Karen Hoyt is a blogger who has a story about hepatitis C, cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, liver cancer, and liver transplantation. This excerpt first appeared on Karen’s I Help C blog, March 30, 2016

My life has been spinning since being diagnosed with the Hepatitis C Virus. At first, I ran out of the hospital trying to get away from it. Then I spent the next 6 years coming to grips with what it meant to my future. I began the Liver Loving Diet. I went all out to get a dangerous treatment. I battled hepatic encephalopathy (HE). I continually treated portal hypertension, ascites, and bleeding varices. I had to work in order to maintain insurance. And what was that next thing? Oh Yeah – the liver cancer and transplant. Geez Louise. How did I go about balancing Hepatitis and Health? I’m still working on it. Here’s my current thoughts.

Stop the cycle – Thump! Thump! Thump! When the washing machine gets out of balance, it gets noisy. Mine vibrates in circles all over the washroom. It is definitely dances out a warning. When we hear the pounding, it’s time to run through the house and slam that button. We move the heavy stuff around in the tub. We redistribute the weight and pull the button back out. If the towels or jeans get stirred up the right way, it will spin more smoothly. If not, we have to stop and readjust again.

What about our minds? We get all kinds of signals that things are going wrong. We are trying too hard to overcome HE or maybe we are pushing ourselves to keep health insurance. We scrutinize every bite we eat and penny we spend. Fatigue and body aches nag at our body. Fear and anxiety tug at our brain. We have to stop the insanity with Hepatitis C and liver disease. We wouldn’t let our washer stay out of balanced. We shouldn’t let our mind stay that way either.

The clatter in our heads is what gets everything out of balance. During illness, we can run a little wild mentally. Stopping the cycle of thinking about negative things is not so easily done. We all try different tactics. I am the queen of distracting myself. The only thing that distraction does is stop the cycle temporarily. It does not redistribute the messy thoughts and emotions...click here to read the rest of Karen’s blog, "Balancing Hepatitis and Health."