TOPIC: Hair loss/thinning.

Hi. Im Valentino and 30 years old. I recently diagnose Hep C without liver cirrhosis.

So this is my story on 2017 I started to notice my thick hair is thinning and I have this flu like symptoms and fatigue that I never experience but I careless about it because I thought I need good night sleep and it shall be gone.

Skip time to 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. I lost my hair lustrous crown into thinning. Got more tired. Depress, anxious that I never experience. I look older than my age and stop exercise due to that “mental problem” and fatigue. I use to be very extremely athletic, cheerful guy, very social but now.. that life seems to only in my dreams. Nowdays I just stay at home trying to get up to where I was but it seems I cant until I get that treatment.

So I do blood test 3 times and Confirmed I got hepatitis C (reactive). It wreck my life “Big time”. I never lose hope but now im waiting for treatment that has 95% cure rate.

So my question is does this Hepatitis C Virus cause hair loss? And will grow back after no virus detected in the blood? And all fatigue, skin itchIness will be gone? Thank you.

Hi Valentino, welcome to the forum! First, sorry about all what you went through. Your story is very familiar, most Hepatitis C sufferers go through the same down spiral. Hepatitis C is a terrible virus that is capable of turning people's lives upside down. The good news is that it's now curable as you know, the new DAA medications eliminate the virus with 95% success rate on the first try. As a matter of fact, almost all people say after just 1 week of treatment that they haven't felt this good in years.

Hepatitis C symptoms (such as fatigue, mental fog and skin rash) definitely go away after successful treatment. The only symptom that I'm not sure if it's related to Hepatitis C or not is hair loss. Dr Freeman who is a Hepatitis C expert and who founded FixHepC answers all questions posed here, I'm sure he will let you know.

Hopefully you will start treatment and get your life back very soon, best of luck to you and keep us updated.

Thats great news. I have to hold on a little bit longer for the treatment. Probably in May or June. Hopefully it wont take too long. The doctor need to CTScan my liver and wait for my blood test result for genotype,

It will be amazing to have my life back after cure.. I never felt as myself for at least 3 years now. It feels like living in a dream and yet Im not dreaming.

I forgot to mention it gives brain fog such as confusion like you cant think straight and lots of indigestion. I cant eat any fatty food too. I vomit it back all of the fats.

About that thinning hair I look around some say yes and some say they are not sure if Hepatitis C cause hairloss/thinning unless during treatment but not the cause of that Virus. Hopefully I can found answer for that soon.

Is this normal for those got the (hep C) virus? Thank you for replying.

Hi Valentino,
Treat you HCV as soon as possible, once genotype has been identified.
If you get your Med’s within the next month or two you’ll be HCV free by summers end and back to your old self. There is no reason to put it off.
You’ve got this!

Hi Sven. Thank you for the encouragement. Yes, I Got This! I have faith and believe I have all my health back after treatment.

Can you and anyone tell me how does it feel to be free from this virus completely?

Throughout this years I got infected I only have few hours of window to feel “alright” and then brain fog, confusion, slight headache at some point I cant talk like slur speech /stutter because of tiredness and cant eat any food unless its bland like soup with less ingredient.

Sometimes I become anemic, malnutrition, skin itches etc and the list goes on.

God help me go through this ordeal.

Hello Gan,

While it is possible treatment of your hep C may improve the hair situation the reliable benefits we see for patients with the fatigue, brain fog and confusion you report are that these almost always completely disappear.

The phrase "I have not felt this good for 20 years" is a very common sentiment after people have treated and been cured.

Best Wishes

James

Hi Gan,
As Dr James says the saying “I haven't t felt this good in 20 years” is the feeling you will have. Just do it and treat now, your old self will be back. You’ll notice a definite difference once you start the Med’s, then by summers end you’ll be HCV free.
Keep your blog going so you can track it.

Hi Gan,

I am just catching up on posts after a time away. I had Hep C for many decades and I can relate to all of the symptoms that you have described such as fatigue, brain fog, depression etc. My hair also became thinner and my skin dry so let me validate your experience with my own.

I was cured through the amazing work of Dr Freeman and the fixHepC team as well as incredible support from this forum in 2017 and have been Hep C free since.

I hope you are able to access the treatment soon. Being HepC free is a gift that keeps giving. For me, after treatment, the brain fog began to lift and over time I continued to feel healthier and stronger. Although I will never forget what it was like to have Hep C (frigging awful) you do move on and the energy and joy creeps back into your life. Life still has challenges both physically and emotionally but at least you can fight these without the burden of Hep C.

I'm so pleased that you posted on this forum. I'm hoping that you are able to start treatment very soon.

Coral