Got HEP C from barebacking and I'm devastated

[Olderkinkybiguy]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Hopefully you can get some assistance in covering the cost of modern medical treatment. I knew someone who contracted Hep C many years ago, before there was any cure; about 40 years ago. She told me she went to see a very old doctor at the time and he had her consume a large amount of sugar for a few weeks. She said that stoped the Hep C. She still trigger Hep C in a basic screening, but her blood work showed the virus is inactive or undetectable; not sure of the correct terminology. Unfortunately I don’t have any good information other than what she had told me. I believe her to be a reliable source, so I don’t doubt what she told me to be untrue. It might be worth doing some research. She still has liver issues as a result, so she has to be careful not to do things that negatively affect the liver, like drinking alcohol. She also takes a good quality supplement, Milk Thistle, to help her liver when it flares up. At the time, she had no other health problems that I am aware of, so not sure if that was a factor in stopping the virus or not. I am not a medical professional and this is what she has told me.
 

I hope you get the help you need. Good luck and try to keep a positive mindset as best you can. 

[Dallasbear]

My partner tested positive for Hepatitis C in late 2013 while we were in Albany NY.  He was part of a phase 3 trial for Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir).  At that time the cost was $100,000 per tablet according to the pharmacy. The pharmacy delivered one tablet per week to him and waited and watched him take it due to the cost. He was on a 12-week regime and it completely cleared the Hep C from his body. It is now 12 years since he had  the Harvoni, and he still tests 100% negative for Hep C.  I do not know what the current cost of Harvoni is but from firsthand knowledge of its working for my partner it may well be worth checking into.  Admittingly, he was very lucky to participate in the phase 3 trial and not have to pay anything for the treatment.

[hungry_hole]

On 2/4/2024 at 3:38 AM, rawfuckr said:

I'm scared and now I may  have to  live with hep c  due to my stupidity ....

It's not really "stupidity" because then being "wise" would be to never have uninhibited anonymous sex in saunas, darkrooms, gloryholes, and parks.

[rawfuckr]

On 2/11/2024 at 3:31 AM, biobare said:

Do you know in which situation you caught it? Was it 1 to 1 sex or in a group? I caught it once at my first Berlin visit in 2012, I guess after letting a few random guys fuck me in Laboratory or at a Coffee&Cream Party. Today I'm quite sure that the main way of transmitting Hep C is when Tops run from bottom to bottom without cleaning their cocks or even when "Safer" Tops use the same condom for a number of bottoms. ...

Did your Doc tell you something about the strain / subtype of HCV you have? ...

 

I'm now 100% certain I got Hep C at the lab in Berlin in my trip mid december. I can pinpoint the infection all the way down to my 2 visits to the lab on thursday and friday.  Been tracking my ALT levels weekly and they've already peaked. From the literature ALT peaks around 8 weeks, and timeline exactly matches my days in Berlin where I only bottomed at the lab. I also had brutal flu like symtomps 2 weeks after this, with stubborn fever it would not go down even with ibuprofen/paracetamol.  I never get the flu or colds. I also didn't have much going on before this Berlin trip and even had a neg AB Hep C test beginning of November. So it's clear I got it there at the lab.

Reading your comments here has been revealing and everyone seems to agree, with multiple accounts saying the same @Leather69 @biobare. You get hep C through group sex, specifically with something being inserted in your hole that has been in other holes before. That can be a cock, a condom wrapped cock, a fist, a toy.. with the key being, not being washed or clean before going in you. Ironically condom wrapped cock does nothing unless it's a fresh condom, and it could even be worse as it could cause even more irritation and tearing on other bottoms drawing more infected material to transport into others. And indeed, this is exactly what I was doing while at the lab: me on my 4s with all the busy crowd of the lab plowing holes left and right mine included. I can't remember how many loads I got, I think I counted 7 on friday, so multiply that by the load-to-fuck ratio and it could be a significant number.   

