Which Comes First, the Depression or the Disease?


You have heard about support groups before usually on other subjects like alcoholics anonymous and sex-addicts anonymous, but the same holds true for disease support groups... You're only as good as your last meeting!

Now you might say that this is different, that Hepatitis C patients are not alcoholics or sexually addicted or what have you, but the truth is HCV victims need support for the depression aspect of this disease. Sure the information you might get at a support group will be extremely important, even life saving but the real reason you will need to chat with others about Hepatitis C is because nobody out there knows what it is really like, except someone who is suffering too.

Since everyone is different, there might be people who don't think they are depressed. They are "too strong" to let this problem defeat them, yet they will become anxious, scared even frightened when they are forced to think about the depression that treatment can spawn. The drugs themselves can cause flu like symptoms and who wants to have the flu for a year? The lack of support for financial and emotional needs can take a toll on a patient who is on combo therapy. That's when it's nice to pick up the phone and chat with others who can relate. Or find Internet buddies to trade "war stories" with. It's a good way to find out if your doctor is on the right track, if he's not doing the correct tests you really need or he is reading the results wrong, all this can be detected early if you have a form of reference to go by!

Now, I know that some people prefer to be totally anonymous and not attend meetings in person, for fear that someone will recognize them. Then there are others who don't have a computer and can't surf the net to find support. For those people looking to hook up through the phone, there is a limited group of people who put there name on the lists to share their experiences with. These lists can be gotten from the American Liver Foundation for free. Call 1-800-GO LIVER.

For online support groups, there are so many to choose from ... but you can find some at: http://www.tiac.net/users/birdlady/hep.h...

http://www.hepfi.org/

http://hepatitis-central.com/vikki.html

If you would like to add your favorite support group or another site you found helpful, please write to me at HepatitisCinAZ@aol.com.

I am also looking for your Hepatitis C story. Tell me how you got the disease, when you were diagnosed and what kind of treatment have you gotten.

The copyright of the article Which Comes First, the Depression or the Disease? in Hepatitis Causes & Cures is owned by Sharon Nicholson. Permission to republish Which Comes First, the Depression or the Disease? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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