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.

What a winter it’s been for many of our friends. Me too. I’ve been fighting sinus problems and still can’t take anything but children’s Benadryl. It’s been this way for years. With Hepatitis C, I was afraid to take anything, even for pain. After clearing the virus, I ended up with cancer and a transplant.

Can’t Get a Break
It seems like every little thing creates such a fuss. If you’re like me, at times you may get tired of living with the physical symptoms and all the effects of liver disease or Hepatitis C. You find your thoughts spiraling into anger, depression, guilt, or even despair. I hear from people who sometimes want to just give up. This blog is for those days. Don’t give up on yourself with cirrhosis or Hep C. You CAN find a way to overcome every circumstance that you face.


Dwelling on the negative aspects of your health is not going to change anything. Sure, I fully understand the effects that liver disease has on my family, friends, finances, choices, and my health. My mind races around trying to fix one of those areas, and when it seems I have thought things through to a place of peace, it jumps onto the next one.

Don’t Give Up on Yourself with Cirrhosis
Let’s face it: Nothing will ever be the same again. I personally think it will only get better. In the meantime, or what I call the “between time”, there are a few steps you can take that can re-adjust your mindset. It will take some practice, but there is no doubt in my mind that you and I cannot do it!

Take Responsibility – First, accept responsibility for your present circumstances and forgive yourself. You did what you thought was best at the time. Hanging on to negative emotions like guilt, shame, and powerlessness leads to blaming, unforgiveness, victimization, and bitterness. Those emotions are poison to our minds. Maybe you contributed to your symptoms by drinking alcohol, living an unhealthy lifestyle, being bitter, or doing drugs. Perhaps you ignored symptoms for years. It is what it is. You did your best. Move on from here.

Let Go – Our mind passes it’s pain on to our bodies. We cannot allow our thoughts to wreak havoc on what life and liver we have left. We can spend our days, weeks, months, and years telling an old sad story, or trying to predict what is going to happen next. Life doesn’t have to make sense all the time. Let it go. Just let it go and then move on.

Take Action – Be deliberate about moving forward into a healthy future. Distract yourself by reading something uplifting or listening to a song that does not bring a bad memory with it.

To read what action steps you can take, along with the rest of Karen’s blog, click here.