From: sds Subject: Re: Hepatitis and Heroin use Date: 1997/05/23 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard [...] Quick info on Hepatitis- First of all, not all hepatitis is bacterial- some of it can be inflammatory simply caused by too much or badly cut dope. If your pal's been sharing needles, though, this poses a different problem. There are currently FIVE known hepatitis variants: Hepatitis A- not bad, not difficult to cure, purely annoying Hepatitis B- can kill you, hard to get rid of, but HBIgG (Hepatitis B Immune Globulin-Gamma) will kill it. Hepatitis C- (formerly called non-A, non-B)- not lethal, but will leave you sick for the remainder of your natural life, because the only thing that even OCCASIONALLY gets rid of this critter is interferon-beta2. Hepatitis Delta- a psuedovirus that can only infect people currently infected with Hep B. You've got enough time to kiss your ass goodbye, but the Delta agent is app. 90% fatal and incurable. If it doesn't kill you, though, it WILL go away. Hep E- not too much is known about this guy yet, but it seems to be another non-lethal but incurable one. ==================================================================== From: (Peter McDermott) Subject: Re: Heroin and Thyroid problems????? Date: 1997/05/01 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard >> The damn thing is>incredibly virulent. You can get it from spoons, water, cottons, >>kissing, fucking -- but much much easier than you do HIV. Which >>is why around 80% of iv drug users are now thought to have hep >>C. Much higher than for HIV. >> >Yes but if you always are in a sterile environment.......how can metal >give you hep C. Microscopic spots of dried blood, too small for the eye to see? I believe it may be more resilient to bleaching than HIV is. >I always bleached, never shared water or >cottons......kissing and fucking well........who hadn't. How do you >know if you have it.... You don't. Apparently, for many people the symptoms lay dormant for up to 20 years, and then you wake up with cancer of the liver. The only way to really tell is to go get a test. Apparently, it can be treated in some cases with interferon, but the treatment is very expensive. ==================================================================== From: (Monde) Subject: hep C Date: 1997/05/04 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard Peter McDermott wrote: > >I always bleached, never shared water or > >cottons......kissing and fucking well........who hadn't. How do you > >know if you have it.... > > You don't. Apparently, for many people the symptoms lay dormant > for up to 20 years, and then you wake up with cancer of the > liver. i am a little frightened about this. reason being: i've recently had a physical at my clinic, and it came back with a report that i had some unusually high liver readings. the important ones, according to my clinic doctor and counselor, are these two: AST (SGOT) - 48 (normal is 0-33) ALT (SGPT) - 74 (normal is 0-43) i just tried to get a hep C test at a hospital a couple of days ago. what happened, of course? i could not get it because the nurse couldn't find a vein that worked well enough to get the three tubes of blood necessary. i sat there for a fucking hour wincing as i was poked over and over again, and finally i couldn't take it any more and just said 'fuck it'. but i'm obviously going to need to get this checked. it's been 6 years since i've used a needle so i didn't think i needed to be too concerned, but reading the above gives me the shakes. i also am having problems like being constantly tired (which i used to deal with by doing speed all the time, which i quit over a year ago) and, lately (like in the last month or so) i've been getting unusual pains in my extremities. they're kind of sharp, and last about 5 minutes. worse some days than others. ==================================================================== From: (Monde) Subject: SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Date: 1997/05/31 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard well, i just found out two days ago. i have hepatitis c. i've had it for years. no wonder i am so fucking tired all of the time. and i thought it was the methadone! oh, it's so great, finding out you have an incurable disease, i can't even tell you. guess what i have to look forward to in my 'old age' provided that i even get to have any: liver cancer, cirrhosis, jaundice, feeling like crap 24/7 no matter what drugs i'm on. i just read a CDC medical report that said something like 'it is questionable whether a healthy state can exist at all for a person infected with the hepatitis c virus'. isn't this wonderful? i got it from shooting heroin five years ago. well, haha. i guess one of those rigs i used must not have been clean, and i was too sick or nodding too much to either know or care. but that isn't even the worst of it. the WORST of it is that although this is uncommon, hepatitis C can be SEXUALLY transmitted. what THIS means is that while *i* more or less DESERVE to have a disease, since i was such a STUPID TWIT and abused my body the way i did, my MATE could get it JUST BY REMAINING IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH ME. he is handling it very well, much better than i thought anyone possibly could under the circumstances. but sooner or later, this is probably going to get to him. he could end up feeling trapped in the relationship because of this. HE'S 19 FUCKING YEARS OLD AND NEVER DID ANY DRUGS beyond pot and 2 acid trips. he's spry and full of energy, has a great looking body...while i, on the other hand, am gaining weight at the rate of about 2-3 pounds a month since my METABOLISM is ALL FUCKED UP (at least i finally know why it's happening), developing grotesque abdominal swelling, having skin problems, finding myself getting winded just taking a 10 block walk, sweating constantly - HOW CAN HE want to stay with someone like that? he's in LOVE