Oh My Aches and Pains!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Hepatitis C: The Facts

I was so excited when I was recently approached about hosting an infographic on my blog.

I asked the designers to create a Hepatitis C awareness infographic and I think they did a bang-up job. I am proud to display it here on Oh My Aches and Pains! and hope it goes a long way towards educating everyone about the risk factors for HCV infection as well as the impact HCV has on individuals, families, the health care system and our society as a whole.

How This Infographic Relates to Me

As I reveal last week in my vlog, I contracted Hepatitis C from blood transfusion I received in 1988.

I actually developed acute Hepatitis C in August 1988, with jaundice, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, fever and abdominal pain. It took me several years to recover from the fatigue I experienced from acute Hepatitis C.

I am one of the 85% who have gone on to develop chronic Hep C infection.

As noted above, I became infected near the peak of Hep C infections in 1989. This was before there was a blood test to screen the blood supply for Hep C. I knew there was a risk of contracting what was then called non-A non-B Hepatitis from blood transfusions when I signed my cancer treatment consent form in 1988. I was not in a position to refuse blood transfusions due to the nature of the cancer treatment that I received. It was a risk I needed to take to beat leukemia.

Since 1992, the risk of getting Hep C from a blood transfusion has dropped to less than 1 in 2 million.

How This Infographic Relates to You

I strongly encourage you to get tested for Hepatitis C if you identify that you have risk factors for Hepatitis C.

Knowing you have Hepatitis C is key to living a long and healthy life with it. If you know you are HCV+, you and your doctor can discuss healthy lifestyle changes, monitor disease progression and take steps to manage the infection. This can go a long way to preventing or delaying the onset of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Plus knowing you are HVC+ might encourage you to make choices that will prevent the spread of Hep C to others.

This infographic was made possible by http://www.foresthc.com/.

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Help Stop the Global Crisis of Undertreated Pain

I just discovered a new documentary titled Life Before Death which discusses the global crisis of undertreated pain and wanted to share it with you all today.

Please take a moment to view the trailer below. Then head over to www.treatthepain.com to become part of a global effort to bring more pain relief to the world. Plus you can help by liking Treat the Pain on Facebook, following them on Twitter or clicking the Do Something tab on their website.

I find this topic incredible relevant to me right now. As I have mentioned, I am looking for a new pain management doctor and I am legitimately worried about my continued access to opioid pain medications, medications that are making a real difference in the way I manage my fibromylagia pain.

Before I started seeing my last doctor, I was never offered opioid pain medicine to manage my pain. For 7 years I lived with severe pain on a daily basis and had to figure out ways to "grin and bear it," primarily through self management techniques.

I am grateful that opioid pain medication is now a part of my overall pain management strategy. That said, it is only one piece of the puzzle and it certainly does not take my pain away, only reduces it. No, I still need to keep employing all the other strategies at my disposable to manage my pain on a daily basis. It is just a bit easier to do so when I have pain medications as part of my arsenal.

My situation is not unique. Unfortunately, this is a hard, cold reality for many of us who are living with chronic pain: we all are living with more pain than we should. I would love to see that change in my lifetime.