Patient Assistance Programs
Many Americans do not have insurance and/or prescription coverage for healthcare services. In addition, some Americans have insurance coverage that has high deductibles. For these reasons, people are in need of free or low-cost medicines. In order to provide free or low-cost medicines to those who qualify, patient assistance programs have been created by the pharmaceutical industry.
Hand Washing: A Primer
What is the best disease prevention strategy available? If you were to say handwashing – you would be right! It is easy to understand how handwashing can prevent disease transmission, but this wasn’t always the case. In fact, it wasn’t until 1847 that handwashing was proven to prevent disease. In the first study of its kind, Dr. Ignatz Semmelweis was able to demonstrate that puerperal fever, also called “childbed fever,” transmission could be greatly reduced from 13% to 2% by hand washing. Over the years, hand washing has become standard practice to prevent many diseases.
Managing Common Symptoms
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is often referred to as a silent disease.This reputation for silence is based largely on the fact that the liver is considered a “non-complaining” organ. In short, the liver can suffer considerable damage and still function quite well. However, common symptoms are frequently reported by chronically infected HCV patients. Results of a study published in Hepatology stated that more than 70% of HCV positive patients reported at least one complaint.
Meditation
Meditation offers many health benefits. Research has shown that meditation lowers blood pressure, improves heart disease, and reduces insomnia. It helps people cope with illness, relieves pain, and reduces chemotherapy side effects. Meditation may be used to help manage chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) and some of the side effects that accompany HCV treatment.
Memory
Memory loss, especially short-term memory, occurs commonly as we age. Additionally, patients with hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) sometimes complain of memory problems. Two HCV-related causes of this are brain fog and hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Brain fog is a non-medical term commonly used to describe a feeling of fogginess that some people who have HCV seem to experience. You won’t find the term in a medical reference book yet, but HCV patients report having brain fog. The glossary on the Hepatitis C Support Project’s website defines brain fog as “mild mental confusion, memory loss, and/or lack of concentration and alertness.” At this point we don’t know what causes brain fog, but we do know that people can still function and have meaningful lives in spite of it.
Nutrition and Hepatitis C
In the past, diet modification was seen as an important part of liver disease management; this is less true today. However, recent data suggest that steatosis (fatty infiltrates of the liver) contribute to liver disease progression and lower HCV medical treatment response. Poor diet and little or no exercise greatly contribute to the formation of steatosis. Therefore it is recommended that people with hepatitis C eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, drink plenty of clear fluids, engage in moderate exercise and get plenty of rest
Sleep
People living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection commonly complain of fatigue. However, there are many causes of fatigue, with insufficient sleep being one cause. Before blaming everything on HCV, it’s important to rule out other factors that may be causing or contributing to fatigue.
