Aa
4 weeks VL, NOT RVR
what a bummer..... my 4 week VL came back saying....
Hepatitis C (HCV) PCR: POSITIVE HCV PCR: detectable, less than 80 IU/ml, not quantifiable
My hepa was happy that it had gone down from 1.3 million to that... Needless to say, that I wasn't too thrilled, as I was going for UND.
They don't usually prolong tx, but my hepa is open to it, due to the fact that I am geno 3a and partially Black American and that I'm informed and pushing. We had a great discussion and she will do another PCR at 8 weeks. I have stressed that if UND at 8 weeks I would rather add 8 weeks to treatment, than to risk relapse and do this whole thing again.
(I was referring to Dr. D's advice to add 24 weeks of tx after EVR.)
Now she is going to try and find studies supporting the fact to extend, if not RVR and I will supply her with what I have.
So what I would suggest is to go for 32 weeks of tx, if I EVR at 8 weeks. ( 8 + 24)
If anyone has any studies supporting this, could you please let me know... as the more literature I have on this, the better I can argue my point.
Thanks,
Marcia
Hepatitis C (HCV) PCR: POSITIVE HCV PCR: detectable, less than 80 IU/ml, not quantifiable
My hepa was happy that it had gone down from 1.3 million to that... Needless to say, that I wasn't too thrilled, as I was going for UND.
They don't usually prolong tx, but my hepa is open to it, due to the fact that I am geno 3a and partially Black American and that I'm informed and pushing. We had a great discussion and she will do another PCR at 8 weeks. I have stressed that if UND at 8 weeks I would rather add 8 weeks to treatment, than to risk relapse and do this whole thing again.
(I was referring to Dr. D's advice to add 24 weeks of tx after EVR.)
Now she is going to try and find studies supporting the fact to extend, if not RVR and I will supply her with what I have.
So what I would suggest is to go for 32 weeks of tx, if I EVR at 8 weeks. ( 8 + 24)
If anyone has any studies supporting this, could you please let me know... as the more literature I have on this, the better I can argue my point.
Thanks,
Marcia
Hi Marcia, I have been MIA all week. Just catching up. Sorry about your disapointment, but you hang in there girl! One step at a time!
I am with Rita on this one, wise words from a wise woman! I was told the same thing by my docs. (though I was told to take my meds with Fat absolutly) Getting our Vitamins ect from food, organic whenever possible, is far better than any supplements, which have fillers and additives that could really mess with our Tx. We had the Milk Thistle debate 100x's here. It can speed up the digestion of our meds, and we don't want that, we want them in there killling this damn disease as long as possible, not pee peeed out too soon! ;)
We all know we have a different physical make up and it is so complex. I am a geno 2 and was found UND at 4 weeks. Went from 37,000,000 to 5!! I thought it was a miracle, if you all remember my post! But after reading this thread I am a tad confused now.
My doc told me I would only do 24 weeks. IF and it was a big If, I did not clear by then it was 48. No inbetweens, One or the other period. He told me the only reason he put 24 or 48 on my paper work, was to cover any insurance problems that might pop up.
Marcia you know I am one of those people who you did talk in legnth to about supplements. remember our shroom's ;) experiences! Crazy Danish horses! LOL
Every doc is different and I realize you live in a different country, as did I, but I was told under NO circumstance to take, especially Iron, supplements. I too am a vegetarian. When I became anemiac my doc said I would rather have you eat some food with A BIT of iron, than give you a shot of procrit and especially not iron supplemts! He said NO to every supplement I was taking before tx, except Omega 3. I listened reluctantly. Like you I was/am a big supplement alternative meds fan,but at week 4 was considered UND. Was this because I stopped all my supplements? One will never know. I just know the facts and numbers. Again I am only relaying what "MY" doc told me.
I am with Rita on this one, wise words from a wise woman! I was told the same thing by my docs. (though I was told to take my meds with Fat absolutly) Getting our Vitamins ect from food, organic whenever possible, is far better than any supplements, which have fillers and additives that could really mess with our Tx. We had the Milk Thistle debate 100x's here. It can speed up the digestion of our meds, and we don't want that, we want them in there killling this damn disease as long as possible, not pee peeed out too soon! ;)
We all know we have a different physical make up and it is so complex. I am a geno 2 and was found UND at 4 weeks. Went from 37,000,000 to 5!! I thought it was a miracle, if you all remember my post! But after reading this thread I am a tad confused now.
My doc told me I would only do 24 weeks. IF and it was a big If, I did not clear by then it was 48. No inbetweens, One or the other period. He told me the only reason he put 24 or 48 on my paper work, was to cover any insurance problems that might pop up.
Marcia you know I am one of those people who you did talk in legnth to about supplements. remember our shroom's ;) experiences! Crazy Danish horses! LOL
Every doc is different and I realize you live in a different country, as did I, but I was told under NO circumstance to take, especially Iron, supplements. I too am a vegetarian. When I became anemiac my doc said I would rather have you eat some food with A BIT of iron, than give you a shot of procrit and especially not iron supplemts! He said NO to every supplement I was taking before tx, except Omega 3. I listened reluctantly. Like you I was/am a big supplement alternative meds fan,but at week 4 was considered UND. Was this because I stopped all my supplements? One will never know. I just know the facts and numbers. Again I am only relaying what "MY" doc told me.
