1. Does HEP treatment (regiment of two anti-viral medications) change the odds for someone with HEP developing PD?
2. If someone with Parkinson's and Hep C took anti-viral medication to treat Hep C (which by the way quite often cures hepatitis) does this treatment in any way affects Parkinson's symptoms?
If there someone in this forum who can help with the answers I would really appreciate it.
Written by
felixned
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felixned , Hep C as you probably know is spread via blood. Some people were unlucky enough to get Hep C via blood transfusions, before tests for Hep C were introduced. The majority of people with Hep C were infected by sharing syringes, while using iv drugs. If you do a search on Google for amphetamine use and Parkinson's disease or cocaine and Parkinson's disease, or crystal meth and Parkinson's disease, there will be a lot of results.The real link with Hep C and Parkinsons is the lifestyle of the average Hep C victim. Thousands of young people using ice, amphetamines and forms of cocaine will eventually have PD when they become older, if they do become sober, and live longer. My Hep C was picked up sometime during 1971 or 1972 when I was using iv drugs. I was diagnosed with Hep C in 2004, and diagnosed with Parkinsons in December 2013/Jan 2014. My Hep C was cured with the drug Harvoni in 2015. I am an old hippy, now 70 years old. Curing Hep C does not affect Parkinsons in any way, as it is truly unrelated, in my opinion. There are other ways of getting Hep C, sharing a razor, toothbrush etc. but these are also blood related, but uncommon. The only real link between Hep C and Parkinson's disease is damage to nerve cells and brain cells caused by amphetamines and similar drugs, which is coincidental, and possibly the source of the Hep C. I once learned of a girl who picked up Hep C from trying iv drugs, just one time. I am sorry that I did reply sooner, but I do not check HealthUnlocked everyday, due to it's rapid decline over the last year or so.
PDman, thank you for sharing this. The reason I asked these two questions was because I was curious if broad anti-viral treatment had any effect on Parkinson. In one of my previous posts I mentioned research done by British and American scientists that pointed to the enterovirus as the possible cause of Parkinson: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Hep C is caused by a virus that is of "similar design" i.e. what they call "positive sense single strand RNA virus" to many enteroviruses. As a matter of fact Hep A is caused by an enterovirus. The difference is that Hep A doesn't become a chronic illness. Viruses in general are difficult but not impossible to get rid off. Harvoni that you mentioned is an anti-viral medication. As you probably know it is effective against not all varieties of Hep C viruses. It is not clear how much it does in the brain because of BBB. I found one study that is touching on the subject :
The virus theory of PD is not new but the latest research gives it certain degree of credibility. It is a long way before the virus is isolated and sequenced. It is even longer to the anti-viral remedy or a vaccine that would take care of it. However knowing the root cause would make a huge difference. As I mentioned on numerous occasions all of the current research has not yielded a single disease modifying treatment. To me it is a clear indication that there is "something" in the brain that is causing the neurons to die. This "something" is missing in all of the animal models used to develop treatments. Virus certainly would explain a lot in this knowledge gap.
There is a link with the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers, hylori or whatever the spelling is. PD is linked to the gut bacteria, at least for the non tremor symptoms. I had type 1A Hep C.
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