There's another striking connection from the comments, and it's 3 people got Hep C in Berlin including me, but that may be completely accidental... Also, the case where you get HepC from a load can't be completely ruled out but must be at the level of geting HIV from oral sex: Hep C viral load is only present in semen during acute phase (~3 months) then goes UD. So you need a Vers top, that's on Hep C acute phase breeding you with a torn hole... 

Things are moving along with me to start treatment and insurance should cover Epclusa. I got HCV genotype 1a and Epclusa seems to be very effective for type 1, so I'm hopeful. I'll update when I've got more news.

 

Edited February 19 by rawfuckr

[rawfuckr]

Checking in with some positive news.

I started epclusa (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir) treatment a month ago and at my first viral load test at the month mark and I'm already undetectable. My liver enzymes are also down to normal. This is all very impressive because my VL was in the high millions/ml and the liver enzymes (AST and ALT) on the 1000s, (now <40). This stuff works and even didn't get side effects from it.

Need to keep taking pills for 2 months and then 3 months later the official viral load test to confirm the cure. 

As far as pricing goes even when my specialty pharmacy was quoting me 7k a month, it was $0 at checkout so I will not complain about that! (I think they autoapplied the gilead coupon). 

Will update later on..

[BlueSaphir]

I’m glad to hear that there is resolution. I been back to being super selective to who I have sex with too. 
 

That was my lesson of being HIV positive. Anything is possible. And no one is always honest and transparent with disclosure of their sexual health. 

[TallAussieBtm]

On 2/20/2024 at 6:31 AM, rawfuckr said:

There's another striking connection from the comments, and it's 3 people got Hep C in Berlin including me, but that may be completely accidental...

Interesting! Berlin (and Europe generally) have a pretty good reputation STI-wise. Because healthcare is either free or at least affordable, people tend to get tested and treated, so things get fixed/viral loads are low. Of course, there's always exceptions. And visiting tourists from elsewhere! So it's always gonna be a risk. 😢 Glad things are going well for you now. ❤️

[cman102]

Happy for you. Hep C is pretty much the only bug that I dont want.

[ellentonboy]

Hep C is curable with either an 8 or 12 week cycle of medication called Mavyret.  (Sp?) note: because of the cost of the medication my insurance company ran blood work for every recreational drug there is. Thank God I was clean. The retail cost is $12000K a month, I had an advanced case so I had to take the 3 month dosage. I am glad I mentioned to my doctor my urine was rust colored!  But there were no side effects from the meds and the Hep C has not come back.

[Tanbbottom]

On 2/4/2024 at 3:38 AM, rawfuckr said:

In my risk calculations I had put "getting hep C" as a far far far possibility. "it's a thing for people who inject drugs mostly and the fisters" I thought 

But here I am. Diagnosed with hep C and brutal viral load of 20milion/ml, and my liver markers (alt) off the measurable range for the tests

If something is certain is that I know 100% sure I got this from getting bred. I don't do drugs nor fist. Just normal fucking. So it's the only vector that makes sense. 

I feel stupid for having caught it. Always thought of hep C as an impossible possibility. I was clearly wrong. 

There's supposed to be a treatment for me, but even that seems complicated. Will insurance pay? Epclusa is 75k, mavyret 30k...

I'm scared and now I may  have to  live with hep c  due to my stupidity ....

Thanks for sharing. I encourage you not to feel guilty or ashamed. Shit happens. Be kind to yourself and assistance will come your way. 🫂

[rawfuckr]

13 hours ago, ellentonboy said:

Hep C is curable with either an 8 or 12 week cycle of medication called Mavyret.  (Sp?) note: because of the cost of the medication my insurance company ran blood work for every recreational drug there is. Thank God I was clean. The retail cost is $12000K a month, I had an advanced case so I had to take the 3 month dosage. I am glad I mentioned to my doctor my urine was rust colored!  But there were no side effects from the meds and the Hep C has not come back.