I hope I was clear after 4 weeks. I was told a big chunk of the virus was gone and everything was working as it should. Back then that was OK with that info. since I did not read these posts then and was basically just trusting the MD. Quest will not give me a copy of that first result and the next time I see the Doc I will ask for a copy of the test. He now says I was UND at week four but the big chunk gone keeps me thinking. I did stop after 24 weeks and hope I did the right thing.
I am sort of in a panic now wondering if he told me the truth.
Rita
I am sort of in a panic now wondering if he told me the truth.
Rita
"She does not have to do... 48 weeks.She has a little bit of virus left and has to wait for her 8 week PCR before any more weeks are added on! Too soon to tell at this point."
I disagree with you here, Rita. As soon as you know you are not RVR as a geno 3, you should consider extending to 48 weeks. You should put your ammunition on getting this approved, not on getting additional viral load tests in my opinion. Nobody really knows how long anybody needs to treat, so it is best to go for the full period suggested, and for non-RVR geno 3s (if you don't consider specific doctors' own suggestions) it is generally 48 weeks.
I gather you do not know my history. I live in Europe and started in a confirming study for geno 1s with low viral load who got UND by week 4 and then only had to go 24 weeks. I had 2 chances out of 3 to be UND at week 4, but had 2900 IU/ml at that time.
Next goal was to be UND at week 12 and thus go 48 weeks. But at week 12 I was detected with less than 15 IU/ml. (Not 80, less than 15 IU/ml.) But detectable is detectable, not UND.
Doctors now suggested everything between 48 and 72 weeks. I did everything I could to convince myself that I would do fine with 52 or 56 weeks for example, but deep inside I knew already that 72 weeks was the only option for me if I should not regret an eventual relapse.
At week 69 my doctor wanted to take me off tx. I cried and fought it, finally finding facts which proved I could continue tx. I do believe I probably was cured already by this time, but in no way did I want to compromise my chances of SVR.
So in my opinion, as soon as you as a geno 3 are detected at week 4, extension is needed. I agree with nygirl that trying to find your own math formulas and "the secret Geno3a success ratio" is a waste of time. Let's leave that to the studies that are underway at present. Our job is to take our shots and our pills for as long as it is needed to get the best possible success of receiving SVR.
I disagree with you here, Rita. As soon as you know you are not RVR as a geno 3, you should consider extending to 48 weeks. You should put your ammunition on getting this approved, not on getting additional viral load tests in my opinion. Nobody really knows how long anybody needs to treat, so it is best to go for the full period suggested, and for non-RVR geno 3s (if you don't consider specific doctors' own suggestions) it is generally 48 weeks.
I gather you do not know my history. I live in Europe and started in a confirming study for geno 1s with low viral load who got UND by week 4 and then only had to go 24 weeks. I had 2 chances out of 3 to be UND at week 4, but had 2900 IU/ml at that time.
Next goal was to be UND at week 12 and thus go 48 weeks. But at week 12 I was detected with less than 15 IU/ml. (Not 80, less than 15 IU/ml.) But detectable is detectable, not UND.
Doctors now suggested everything between 48 and 72 weeks. I did everything I could to convince myself that I would do fine with 52 or 56 weeks for example, but deep inside I knew already that 72 weeks was the only option for me if I should not regret an eventual relapse.
At week 69 my doctor wanted to take me off tx. I cried and fought it, finally finding facts which proved I could continue tx. I do believe I probably was cured already by this time, but in no way did I want to compromise my chances of SVR.
So in my opinion, as soon as you as a geno 3 are detected at week 4, extension is needed. I agree with nygirl that trying to find your own math formulas and "the secret Geno3a success ratio" is a waste of time. Let's leave that to the studies that are underway at present. Our job is to take our shots and our pills for as long as it is needed to get the best possible success of receiving SVR.
Yes, actually, some of it looks like it started out then... But only with some. Some happened on this thread.
There will always be someone who thinks one is a total idiot and someone who thinks one is just the best. I tend to surround myself with people whom I have respect for.
Anyway, I was going to stop posting about this, as it is getting way too ridiculous.
And all in all I believe that the conversations on this thread have come to the point of being well saturated.... I will continue on my quest to try to kill the dragon... the same goal everyone on this forum has.
Marcia
There will always be someone who thinks one is a total idiot and someone who thinks one is just the best. I tend to surround myself with people whom I have respect for.
Anyway, I was going to stop posting about this, as it is getting way too ridiculous.
And all in all I believe that the conversations on this thread have come to the point of being well saturated.... I will continue on my quest to try to kill the dragon... the same goal everyone on this forum has.
Marcia
I don't have anything to say but I really love seeing this thread at the top of the page all day every day. It is a fascinating thread indeed. Oh yeah, thanks for your insight Jim. I was waiting for clarification about the forces behind the animosity. I mistakenly assumed it might be due in some part to the fact that there are so many posts (100s anyway) in a thread about not being undetectable at 4 weeks. This the first of its kind I think. And it certainly is a very thorough discussion of this issue.
Mike
Mike
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