My story
by Maria MillerI was diagnosed with the hep c virus in 2004 and the news left me in a state of shock. I had never touched any drugs, did not have any tattoos, never had a transfusion or any surgery. My first question was: how did I get it, and the second question: what is it?
The truth is that my health had not been brilliant for the past ten years and, according to the doctors, I had lots of unspecified symptoms. When I compared my symptoms with the most common symptoms of hep c listed on the internet hep c website, they turned out to be typical symptoms of symptomatic hepatitis c: fatigue, tiredness, itchiness, rashes, hair loss, bleeding gums, itchy eyes, pain under my right ribs, difficulty in concentrating, short term memory loss, irritated bowel syndrome, sinuses, restless sleep and joints and muscle pain. Had been part of my life, for at least ten years.
To get my diagnosis done I had to go abroad to the Czech Republic and pay for it myself, because my GP and consultants in the UK could not put a finger on what was really wrong with my health. When I brought my results to my GP he told me that there was nothing to worry about and that I could live with the virus for another 50 years...... At this stage, he did not even know the state of my liver, because I needed further examinations, such as a liver biopsy. I went to the media to tell my story, you can read it here on the BBC website.
I was left waiting for this so called “gold testing” for another two years, so I decided to pay myself for a fibroscan which is a none invasive substitute and had to go to Paris for that. The French doctors also diagnosed me with kryoglobulinemia, an ex hepatic manifestation of the hep c virus, they found the virus to be genotype 1b and my viral load was around 200 thousand/ml at the time of assessment.
With all these results in my hand I was referred to a hepatologist, who's assessment was that I might have been living with the hep c virus for most of my life and that I could have got it from a mass vaccination I had undergone in the Czech Republic as a child. I had also been given injections of gamma-globulin in my time at school to boost my immune system. Gamma-globulin is a product made from blood.
How I was infected will remain a mystery.
Despite, all the results from the Czech Republic, France and the UK I was left waiting for treatment for another 6 months.
When I started treatment with Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin,my blood picture was low, especially the white blood cell count. I failed two attempts, due to cardiovascular problems, and my consultant informed me that there was no point in continuing with the treatment as I would be forced to break it off at some point. I asked him if I could try any experimental trials and he agreed saying that they couldn't do anything else for me.
I did not feel very well physically and psychologically: physically I felt drained and very weak, psychologically I felt very low, because I had lost the one hope of being treated.....
At that time a friend of mine arrived from his holiday in Germany, where he had been visiting his family and friends and he told me about the liquid colostrum extract holvita™. He explained that a doctor friend of his had been using this liquid colostrum to support the immune system of breast cancer patients on chemotherapy at his clinic with great success for the part 12 years, and he suggested that I might try it. I agreed, because this colostrum extract is a natural product and has no known side effects, neither does it interact with medicine.
I started my trial with the liquid colostrum extract holvita™ on 10th of October 2006 and it had a dramatic impact on me. In just one month my white blood cell count rose from subnormal to the middle of normal range, especially the neutrophils-there count tripped, raising from 1/ml to 3.2/ml. The haemoglobin and red blood cell count went up too, my liver enzymes went down and I started to feel extremely well, better than I had for years- and all this was happening without any side effects. I started to rest and sleep better and did not need to lie down on my sofa during the day, as I started to have a lot of energy. Most of the symptoms subsided as I was continuing the liquid colostrum extract.
I also had significant improvements in my gynaecological health, the ovary cysts shrank and finally dissipated and the fibroids shrank down to the size of peas.
I have been taking holvita™ for over a year and a half with lasting effects and feeling very good to the point that I sometimes forget I still have the hepatitis c virus in my blood.
Now and then have achy hands and pains in my joints, but the paint dissipates after a while.
Maria Miller
March the 1rst, 2008