Welcome
Welcome to my HepC Blog, a journal about my experience of living with HepC (Genotype 1A) and having treatment for it. All opinions on this website are mine alone, and may not reflect those of the NHS or others with Hepatitis C.
When I was getting used to the idea of starting treatment for my Hepatitis C I knew that a number of changes would have to be made in my day-to-day life during this time. The treatment would go on for a year. All of the literature and information about pegylated interferon and ribavirin warns that there can be side-effects and fatigue. Some people can feel quite ill with it. My wife, Carol, and I discussed the prospect and we recognised that along with the difficulties there could also be an opportunity for my experience to benefit other people who do not yet know very much about Hepatitis C - or what it is like to have it. From this discussion, the ideas of a diary journal and a documentary were born.
As I go through my 48 weeks of treatment my intention is to share with you through this blog what it’s like to embark on and travel through my journey with Hepatitis C.
So, there are primarily four reasons for keeping this journal:
1. So I can track my own progress through the journey of my treatment, noting how things are changing for me over the year.
2. To provide a first hand account for others who may be recently diagnosed HepC+, those who may suspect they are, or carers and relatives, of what it is like to go through treatment.
3. To raise the profile of a somewhat hidden and overlooked minority group within the HepC community – those who are not injecting drug users.
4. To challenge the stigma faced by all the HepC+ community – the underlying assumption that we have caught HepC because we are drug users and therefore deserve the disease as retribution for our ways.