Interferon permenant side effects

[zooz333]

Hey guys, hope you're all doing great.
I just have a question regarding interferon/Riba therapy. Did anyone here who went through that treatment experience any side effects that won't go away after the therapy is stopped? I can't begin to describe the kind of hesitation and confusion that I feel towards Interferon/Riba therapy, so if anyone here has a personal experience regarding permanent side effects, pls share it

Thanks

[Idyllic]

Your FibroTest is not bad at all. We could get into comparing the correlation between different liver fibrosis assessments but truthfully if I were you I would wait. It is like OH above says, you have time on your side. While you may have no short or long-term problems with Interferon, it seems you have the benefit of waiting for medical innovation to (finally) churn out a drug that is more efficacious, shorter in treatment duration with a way less harsh side effect profile.

Ha this reminds me of an article I read recently about an Incivek exec complaining about profits because doctors are "warehousing" patients to wait and treat with the all-oral, interferon free Hepatitis C meds. ( FYI Incivek is a recent generation of HCV med called a protease inhibitor with a beast of a side effect profile)

[zooz333]

Thanks a lot, will do...:)

[zooz333]

Thanks a lot for your comment, I guess it's true that not everyone is the same on this, I'm glad you're feeling better and in some weeks from now I hope you get SVR...:))

Good luck

[orphanedhawk]

Since you have minimal damage to your liver and are nervous about doing interferon treatment, you should probably wait for the new orals currently in trial stage.
In the meantime take good care of your liver, no drinking and eat well, stay active etc.

Good luck.

[Dannyboi7]

I did 24 weeks on peg interferon and riba.It's a bit to early for me to tell if I have permanent damage from the treatment since I'm only about 11 weeks post treatment.I still have some sx fom the treament which is normal at this point.Over all I find I already have a great improvement in comparison to pre treatment.My digestion is better,bowel  movement is better,no more mood swings,no more fatigue,sleep is better,significant less muscle spasm,no more swelling of the feet,cognitive abilities getting better.So far so good and no regrets on doing treatment.

Best Wishes

Dannyboi7

[zooz333]

Hi there and thanks for ur answer...:)
Actually I was diagnosed i 2004 and I'm pretty much positive on even the day it entered my body, which was also in 2004. I haven't done a biopsy cause I'm also very paranoid about invasive procedures, but I did a fibrotest about 8 months ago (Which I was informed it's as good as biopsy) and it was fine, between F0 and F1 (No to minimal fibrosis). I guess I'll wait for better treatments as you have just confirmed my worries about peg and riba. Basically if they CAN cause permanent side effect, I'm fully against them if there is or will be another option, i checked other posts and same thing there too: there COULD be permanent side effects!!

Anyway, thanks a lot for your answer and I wish you all the best and looking forward to you posting good news about SVR in a couple of months from now....:))

[Dawn703]

I see you were diagnosed in 2007; how is your liver? Have you had a recent biopsy? If not I would recommend it. If your damage isn't bad, you could certainly wait until the new drugs are out, they are suppose to be much kinder. It takes a long time, usually, for any damage to be done to the liver. Hopefully you've been kind to your liver since being diagnosed.

Anyway, to amswer your question, everyone is different, some people do suffer permanent side effects, more people than not though do NOT. I have only been done with treatment for 2.5 months, and I have not. And in all honesty suffered very very few sx from peg and riba. Incivek was another story though, but you won't have to deal with that being G4. Are there any clinical trials for your genotype? Just another option I'm throwing out there.

[nonsensical]

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Hepatitis/Members-Comment-on-Side-Effects-of-the-Treatment-Drugs-During--After-Treatment-/show/530?cid=64