Hi Doctor, my dear brother-in-law Ron is 49 years old. As a child his parents were awful and he began drinking and using pot at age 8. He used those two substances until age 32 when for 6 months he used meth. During his alcohol and pot use he was a productive person. He had married my sister, worked full-time and was a jewel - when he wasn't high. He honestly has a heart of gold. Well, my sister turned him in with the meth because his personality changed with it. He spent 2 months in jail and since that day nearly 20 years ago has been clean. My brother helped him start his own business and he was very successful and doing well. Then about 5 years ago he had his first manic episode . Then he was diagnosed with Hep C and we all found out that when he was using meth, even though he was using my sister's needles for diabetes , he shared one back and forth with his druggie friend who had recently died. At the time of his diagnosis he was not referred to a liver specialist and nothing was done for treatment. Then his mental illness took hold and he was forced to give up his business and he went on disability and Medicare. Eighteen months ago Ron had open-heart surgery to try to repair IHSS (congental). During that process they discovered the Hep C had progressed severely and they were shocked that his doctor hadn't ever referred him to a liver specialist. It took another year to be able to begin any kind of treatment due to the heart problems. They finally started treatment last Sept and after 2 weeks his body started shutting down and they stopped treatment. He was in the hospital at that time and they added another pain med that made him psychotic . He was never violent and never hurt anyone but ran from the hospital in the middle of the night after removing his tubing (in his hospital gown). He had hospital staff chasing him and the police finally found this 6'2" guy in a dumpster crying in fear. After a couple days he was back to himself but since that time his doctors have treated him like he is crazy. They told him after that first attempt at treatment that he wasn't able to handle treatment, was too far gone and was terminal. He was given 8-12 months to live. He now sees a pain specialist to manage pain and is on a maintenance drug (the generic of which is " ama something" sorry). My sister and he are both resigned to his death. They adopted a little boy after Ron became clean and sober and Christopher is now 8. Ron is a jewel. We live in Boise ID and I am feeling desperate to find him some additional medical help and answers. His genotype is 1a. Isn't there someone that can help him, or something that can be done? I would donate part of my liver to him. Thank you, Pleading Hi Doctor, my dear brother-in-law Ron is 49 years old. As a child his parents were awful and he began drinking and using pot at age 8. He used those two substances until age 32 when for 6 months he used meth. During his alcohol and pot use he was a productive person. He had married my sister, worked full-time and was a jewel - when he wasn t high. He honestly has a heart of gold. Well, my sister turned him in with the meth because his personality changed with it. He spent 2 months in jail and since that day nearly 20 years ago has been clean. My brother helped him start his own business and he was very successful and doing well. Then about 5 years ago he had his first manic episode. Then he was diagnosed with Hep C and we all found out that when he was using meth, even though he was using my sister s needles for diabetes, he shared one back and forth with his druggie friend who had recently died. At the time of his diagnosis he was not referred to a liver specialist and nothing was done for treatment. Then his mental illness took hold and he was forced to give up his business and he went on disability and Medicare. Eighteen months ago Ron had open-heart surgery to try to repair IHSS (congental). During that process they discovered the Hep C had progressed severely and they were shocked that his doctor hadn t ever referred him to a liver specialist. It took another year to be able to begin any kind of treatment due to the heart problems. They finally started treatment last Sept and after 2 weeks his body started shutting down and they stopped treatment. He was in the hospital at that time and they added another pain med that made him psychotic. He was never violent and never hurt anyone but ran from the hospital in the middle of the night after removing his tubing (in his hospital gown). He had hospital staff chasing him and the police finally found this 6 2\
Unlike Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C requires treatment and wont resolve on its own. However even sadder is the face that people who do receive treatment for it mainly in the form of interferon might not improve at all. If the patient like Ron who looks to be in decompensated liver cirrhosis wont even qualify for the interferon treatment. At Ron's stage symptomatic treatment is all that is aimed at including anti Hepatic encephalopathy measures. I must add that 50 to 80% of Hep C lands up in Chronic liver disease which in itself is a terminal illness