To treat or not to treat, that is the question!

[truredhead]

I am so unsure about whether to treat the hep c with the interferon. I already received my first 3 months medicine from Roche. I have been reading so much about the side effects that is scares the heck out of me. All my blood tests are good so far as levels except the viral load is very high. I am a 1A geno, I do not drink and have been on methadone for 15 yrs. I have fibro and irritable bowel syndrome which seems to be better in last few months.My biopsy showed F1-F2, I am not sure when I aquired it, could have been a tattoo or former IV use. Just found out I had it year and half ago. Should I wait or treat? I just need some feedback I guess. My viral load was 24 million and that is the only bad thing I see on the blood tests. I know we addicts always expect the worse, but some of those sides never go away and I hate any mental probs starting, Its a wonder I am not goofy now! I sure you can tell how great I am at making decisions!

[desrt]

"The longer you are exposed to INF the greater the potential of adverse side effects. With Telaprevir you might be able to get away with 24wks  instead of 48 or even 72."

It'll probably be another 5-10 years before we know whether the long term effects of a 'shortened' triple tx are better or better or worse than the long term effects of simple SOC.

[Bali05]

you ask yourself wether or not to treat and you already have the meds ?

Are you planning on giving them back ?

Not sure if interferon is returnable all I know is it is very expensive.

As a geno 1 today that can afford to wait F1-F2 I would wait since most of the new

drugs around the corner are geno 1 targeted. The longer you are exposed to INF

the greater the potential of adverse side effects. With Telaprevir you might be able

to get away with 24wks  instead of 48 or even 72.

My hepatologist told me on average fibrosis progression is 1 stage in 5 years.

Talk to your hepatologist.

Bali

[kittyface]

Hi have you researched Alinia?  If you're going to tx now with SOC you may want to add this to increase chances of SVR.  Use the "Search Archives" function and you'll get lots of info.  

Kittyface

[nygirl7]

I can't say anything really - I use salt more than most people and am going to go out and have a cigarette right now. Plus it's Friday so that means they have pizza in the cafeteria.  I have more silent killers going on today than most people do in a month it would seem.

I guess the lesson really is that anything can kill you - I don't work on a train but could hit be one by tomorrow..........and really they aren't very silent at all.

[child24angel]

Puleeeezzzzeeee


How did I not know you would come back posting all
silent killers...we were speaking of HCV ML, on this forum anyway.

Once again I disagree.

Your post makes HCV sound like a scrap on the hand,
put a bandaid on it and then good to go.

You're right about one thing though,  I can think what I want and I shall.

I don't think everyone will get cirrhosis and die...that is not
what I said ML.  I've only shared my thoughts and experience.

From the CDC Website.
What are the long-term effects of Hepatitis C?
Of every 100 people infected with the Hepatitis C virus, about

75–85 people will develop chronic Hepatitis C virus infection; of those,
60–70 people will go on to develop chronic liver disease
5–20 people will go on to develop cirrhosis over a period of 20–30 years
1–5 people will die from cirrhosis or liver cancer .

I sure know a lot of people in the 1 percentile range, apparently so do you.
Once again, go ahead, see how many livers there are to go around.
I was told 1 in four people will actually get livers if needed, from a well known
hepatologist and that was over two years ago.

I still stand by with all my friends with HCV,
cirrhosis, and/or ESLD.  Even one is too many for this silent killer

Take care all

[jusjames]

hardly rocket science is it , salt is bad for you, yeah thats pretty well known