
Talk with your healthcare provider about liver health and consider the following recommendations:
DO:
- • Find a doctor who understands HCV - a gastroenterologist (stomach and bowel specialist), hepatologist (liver specialist), some infectious disease doctors and primary care physicians. If you're considering treatment, a team approach, including a psychiatrist, is best.
- • Get vaccinated against hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Co-infection with hepatitis C and active hepatitis A or B can be extremely dangerous.
- • Get regular health check-ups, including liver function tests.
- • Consider stopping or reducing your alcohol intake. Alcohol use significantly increases the risk of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. If drinking alcohol, drink plenty of water with it.
- • Protect yourself from reinfection. If your body has cleared the virus, keep in mind that having hepatitis C antibodies will not protect you from becoming infected again!
- • Stick to a balanced diet of fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, and lean meats.
- • Get a healthy balance of protein in your diet - too much protein can stress your liver.
- • Drink lots of fluids to flush toxins from your body.
- • Get regular exercise and develop a stress reduction plan.
AVOID:
- • Drinking alcohol. Even 1 drink a day can greatly accelerate the progression of liver disease.
- • Taking large amounts (2,000/mg day) of acetaminophen (Tylenol & other non-aspirin pain relievers) that are toxic to the liver. Acetaminophen is in many medications - so read the labels carefully. Acetaminophen and alcohol together can cause severe liver damage.
- • Breathing in pollutants, chemicals, and cleaning products (skin contact & breathing): fumes from paint, paint thinners, chemical solvents, spray adhesives, insect sprays, and cleaners can be harmful to the liver. Always follow manufacturers' precautions.
- • Foods with high salt, sugar or fat content such as cheese, fast food and processed foods (cookies, cakes, frozen dinners, packaged foods with long shelf lives, "instant" foods).
- • Too much fried foods.
- • Eating shellfish and raw fish because of the risk of hepatitis A.
- • High-doses of Vitamins A, D, E or K.
- • Taking herbs that are toxic to the liver such as peppermint, mistletoe, yerba tea, sassafras, germander, chaparral, skull cap, nutmeg, valerian, Jin Bu Juan, comfrey (bush tea), pennyroyal and tansy ragwortsenna. Always talk to your doctor before trying new herbs or supplements.
- • Taking iron supplements unless advised by your doctor.
How to Avoid Spreading Hepatitis C to Others
- • DO avoid injection drug use. Hepatitis C spreads much more easily than HIV through injection of drugs.
- • DO cover your cuts and open sores with a bandage.
- • DO clean up blood spills right away with bleach.
- • DO avoid sharing toothbrushes, razors, or other personal care items that may have blood on them.
- • DO practice safe sex if you have sex with multiple partners: Sexual transmission of hepatitis is uncommon but DOes occur; safer sex - using latex condoms - can reduce the risk. The presence of active sexually transmitted diseases and sexual acts that can injure body tissues and allow contact with infected blood (anal sex, fisting, etc.) increase the risk of infection.
- • DO make sure tattoo and body piercing is done with clean needles, tools, and ink. Do not reuse tattoo/body piercing equipment or ink without proper sterilization.
- • DO use a clean straw each time to snort drugs. Small amounts of blood on the straw may spread the virus.
- • DO avoid donating your blood, sperm, body organs, or other tissue.
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