I attended a get-together over the holidays with some
friends old and new. One of the guests was a friend from high school who knew
both my sister and me way back then. Since my sister doesn’t live local to our
hometown, he hasn’t seen her for many years, and asked about how she was doing.
I shared with him that although she was treated for Hepatitis C for several
years, she is now stabilized and doing well. He was shocked to hear that she
had Hepatitis C. He went on to share that just recently two of our mutual
friends from school were diagnosed with Hepatitis C as well. One was an ex-Marine
corpsman, the other a known drug user back in the day.
The
truth is that Baby Boomers known for sex, drugs, and rock and roll are the most
likely Americans to develop Hepatitis
C, but least likely to be treated for it. Why’s that you say? Please keep
reading. Our family was shocked to learn
these things. It’s because many times
the symptoms aren’t evident for years.
It
can take up to 30 years for signs of liver damage to develop. The 1CDC
reports that 3 out of 4 people don’t know they have the infection so they
aren’t getting medical care or treatment. In the meantime, the virus is working
against you. Another truth is about 3 million adults in America are infected
and Baby Boomers are 5 times more likely to have Hepatitis C than the rest of
the population.
The
symptoms of Hepatitis C are common to many other illnesses: fever, nausea, grey
color stools, dark urine, jaundice, abdominal, and joint and muscle pain. Without
a correct diagnosis, patients may be receiving unnecessary treatment or
medications that mask the true disease. Once you have it, it often lasts your
whole life. The sooner the diagnosis, the better your chance to prevent liver
damage
Misdiagnosed
with rheumatoid arthritis for years, my sister suffered terrible joint pain as
she struggled for relief despite potent and aggressive medical treatment. Her
illness became so debilitating that she was no longer able to work as a nurse, and
began collecting a disability pension. Her true diagnosis was a fluke.
My
sister was a Navy corpsman (nurse) during the Vietnam era. Her Army veteran
husband was receiving treatment at the Veterans Hospital for a military related
injury from the Vietnam era. Because health care is free to veterans, she
decided to enroll for her health care there too. During the intake process, her
blood tested positive for the virus.
Although
she was surprised at the diagnosis, the doctors at the Veterans Hospital
were not. We later found out that according to testimony before a House
subcommittee in 2000 by the Program Director for Infectious Diseases for the
Veterans Administration on Benefits Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, in April of
2000, 2"One in 10 US Veterans are infected with HCV", a
rate 5 times greater than the 1.8% infection rate of the general
population."
I
don’t want to boggle you with too many statistics, but they are shocking. One
in 5 of Hepatitis C veterans are from the Vietnam era. A study involving 26,000
veterans in 1999 by the VA showed that 10% of all veterans in the Veterans
Health Administration system tested positive for hepatitis C.
My
sister was devastated and humiliated by her diagnosis. She wanted no one beyond
the immediate family to know about her illness. The stigma that goes with
Hepatitis C stems from the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll reputation of the 60’s
and 70’s. She didn’t want her friends, neighbors, church family, or even her
pastor to know and view her as a drug user or someone who participated in
indiscriminate sex. We now know that her exposure to this disease most likely
occurred during her tour of duty as a Navy nurse.
Those
who are uninformed often view this disease in the same genre as AIDS. Her own
perception of the disease was inaccurate.
If
you were in the military, you have a much higher degree of risk. Here’s why--during
the Vietnam era medics used jet/air injection guns on many military personnel. My
husband, who is an Army veteran, recalls lining up in a row with the other guys
in his unit, sleeves raised, waiting for their vaccine. Medical personnel came
right down and line and each man received an injection with one of those guns.
Every soldier, one right after the other, was inoculated with no change in
needle or sterilization to the equipment being utilized. If we knew then what we know now!
According
to the Veterans Administration if you or your spouse/partner were a Vietnam-era
military personnel and were subjected to any of the following: Jet/Air Gun,
injection equipment, blood products, medical procedures (even finger pricks for
blood draws), dental procedures, were a health worker during that time, or
shared a personal item with your bunk mate like a razor or toothbrushes or even
getting haircuts en masse, you need to be tested.
Hugging
someone with Hepatitis C won’t put you in danger. You would need to have
exposure to the blood of someone with Hepatitis C. The most common transmission
is sharing needles and syringes with an infected person, or being born to a
mother with hepatitis C. It may also transmit through sexual contact.
The
good news for my sister was that the Veterans Administration offered her an
opportunity to take part in a rigid and rigorous medical trial. Special
training was required to be a participant. The trial itself lasted more than a
year. The side effects were horrendous and debilitating at the time, and could
have caused death. However, she was told that if she survived the treatment,
she has a 70% change of being cured. Luckily, her nursing background and her
determination saw her through. Her doctor hesitates with the word “cured”, but
one year later, my sister is regaining good health and symptom free. Treatment in the last few years has leap-frogged ahead thanks to people like my sister serving in these medical trials.
When
I discussed writing this blog with her, she was excited and anxious for me to
share this information. She wants all of us Boomers to know about this. I
implore my readers to take this information to heart. No one is immune. Maybe
you didn’t participate in indiscriminate sex or drugs yourself, but somewhere
in your life there may have been a partner who was exposed. Click here for
great Risk Assessment
on-line tool provided by the CDC for determining an individual's risk for
viral hepatitis and check out the other resources listed below.
Next
time you’re at the doctor’s office, why not ask to be tested? It’s a simple
blood test, no more difficult than getting blood work for thyroid disease or
diabetes. Hopefully, there will be no surprises for you, but you need to test
to know for sure.
If
you were a groovy babe in the 1960’s, I know you want to keep on groovin’ for a
long time to come. Make time to take time to consider seriously what you’ve
read here.
What do you think about this article? Your comments are welcome below. If you know someone who may benefit from
this article, please forward to them. They and you are welcome to join the
conversation at wisewomenofage.blogspot.com
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1Centers for Disease Control an Prevention Recommendations
for the Identification of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among Persons Born
During 1945–1965[PDF - 36 pages] MMWR 2012; Vol. 61 (RR04)
2
Hepatitis C Vets - Education Webset and Support Forums http://hcvets.com/
More
Resources and Tools from the CDC
- Know More Hepatitis – CDC's Hepatitis C Educational Campaign
- Fact sheet[PDF - 743KB] – Hepatitis C: Why Baby Boomers Should Get Tested
- Hepatitis C: Did You Know video
- CDC's Viral Hepatitis site
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