I can see your temptation! I dont know enough about the medicines (or anything really) to give an educated opinion, but I do think talking to you dr is the wisest choice. Good luck with what ever you choose!

I can relate to your questions. There does seem to be new science out that is changing the dosages, and the length of treatment. I did question my specialist and he said the science that is the most reliable right now is 24 weeks for my geno type. I am on week 20 and am starting to feel like the medications is starting to damage my body, so this week I am getting thyroid kidney tests done, and then will weight my options. Perhaps just a lesser dosage of Ribivarin, as one study I read said 400mg seem to have the same effects as 800mg, like I am on now.
Any way you shake this out, even if a person has minimal sides, or strong side effects, this is tough. It is the uncertainty, the no quarantee, or the waiting. Big hugs to you, and I hope you find the answers, and the solutions that work for you, hugs.

All I can say is speak this over with your doctor, voice ALL of your concerns, and ultimately do what YOU feel is best.. it is your body! I have heard of some natural remedies for hepatitis C, so maybe you and your doctor could look into those.

Definately check with the doctor. The way I look at it is as a type 1A with a viral load of 6 million, I did 47 shots and 1200 mg of the ribavarin daily for 47 weeks thus far. Undetectable viral load each time they test so far and if I hadnt tried treatment, it would only be a matter of time (only God knows) before I faced liver cancer. I gave it my best fight and with 1 more shot and a week or so of the pills to go, I will finish this fight. Should the hep decide to creep back in my body, well I wont lie and say it is gonna be ok, it will definately suck, but I will NOT do this treatment again. It is far too harsh on my body. Best wishes on your journey

It sounds to me like you are looking for a reason to stop. Rationalization.

Don't get me wrong; I am most certainly not judging in any way. But here's how I see it all.

From the get go, tx is a crap shoot. There are all sorts of odds and percentages and numbers flying all over from every Tom Dick and Harry's findings and studies. Does anybody really truly know what to believe?
It's up to you if you want to roll that dice again, quit early, and hope that you don't relapse. It's your call but I sure would want to go the safe route, especially being a type 1, and go right to the end of the 48 weeks. At a minimum, I would think it would be safer to do at least 36 weeks after the week you tested cleared.
That 36 weeks is important. The standard of testing for clear at 12weeks then continuing for another 36 weeks is for a reason; play it safe and stick to it.

I don't think there is a single person who has done tx who can honestly say it's not really hard on a person. After doing tx once, there is definitely not a single person who really wants to go through all that grief again if they relapse.

I am a type 1a, did tx, cleared but relapsed post tx. I did not have a hard time at all but I am looking at reasons to put off doing tx again. Like I am old and have no damage, so do I really need to go through it all again? I likely will do tx again, but man, I sure don't want to! Do you want to gamble, hoping that you are part of that 89% and not the 11% who relapse?

Moving on to part of tx as a possible cause of cancer. I get weary whenever I hear those words. These days what does NOT cause cancer? It's your call again, but if you don't get rid of the virus and it progresses on you, you could end up with liver cancer, so you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
My grandmother passed of liver cancer, and it's not pretty. I think I'll take my chances and do tx.

I think what you should do is write down each and every one of your concerns, then sit down with your dr and talk them all over.
Your dr may have something to say to put some of your concerns to rest or even have some solutions and suggestions for you.

Hi there. Im going to have to agree with Justblue, I think everything can cause cancer, or so they say. It is a catch 22. Personally, I would rather take the chance on tx, and at least try, then to not try at all. I couldnt finish my tx after 4 months. I was also having trouble with white and red blood cells, and I had a transfusion of blood, and I was very anemic. If I ever get the support that I need to try again, I would. Im not in a situation right now to try again. I was alone last time, and it became very hard on me emotionally, and physically at times. I also had family members that just couldnt get it, and just couldnt understand the severity of the meds on tx, and how awful it can make you feel.I was always the fighter in my family, and the strong one, and I think that they didnt know how to deal with me when I was in a weak place in my life. I would definatley chat with your doctor, and your so close, why quit now? It was too easy for me to say ok to my doctor, when he asked what I wanted to do about continuing tx, or stopping it, I wish now I hadnt said okay , to discontinuing tx at that time. It is a personal choice of course. Good luck my friend no matter which choice you make. TucsonAZ...Patti

Thanks everyone for your reply. Yah I didn't think as far a everything seeming to cause cancer these days. My mother-in-law had a cancerous tumor on the brain and died a few years ago, I get jumpy at the idea of cancer.

I don't know as if I'm rationalizing, maybe I am, it seems I don't know how I feel sometimes with my head so cloudy and all if seem to feel is tired. I just was so freaked out about when I was first diagnosed with hep c that it never occured to me to really think about the long term side effects of treatment after I'm done until now. I just brushed it all off as nothing could be worse than having hep c. I didn't find this board, or anyone who finished the treatment until I already started treatment, and listening to problems others deal with post treatment I just want to make sure I do everything I can to not only live a long life, but a long healthy one. But I really don't want to risk relapse either. You all have made me realize what I really need to do because you've said it. I finally need to have the conversation of the long term risks of treatment in my personal case. I think I feel silly doing it now though, but it seems alot of newly diagnosed people felt like I did at the time so I maybe it's not the first time someone felt this way halfway through. I just know I'm terrified at the idea of a blood transfusion because of my low red blood cells, because I had two of them in 2002 after I died having my daughter when blood was "suppose" to be safe and it's my biggest risk factor for the possibility of getting this disease. I don't know if anyone ever feels good about redoing something that made them sick in the first place.

You know honey it's a tough call. I relied on the advice of my team of doctors at VCU. They are a leading team of experts in the field of HCV. I did the entire 48 week course of TX as did my husband and our young daughter. Unfortunely we all relasped. It's a hit and miss with this disease. Some of us slay the dragon and some of us live with it. I would support you in anything you decided to do. Talk to your doctor and see what he/she has to say about it. God bless you honey..hugs and kisses,,,Joni

I cant express my views on this. For on one hand I would get so fuckin mad ! And on the other hand I dont want to be a Hypacrite either ! Id rather stand at your side on ANY of your desisions that you make for yourself for the best !

I agree with everyone else but from what my husband's liver doctor told us that with him being a 1b AND his liver damage was at a stage three that if he stopped too soon (he was clear at week five)that the likely hood of it coming back was almost certain.

It's a catch 22; you stay on treatment and you might get cancer from the pills; you stop treatment the HCV comes back and can develope into liver cancer. Sweetie what ever you decide to do, we're here to support you!

Well I do know I don't want to quit the treatment all together. I was just thinking about the pills, mostly. I guess I don't really have an issue with the shots. It's the pills I've been worrying about.

The shots don't work so well without the pills. It's hard for the brain to fathom how such a rough drug helps anything....but it does. As Mckenzie says, take it one day at I time.

If I worried about all the "what ifs" in life, I wouldn't leave my house because I'd be paralyzed by fear. What's all this talk and fear of cancer? It's real easy to say, this caused this, but most of these studies are just plain false. There's so many factors that go into things esp. a person's life. Besides, with all these studies, most of the time what they believe today will be false information tomorrow. Like when they said Hep C was sexually transmitted 10 years ago, now they say this is false. Let the Doctors play the Doctors. When we start thinking we know best or we're unique, usually we're headed for trouble because we're in total delusion. Read the article on www.hepatitis-central.com about non responders. When you get to site, click on news and articles. They go into depth about how important it is to stay on the riba's. You've faced your disease. Don't start letting fear run your life again.