25 years ago my dr wondered at the slightly elevated blood enzyme reports from my physical. he followed up on two occasions with additional blood test and told me everything was OK. he was probably checking for type a or b. he wondered aloud to me once if i didn't have some smoldering type of hepatitis tucked down deep inside of me not doing anything. around 1990 he never said oh yeah by the way that funny blood work you have is hep type c. i don't harbor ill feelings though. he was good and probably couldn't remember to tell me. 1 1/2 years ago at age 50 and a physical my new doc (old one retired) says i have hep type c. rats. a follow liver biopsy reveals not much damage if any. only a very slight slight sign of scarring but not much to worry about. of course, except to begin treatment. 2005 is here and i promised myself i would. i am not looking forward to the symptoms but i have no choice. its been in me atleast 25 years. i did take some drugs intraveneously back when i was 21, 22. i feel guilty..stupid. but i don't want to die early on my children. so..i guess i begin the medicin. my doc says it is a "big gun". i take lexapro for chronic depression which is well in check (hooked, stuck on lexapro is a whole nother story of course). i guess i paid the price for youthful wildness. i am sorry for those of you that have it thru no poor behavior on your part. i quit drinking 1 1/2 yrs ago. i take vitamins. any other words of hope or advice on staying ahead of the curve? thanks

well im 32 m dx in nov c type2a im going on my third shot of peg/copeg on tues. i beleive i got it from a needle stick at work early in 04 but i have three tatoos that thay say puts me at risk even though i have not gotten one in 13 years i still cant prove it was the needle because of the tats. my viral load is 22000 wich is not to high from what i understand. as far as tx goes BE prepared the first 2 weeks are horrible. i went on zoloft a week before just incase. now i only take about 3 a week because thay keep me awake. the one thing i would do diffrent is i would have gotten a joint from my nephew for day 2 after the shot i felt like mike tysons punching bag. and i have become an advocate. week three now and the sides arent to bad. my kidneys still hurt a little but not like week 1 . i say go for it if you think you can your right. just know it will get easyer.hope this helps and god bless

thank you got2fight. you are right and i appreciate the encouragement. damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!!