It was love. It can build a bridge, you know....
Seriously, Naomi Judd did monotherapy,as far as I know, coupled with diet, herbs, mediatation, etc., etc. I've read her story somewhere, but forget where. She has a new book out (can't remember the title, saw it at the bookstore the other day) and she talks a little bit about it.
I should have known, she wants to sell books! That's what I need to do instead of trying to eek out a living doing honest work.
Hey, all that makeup doesn't pay for itself! :-)
I'm a software engineer by day, but my true love is writing. And trust me, if you're any good and serious about it, writing is work. I've completed three screenplays since I started Tx last June and the brain fog *really* made it into hard work!
Christine
I'm a writer too! And I know it's hard work....I've been feeling particularly inspired this week, and am pretty anxious about the effects treatment might have. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
I have to say, though, after leafing through Naomi's latest, she's no writer! ;-)
Wow. I didn't know I was in the company of so many writers! I've also been working long and hard and have finished my first opus and am shopping it around. I am about to start my second (rather restart it). They are both romantic novels.
One of reasons I've decided to wait on tx is that I can't imagine going through that for 48 weeks, and working, and being best friends with my muse. :) I asked a long while back and was told that creative energy disappeared with tx... I guess that's not the case for you, glamazon. Could you elaborate on how you've managed to do tx and stay creative?
Yep, writing is very hard work. I'm a songwriter (wrote alot more before I was dx) Didn't mean to imply that writing a book is not work!
Thanks!
I think you were speaking more to the fact that celebrities expoit their fame by writing silly little books that the public gobbles up and mistakes for literature!
Or maybe that's just me! :-)
I can't *not* write! No matter how fatigued or listless I get, it doesn't much affect my imagination or ability. One thing I had going for me was, all three screenplays were adpatations (two were my novels). However, the script I'm working on now is an original.
Now, I will say this. My new script would be completed by now, too, if I wasn't suffering from this listlessness and frequent urge to do nothing but watch movie. Often I can force myself to get started -- and once I do, momentum takes over and you need to pry me away from the keyboard with a crowbar -- but if I can't, then I'm looking through my collection ( http://www.glamazon.net/Videos_1.html ) of videos for a film I haven't seen recently.
Christine
From Jan 13
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 13 - The addition of amantadine to a regimen of interferon alfa-2b and ribavirin does not improve outcomes in patients with chronic hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection, researchers in the U.S. report.
Amantadine is an antiviral drug with activity against the flaviviridae family, but clinical trials of the agent used to treat HCV have yielded conflicting results. A sustained response is achieved in fewer than half of patients with HCV treated with interferon plus ribavirin, they note in their paper.
In fact, lead author Dr. P. J. Thuluvath and colleagues write in the January issue of Gut, "We believe that amantadine should be abandoned as a potential agent for the treatment of HCV."
In their prospective study, Dr. Thuluvath, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and his team treated 171 patients with interferon alfa-2b 3 million units s.c. three times a week and ribavirin 1000 to 1200 mg daily for 24 weeks, with treatment continuing for 48 weeks if HCV RNA clearance was noted by PCR after 24 weeks. Eighty-five were randomly assigned to co-treatment with amantadine hydrochloride 100 mg b.i.d. and 86 were assigned to placebo.
Adverse event profiles were similar in the two groups, and withdrawal rates did not differ significantly. After 48 weeks of treatment, HCV RNA clearance rates were 40.6% among 28 patients remaining in the amantadine group and 47.8% of 33 in the placebo group. At 72 weeks, only 21 patients in the amantadine group and 24 in the placebo group were available for evaluation; response rates were 30.4% and 34.8%, respectively.
"We assumed that our study had the power to show a moderate difference if it existed," the investigators write, "but we did not find even a trend favoring triple therapy."
Gut 2004;53:130-135.
She had two rounds of monotherapy, first in 1990 and then in 1996.
Interferon - the "natural" cure!
in the first issue of HEPATITIS magazine there is a cover story about Judd. it said she did 6 mon. of interferon and stopped from what i remember. she then found a "good" dr. and went another go at treatment- for a year this time i believe. this time she got remission. ive read other accounts about her in other publications that dont mention interferon/tx. at all and just say she was healed by positive thinking and new age philosophy.
