I am on pegasys and ribavirin. Also taking effexcor and ambien. The peg and rib have some side effects as any medicine this powerful. Your dr should be deciding on what to give you not yourself. Let me know what you find.

Thats a rough call sister,I have been on 3 different Psgs/riba.......... The first one Peg/riba alph 2. I went from 255lbs to 180lbs, The 2nd one alpha 1,not much wieght loss but more inner damage from the drug, The 3rd one Intergen-consences,daily shots caused even more body & head damaged than befor,So your guess is as good as any sister. My concern is that how you will react to it? I really dont have any suggestions to which one sister, Im sorry. Ive failed all 3 of them. Just make sure if any of these Treatments(TX's) Causes bad side effects, Stop the TX befor it does irreversable damage. I was stupid I never stopped untill I was told too.I had failed. (BUMMER) Im so pissed, Like Ive said befor. If Id known then 2001 what I know now I would have never done TX! FUCK THAT!!!!!!!!

I did Pegasys and ribivirin when I was on TX, but I think the genotype of the virus you have plays a role as to which meds are best. I was genotype 3a which responds well to the combo I took.

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.

My hepatologist selected the type meds to use for treatment. I'm on pegasys and ribavarin treatment and I have genotype 1a. Your genotype plays a part of what type of tx you should do. Also, the meds react differently to everyone. I haven't had many side effects. But, the part about weight loss or gain, usually depends on how your liver is functioning and your metabolism. Your liver controls the metabolism and when your liver doesn't work right, your metabolism is going to go hay wire. Most doctor's recommend eating health and drink plenty of water, like a gallon a day, to help avoid weigh loss or gain. Anytime you need anything, I'm here for you! I hope I helped! Hugs, Kristin

OK I have a couple questions.
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.

I don't know how to answer that one...I just start Peg-Intron and Ribo combo...my doctor made the med choice for me by accessing my stage of HepC, weight, VL, Genotype, etc. I would never have had a clue what to choose...I can see if he told you about the choices and explained each one so you could understand how each works but he ultimately should tell you what is best for you as he is the Dr.

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.