
Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
I am surprised your doctor didn't give you more guidance in making a choice. I pray you can find the info you need to make a wise choice.
I have never heard of any dr telling a patient to pick their own poison.
Excuse me, but who is the dr here because that is the person who should do the picking and prescribing.
Is this dr a specialist or just a GP? I don't think I would have much confidence in a dr who tells me to pick my own meds to take.
My dr sent me to a specialist as he freely admitted that he was not the one to know what was best for me.
My GI/hepatologist is great. While he left the decision of doing tx or not to me, he most definitely is in charge of my choice of meds.
Since I have no real damage, and have now relapsed, we are waiting for the new stuff.
My GI had me do the pegatron/riba combo. I liked the redipen as it's all prepared and ready to go. After I relapsed he said there was no point in trying the pegasys/riba because he said more people do better on what I did so the peg combo would not likely work for me. No point in wasting money and time and going through sides again for nothing, so I am waiting.
As for sides, every person is different, but there are many things you can do to lessen most sides you may get.
I had very few and worked all through my yr of tx. The weight issue is pretty much out of your control, I think. I gained on tx and kept gaining after, but that's just me. We are watching my thyroid but we still have not found out why I am gaining.
Most people lose weight, so I would not worry too much about being one of the few who gain.
As far as weight gain goes-it can go either way-I on purpose gained 10 extra pds in case I lost too much-now of course I'm eating more than ever....I really don't care if I gain too much cause would rather live and diet later than get down to 80 anemic and have to stop tx.
I hope that doc is just letting you read data and will be there to suggest final decision...either way I wish you the best of luck dear.