Misdiagnaosed to have Hep C

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My husband was just telling me yesterday about a local lawyer who is advertising on TV for people that were prescribed Oxycontin and got addicted to it. Some kind of class action law suit thing.

Some attorney is running TV ads here to call if "you or someone you love have been told you have diabetes after taking the anxiety drug Zyprexa".

Grrr!!! Not only is Zyprexa an antipsychotic but Type II DM is a KNOW and documented potential side effect (and is probably r/t weight gain also a known and documented s/e).

Good grief, the pharmacy slip on my stepson's RX even lists it.

Megsd, BSN, RN

723 Posts

Specializes in Neuro.

When I was in 7th grade I went to my doctor with what I figured was tendonitis in my right knee. I did a lot of ballet and a friend of mine had similar symptoms and was being treated for tendonitis. When I got to the doctor he felt around and said I'd better get some x-rays because it's probably a bone tumor!! Needless to say I was scared stiff until the x-rays showed jack squat. I then went to an orthopedic specialist who said I had (guess what?) tendonitis.

The scary part is I had a friend who, about a year later, went to the doctor for a pain in her right knee she figured was a tennis injury. It WAS bone cancer and she died a year later. :o

I'm still mad at my doctor, who my family has named "The Crook", but after knowing what my friend went through I'm just glad he was dead wrong.

Specializes in Oncology, ID, Hepatology, Occy Health.
Last year (Feb 2003), i was misdiagnosed to have Hep C. A week after, I had the test repeated 2 times in a different hospital and it came out negative. Someone told me that i should have sued the hospital for emotional torment. Is it too late? I guess. Just want your input guys. Thanks.

You don't specify which test was falsely positive, and this is significant.

It's usually the PCR test which indicates if somebody has active viral replication. It's possible to have positive hepatitis C antibody test and a very low viral load, which hovers around the level of detection, hence a repeated Hep C PCR can come up positive, negative, positive, negative etc. There is also the very slim potential for false results in all tests of course.

You need more specific information. Are you hep C antibody negative? If so you're most probably in the clear. Are you antibody positive but PCR negative? If so you you probably had an acute hep C and you're one of the lucky few who overcame the virus independantly, however the significance of PCR negativitity in the presence of HCV antibodies is still not yet fully understood, and you should be followed by a hepatologist even if only for yearly PCR tests to ensure you're still negative.

I echo the concerns about herbal medicines in liver disease - I've seen disastrous results.

I highly recommend "Living With Hepatitis C" by Richard English and Dr. Graham Foster.

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