What year was this? This is now one of my fears for the future. That I may get reinfected and insurance won't pay again 

[ellentonboy]

10 hours ago, rawfuckr said:

What year was this? This is now one of my fears for the future. That I may get reinfected and insurance won't pay again 

For me it was 2019 or 2020 (can't remember but it was before the pandemic)  I have WellCare as the provider of my prescription medications.   When the results came back positive that was when a second lab was ordered and the medication was approved.  Lab Corp did send those results to my portal and that was when I realized they were checking for recreational drugs.  I had nothing in my system at the time.   Funny, I just got some automated call telling me they would pay for it, and that a speciality pharmacy would deliver it to my house.  I had absolutely $0 copay, though I did see the monthly charge on my Explanation of Benefits (EOB).   What shook me up is that I had to undergo the 12 week cycle, that was how advanced it was.   $36.000 for the 12 week treatment.   My doctor said normally it's 8 weeks but for me, there was an indication that I had some damage already  There were no side effects from  the medication.  I was never warned that if I should test positive again that they would not cover it.  What left me scratching my head was the woman who took the second sample at LabCorp told he how fortunate I was, that she had worked for an Infectious Disease Specialist for years, and how patients, initially, had few options, so I should consider myself "lucky".

Mavyret was a wonderful medication, I am glad I mentioned to my doctor I was having some pain when I urinated and that my urine was a brown color.  

[viking8x6]

56 minutes ago, ellentonboy said:

What left me scratching my head was the woman who took the second sample at LabCorp told he how fortunate I was, that she had worked for an Infectious Disease Specialist for years, and how patients, initially, had few options, so I should consider myself "lucky".

If she was a bit older, she might have been referring to patients who had HepC before the modern antivirals came out. Interferon treatment is rough.

[Spunkinmyarse]

Hep C is the one I dread, too- particularly as I love to be a ‘party bottom’ at sex clubs, and particularly because I also like to play in Berlin from time to time: definitely puts me at the “high risk” end of the spectrum for us players.

At least here in the UK, we get screened for it regularly as a standard part of our 3-month Prep tests- and if we catch it, we will get treated by the NHS with nothing to pay… though I did hear a rumor that they will only offer this treatment free of charge once, due to the high cost, etc.

I’d be interested to know how this experience has affected your outlook on things, @rawfuckr. Will it change the way you play? I’ve kind of told myself that if I do catch Hep C, then I’ll kind of call it a day on my wanton ways, given where I am in life anyway-  though I’m also realistic enough about myself to know that I probably won’t.

Edited June 5 by Spunkinmyarse

[rawfuckr]

1 hour ago, Spunkinmyarse said:

I’d be interested to know how this experience has affected your outlook on things, @rawfuckr. Will it change the way you play? I’ve kind of told myself that if I do catch Hep C, then I’ll kind of call it a day on my wanton ways, given where I am in life anyway-  though I’m also realistic enough about myself to know that I probably won’t.

For me It all comes down to this reinfection risk and the treatment outlook for it. Medically it's clear that hep C is a solved problem. Type 1 which is what gay men get has 99% cure rates across the board including those who adhere poorly. So it's very likely 100% if you take pills properly. They also have no significant side effects. (Mavyret and epclusa)

So if you told me treatment would be easily available again in the case of reinfection I wouldn't change much. 

I'm here in the USA and it's really hard to figure out coverage for reinfections. There seems to have been an important swift just  recently (3-5 years) from being super selective of who to treat to "if you have hep C you are treated". But for the time being obtaining treatment won't be a slam dunk. 

In general I plan to be more careful around. For example it has happened in the past that when cleaning out I was too aggressive and I would noticeably feel my hole sore. Maybe not jump into a fuckaton after that. 

I'm popping last pill tomorrow BTW. Wish me luck on my official SVR test 3 months down the road. 

 

Edited June 5 by rawfuckr