starting treatment.

[granttg]

I'm staring treatment Tuesday. I'm not sure what medicine Im sure it will be interferion and something else. My question is does the side effects of the meds stat as soon as you start or does it take a little while

[rambleon40]

You are right about "fingers in the ear" - didn't mean to include that - not helpful. Thought I had edited it out and saw ("oh no!") when it was posted.  My apologies.  

[pooh55811]

While some try to frighten others into not treating their Hepatitis C, it is extremely important and advantageous to be aware of just how dangerous untreated Hepatitis C can be and just how common these extrahepatic manifestations and Hep C related disease processes are.

"Abstract:  Cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are the prototypic complications of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in the liver. However, hepatitis C virus also affects a variety of other organs that may lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C infection include a multitude of disease processes affecting the small vessels, skin, kidneys, salivary gland, eyes, thyroid, and immunologic system. The majority of these conditions are thought to be immune mediated. The most documented of these entities is mixed cryoglobulinemia. Morphologically, immune complex depositions can be identified in small vessels and glomerular capillary walls, leading to leukoclastic vasculitis in the skin and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in the kidney. Other HCV-associated entities include porphyria cutanea tarda, lichen planus, necrolytic acral erythema, membranous glomerulonephritis, diabetic nephropathy, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, insulin resistance, sialadenitis, sicca syndrome, and autoimmune thyroiditis. This paper highlights the histomorphologic features of these processes, which are typically characterized by chronic inflammation, immune complex deposition, and immunoproliferative disease in the affected organ  ...........
Conclusion:  Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is associated with multiple extrahepatic manifestations (EHMs) affecting various organs in the body. While there is some evidence that the virus may play a direct role in HCV-related B-cell lymphomas via direct HCV antigen stimulation of B-cells, most EHMs are generally believed to be secondary to the host immune response to the virus.In some conditions, the histopathologic changes of EHM are related to circulating immune complexes such as type II cryoglobulinemia, and their subsequent deposition in the small vessels and glomerular capillary walls, leading to leukoclastic vasculitis in the skin and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in the kidney.Other HCV-associated entities like sialadenitis, sicca syndrome, lichen planus, and autoimmune thyroiditis, while not associated with cryoglobulinemia, appear to be secondary to autoimmune processes resulting in chronic inflammatory infiltrates.In porphyria cutanea tarda, the disease process is thought not to be related to host immune response to HCV, but rather to HCV-associated liver dysfunction.The role of the virus in insulin resistance in HCV-associated diabetes is unclear, but it is thought to be secondary to either viral induced inflammation or direct interference of the virus on muscle insulin signaling.In summary, chronic HCV infection may result in a multitude of disease processes affecting the small vessels, skin, kidneys, salivary glands, eyes, thyroid, and immunologic system. The sequelae of extrahepatic HCV infection are seen histomorphologically as chronic inflammation, immune complex deposition, and immunoproliferative disease in the affected organs."

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2012/740138/

http://www.ccjm.org/content/72/11/1005.full.pdf

http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/factsheets_pdf/Extrahepatic.pdf

[Kirstie_MHModerator]

Let's remember to address the OP's question rather than get caught up in personal bickering and debate over treatment.  Some good information, from a variety of perspectives, has been posted for the OP's consideration, but the sniping doesn't benefit anyone.  Thank you.

[can-do-man]

From Doctor Foster,
I remind my patients that waiting for new drugs is not
entirely risk free, and if a decision to wait for better drugs is made, it is important to review the decision in a few months to see if the changing drug development landscape necessitates a review of the original decision.

http://www.clinicaloptions.com/Hepatitis/Treatment%20Updates/ClinicalThought/Thought01.aspx

As for fingers in the ear bit, with all your one sided posts you seem to resemble that......... BTW, wouldn't put much weight into GP's and family docs when it comes to treating Hep-C, its not like having the common cold.

[maybe368]

You are certainly entitled to your opinions, but it seems that you are suggesting that, even if you don't have long term side effects, that you may have them anyway. To me, that seems ridiculous on its face. You talk about life expectancy, but say nothing about the quality of that life. I would rather be dead than living with the effects of esld. You say that you have talked to many doctors in your area, How many? Are they Hepatologists? How many can there be in the State of Kentucky? In 2 days I will have completed 4 years and 4 months of treatment that includes some form of interferon and have always returned to complete normalcy, we will see this time. Lastly, I suspect any report that costs money to read, seems like the Hippocratic oath has been commercialized. More concerned with the buck than disseminating life potentially life changing info. Good luck to you...Mark

[rambleon40]

"We are well aware of your opinions and I believe I have more experience than you with treatment. I have followed your posts and, in my opinion, many border on medical advice. Just be careful unless you have the correct letters after your name, best wishes...Mark"

That's wonderful! This debate serves to better inform those contemplating treatment, whether you or others agree or disagree with me.

Now, I respectfully suggest that those folks with "letters behind their names" would do well to inform themselves more about long-term outcomes from treatment with INF therapy.  Too many of them only skim journal articles written by folks in the employ of BigPharma, articles skewed to present data in the most favorable light, and addressing only the time periods of treatment and a short time thereafter.

"The pharmaceutical industry has made itself an easy target for criticism by journals and journal editors in large measure because, when new drugs are being introduced or evaluated, the pharmaceutical industry wants to have a say in how studies are designed, who conducts the research, how the data are analyzed, and how quickly a line of investigation moves from conceptualization to completion and publication.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2735425/

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Good luck to all!


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