with me, yes, but sometimes people end up NOT LIKING HANGING AROUND someone that they LOVE. i could become a LIABILITY. it is going to make me less FUN to be around. from what i've read, it only gets worse with time. THERE IS NO CURE and NO MEDICATION for this. i am going to be SICK FOR THE REST OF MY FUCKING LIFE because i had to go and use heroin and be stupid while i was using it. god knows where i even got it. i told my junk buddy from back in '91 that i had it (he goes to the same methadone clinic as i do) and the bastard tells me 'yeah, i have it too...found out in 1993...well, at least i know where i got it from now...' STUPID FUCK! what if i got it from YOU? did you ever consider THAT possibility? i found myself thinking. it doesn't fucking matter who i got it from. all that matters is who i am likely to end up giving it to. i already had ENOUGH regret about my involvement with smack. now i have to deal with THIS, and it won't go away. oh, and my clinic doctor was being a total FEEB about it. she tried to downplay everything, even though i explained about the fatigue and the sweats, she's all 'it's probably just because you've been reducing your methadone dose'. she also had the nerve to say these symptoms are probably 'depression' about FIVE MINUTES LATER and prescribed Paxil to me. i went home and read about Paxil side effects on the internet and decided i didn't want anything to DO with this shit, so i didn't even fill the 'script. what more can i say? these are very dark days indeed for me. i can only be thankful for one thing and that's that it's not HIV. i can now understand SOMETHING of what people who are HIV+ experience in life. and in death. SLOW death. yippee! i'm going to be feeling like CRAP for the rest of my life! i'm going to eat and drink and pass everything through a FUCKED UP LIVER so god knows how much of it my body's cells are going to end up receiving properly. i'm going to have a PET VIRAL INFECTION. since i'm going to be feeding it and giving it a nice comfortable home, maybe i should NAME it or something. hey, if you are currently using IV drugs, or if you think it would be a hoot to try them (NO COMMENT!) FOR CHRIST'S SAKE...DON'T USE A RIG TWICE, even if you KNOW (think you know) that it's your own and only touched your own blood! you DO NOT need to go through this shit. another ray of sunshine from Monde. have a nice day. :| and if you don't already have hepatitis, DON'T GET IT!!!!!! ==================================================================== From: "fiendgirl" Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard Subject: Re: Hep c from sharing straws Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 22:09:22 +1200 >I have often been curious about the transmission of the AIDS > virus via passing of the > straw. Almost everyone gets some level of nasal irritation when they snort > enough. Seems like a perfect way to transmit. I know the virus cannot > survive long when in contact with the air, but how long? Hepatitis C can survive out of the body for up to and sometimes beyond (depending on conditions) 40 days. This is why it is so important not to share spoons to cook with, and to keep the cooking surfaces clean. HIV will only survive outside of the body for approximately 4 minutes (plenty enough time in the instance of straw sharing). Still, I wouldn't go sharing equipment after the 4 mins is up. Both are blood born viruses. Hep C and HIV will not pass through you saliva - however it is so common for mouths to bleed (when brushing teeth for instance) that it isn't a great idea to go sharing it around. Small cuts in mouths are also common. It is not advisable to share any kind of personal products. for example: toothbrush, razors, hairbrushes, nail files - or any other personal item that may have pierced the skin or come into contact with blood at some stage. It is a good idea to be really cautious at beauty salons and tattoo/body piercing places and make sure that they follow strict health proceedures. Sometimes a place may appear clean and still be risky - ask what proceedures they follow. Even hairbrushes must be properly steralized between every client, and the staff must wash their hands between each client. Sharing tornequets is a risk for obvious reasons. And it is not a good idea to have someone else give you your shot. This is because if they have just injected themselves and stuck their finger on their pin-prick hole and then do the same to you - there is plenty of opportunity to become infected. As Kontac said there are several strain of HCV and therefore if you have HCV you still should not share with someone else who has HCV. I have heard LOTS of people say "it wont matter - I already have hep c". It does matter - in effect you can get it several times. It is possable to get HCV through sex, although not very common. Something like a 3% chance of infection. This may not seem like a very high risk, but it is still a risk. Both HCV and HIV (and STD's in general) can be passed through lesbian sex. Things like sharing sex toys (without condoms and lube) are extremely unadvisable, and it is a good idea to use dental dams for oral sex (this applies to male female intercourse as well). If you already have HCV and you have a test done at a later date and your doctor says that you have tested negative and that your body must have gotten rid of it - don't listen to them. This applies to anyone who has had treatment such as interferon and been told that they no longer have HCV. You still have it and can still pass it on to others. Basically what it means is that your body has fought the virus and is no longer having to fight it, and therefore the antibodies are not being detected in the test. You can ask to have PCR levels and ALT levels tested to determine exactly what is going on in your body in relation to the virus. I think I have finished my speel now. Hope someone finds some or all of this useful/helpful. safe using everyone fiendgirl