Hepatitis C Minneapolis MN

Living with Hepatitis C

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By Jack Challem

In 2002, after a stressful time in her life, Mary Jo Bean, then 66, suddenly became “deathly ill” and was rushed to the emergency room. The doctors knew something was seriously wrong—her liver enzymes were abnormally high—but they had trouble pinpointing the problem. Follow-up exploratory surgery found it: Bean’s liver was hard as a rock.

Bean, who lives in a rural community south of Oklahoma City, had developed cirrhosis, a scarring of her liver, caused by a chronic hepatitis C infection. Yet she had led the “clean life.” The only explanation for the infection was a contaminated blood transfusion back in the 1960s. “Suddenly, I was given two months to live, maybe a year if I started interferon therapy,” she recalls. “But I talked with other patients, and the side effects [of the drugs] scared me.”

As Bean scrambled to read everything she could on the subject, she learned about Burt Berkson, MD, PhD, a nutritionally oriented physician and expert in liver diseases. By the time she got to Berkson’s clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, she couldn’t walk without another person holding her up. Her voice was so weak that she couldn’t speak above a whisper.

Berkson knew from experience exactly what to do. He put Bean on a liver-boosting, high-potency antioxidant regimen. He also coached Bean on how to improve her eating habits, with an emphasis on fresh and whole foods.

Two weeks later, the woman who had been near death was ready to take on the world. As soon as she returned home, she began cleaning the house, doing laundry, and tackling other chores, and a few months later she power-washed and painted her house. “I got my energy back,” she says in a clear, strong voice.

A stealthy virus
Hepatitis literally means “liver inflammation.” The hepatitis C virus infects 4 million Americans, which is four times the number of people with HIV. Once infected, a person has the virus for life—increasing the risk of liver failure, debilitating fatigue, and liver cancer.

Often called a “silent epidemic,” hepatitis C can wreak havoc and still leave a person without symptoms for years. According to the American Liver Foundation, more than two-thirds of people with hepatitis C don’t even know they’re infected. And when symptoms do finally appear, they may mimic the flu or cause fatigue, leading to misdiagnosis. Meanwhile, the virus continues to ravage the liver.

People contract hepatitis C primarily through the exchange of blood. Anyone who shares needles—drug users, those getting unsanitary tattoos or body-piercings—along with anyone who may handle contaminated needles—healthcare workers and police officers—are at risk for the disease. Additionally, anyone who received blood transfusions before routine screening of the blood supply began in 1990 is at risk. And even today’s blood-screening methods aren’t foolproof. A couple of years ago, 60 patients at an El Paso, Texas, hospital contracted hepatitis from contaminated blood transfusions. ...

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