Thanks Mike for sharing this article.
When I was in about my 3rd month of treatment and started coming across articles about Amantadine, I really pushed the issue with my GI and wanted to jump on the Amantadine thing. I actually took the stance that if it helped my chances of getting rid of the virus, then I needed it and if it didn't help, then it shouldn't hurt my chances. My GI basically cut me off rather quickly with the idea that there was any or enough solid evidence that Amantadine aided the other hepC drugs. He said no that he didn't recommend Amatadine and didn't add it to the Pegasys and Copagus for better results and would not let me take it. He immediately said that I wouldn't get results with the drug or even better results with adding Amantadine to the mix and that there was not solid evidence with hepC treatment patients that taking the Amantadine you get better results with clearing and staying clear.
Is it common procedure that you get a PCR test at the 36 week point? My GI says that since we know that I am clear of the virus, we are just heading towards the finish line of 48 weeks and then a possible 6 - 8 week extension.
Does everyone have the 36 week PCR or does everyone not have it? For some reason, I was under the impression that the PCR test was done at 12, 36 and 48 week point.
My hep doc says 12, 24 and 48. That's what I've most commonly seen here. LL
Same here, PCR tests at 12, 24, 48 wks.
My schedule is 12, 24, 36 and 48 wk PCRs. Doesn't make much sense to me for the 36 wk test, but I'm having my drawn in a couple of weeks.
ambush :)
I had one a 12 weeks, my next one is at 48 weeks. I guess since I want from 10 millin vl to <5. This friday I will be at week 42
Sorry for the break in, but I'm going to do it anyway. Hope you'll all had a Good Christmas and a great New Year (at least the best you could expect on tx). Sure was strange toasting at midnight with a 7up on the rocks. Finally got a new PC. I've been doing good, #30 now. For the first time since I started tx my white blood count was pretty low (sorry didn't get the #'s, but the nurse called and said if it's still low in a week the doc wants to stop tx, I was only suppose to go 24 (I was geno 2b), but the doc said he would like to try for 48, I think he wanted me to stay around for awhile since he just bought a 2004 Mercedes.My heptimax test showed below 5 at the 24 weeks, I really think I got this Dragon by the Ass now. Seen a few new faces on here and some of the old timers as well. I scrolled down as far as I could to see if I missed any new or updated information, I thought for awhile I was on the Jerry Springer Forum, man what a time for my PC to break. Don't worry I would have been right in the middle of that stuff(lol), The riba rage is truly a tuff thing to keep under control, I've had more arguments at work in the last 7 months than I did in 20 years there. Sure glad they are putting up with my temper tantrums, wouldn't know what to do without insurance at a time like this. Sorry for all the rambling, but I'm just glad to be back, and don't worry I'll be joining in on the next Jerry Springer Episode. See Ya'll and "Happy side free days" -- Harley Dude
Welcome back--You were missed Joni
Have any of you dealt with thyroid problems in conjunction with hepc/tx? I just got a call from the GI nurse that my TSH test is showing hyperthyroid and needs to be tested again tomorrow. I told her about having chest pain, racing heart, hot flushing, weak legs and arms, headache, sore throat, etc. She says these could be symptoms of overactive thyroid. How do I distinguish tx sx from thyroid sx? What a roller coaster this is. Yesterday undetectable, today hyperactive thyroid! Anyone else out there dealing with the same? caruu
I'm not trying to say that there is a connection between the two, but I have hypothyriodism/Hashimoto's syndrome (uderactive)
At 4 years old Pooh Bear taught me...."If ya can't say somethin nice....Don't say nothin at all".
Am I the ONLY one who watched that show?
whether or not you have drank or used drugs has not one damn thing to do w/ whether you get a transplant or not at the hospital I worked through. It doesn't even have ant thing to do w/ where you are put on the list. It is determaned by need, not cause. 2/3 of all transplants in the U.S. are Hep C. I drank right up to my liver failure and was scheduled to be put on the list. Thanks be to God, my liver improved enough thru change of life that , for now, I don't need one. Joni