Aa
Good New for someone who almost quit treatment but.....
I called to ask my Dr. if I did 2 more monthes would make a difference, I've done 4. The joint pain was just to much for me a single mom of a 3yr old and 2 yr old who don't understand mommy sick. Well He then told me my liver responded so well to the treatment he belives it may already be gone! Isn't that excellent! I have the test tomorrow... please pray for me! And thank you for all the love and support I've recieved here! You are all awesome people! I'll keep you all informed
im really glad to hear it.do you have any liver damage?Or did you decide to try treatment anyway?I have a 3 year old and I wounder all the time if I should do the treatment now or wait to see it gets worse.
first Hi, haven't responded to you before, but welcome to the board.
I think there's a couple of things to bear in mind here.
1. you have a much greater chance of success if you stay the course than if you do not.
that is statistically supported by all the treatment data, that too short of treatment is a recipe for relapse.
2. that you deal with the pain now, and pain can be managed, in order to be around healthy for those little girls.
3. that if you quit treatment early, it may jeopardize any future treatment, or any insurance approval for needed treatment. It's possible it would not, but doc are getting reluctant to treat those who has big issues the first time around. Dpeneds on your doc and insurance I guess.
I'm sure I could think of more reasons, and I sympathize with your dilemna, it's never easy to treat, never. But if you could hang in there a little while longer at least if you do relaspe it won't be for lack of trying. At least you won't be kicking yourself wondering if you would have succeeded, has you persevered.
It's not an easy call, ever. My heart goes out to you.
mb
I think there's a couple of things to bear in mind here.
1. you have a much greater chance of success if you stay the course than if you do not.
that is statistically supported by all the treatment data, that too short of treatment is a recipe for relapse.
2. that you deal with the pain now, and pain can be managed, in order to be around healthy for those little girls.
3. that if you quit treatment early, it may jeopardize any future treatment, or any insurance approval for needed treatment. It's possible it would not, but doc are getting reluctant to treat those who has big issues the first time around. Dpeneds on your doc and insurance I guess.
I'm sure I could think of more reasons, and I sympathize with your dilemna, it's never easy to treat, never. But if you could hang in there a little while longer at least if you do relaspe it won't be for lack of trying. At least you won't be kicking yourself wondering if you would have succeeded, has you persevered.
It's not an easy call, ever. My heart goes out to you.
mb
If you are indeed Genotype 2 - and I think you need to specifically ask your doctor "what genotype am I?" and confirm you're Genotype 2, then there is no way for sure your doctor can know that your Hep C is gone for good at this point, because you've only done 4 months out of the 6 months of required treatment and you still need to get six months past the END of treatment to know if it worked.
Here's the way it works. A Genotype 1 does treatment for 48 weeks. A Genotype 2 does treatment for 24 weeks. If either clear at 4 weeks and there is no virus detected, then there is no extension of treatment needed and you are now at UND - undetectable for virus. You still complete the full treatment time - the same way you finish a prescription even though your symptoms have cleared and you're feeling better - as long as your health is not in jeopardy and you do the full 24 weeks of your prescribed treatment. AFTER you stop treatment, then there is a waiting period of SIX months. If you are still UND - undetectable for the virus six months after you've stopped all treatment drugs, THEN you are considered cured - SVR - Sustained Virological Response.
Perhaps your doctor meant that IF you stop now, it might have been long enough. That would be a guess on his part and he won't know for sure until you are six months past the end of treatment. There is NO TEST he can do now that will tell him whether your Hep C will stay away or if it will come back if you decide to stop treatment early.
I don't know what test you're getting done tomorrow but there isn't one that will tell you what will happen six months from now if you stop treatment today. Again, what your doctor may have meant is that IF you decide to stop now and you're firm on that, it may end up being long enough. My treatment was supposed to go for 48 weeks and it was stopped early at 34 weeks not because I wanted it to but because my health was considered to be in jeopardy. The drugs did their job anyway because six months after stopping at 34 weeks, I was UND and therefore SVR. So maybe your doctor means that you can hope that the 4 months of treatment you've already done was enough. But .. again...there is no test you can do now that will tell you that. You'll have to wait out the six months from whenever you stop treatment and hope you are still UND at that time.
You need to be clear that if you decide you can't go any further and you stop treatment now, you're stopping treatment a full two months early and not taking your full prescribed dosage if you stop now. If that's what you decide, then I hope it's been long enough for you. You'll need to get tested six months from now to find out and alot of us get tested at either 4 or 12 weeks or both after end of treatment and then finally at 24 weks after end of treatment for the final verdict.
Here's the way it works. A Genotype 1 does treatment for 48 weeks. A Genotype 2 does treatment for 24 weeks. If either clear at 4 weeks and there is no virus detected, then there is no extension of treatment needed and you are now at UND - undetectable for virus. You still complete the full treatment time - the same way you finish a prescription even though your symptoms have cleared and you're feeling better - as long as your health is not in jeopardy and you do the full 24 weeks of your prescribed treatment. AFTER you stop treatment, then there is a waiting period of SIX months. If you are still UND - undetectable for the virus six months after you've stopped all treatment drugs, THEN you are considered cured - SVR - Sustained Virological Response.
Perhaps your doctor meant that IF you stop now, it might have been long enough. That would be a guess on his part and he won't know for sure until you are six months past the end of treatment. There is NO TEST he can do now that will tell him whether your Hep C will stay away or if it will come back if you decide to stop treatment early.
I don't know what test you're getting done tomorrow but there isn't one that will tell you what will happen six months from now if you stop treatment today. Again, what your doctor may have meant is that IF you decide to stop now and you're firm on that, it may end up being long enough. My treatment was supposed to go for 48 weeks and it was stopped early at 34 weeks not because I wanted it to but because my health was considered to be in jeopardy. The drugs did their job anyway because six months after stopping at 34 weeks, I was UND and therefore SVR. So maybe your doctor means that you can hope that the 4 months of treatment you've already done was enough. But .. again...there is no test you can do now that will tell you that. You'll have to wait out the six months from whenever you stop treatment and hope you are still UND at that time.
You need to be clear that if you decide you can't go any further and you stop treatment now, you're stopping treatment a full two months early and not taking your full prescribed dosage if you stop now. If that's what you decide, then I hope it's been long enough for you. You'll need to get tested six months from now to find out and alot of us get tested at either 4 or 12 weeks or both after end of treatment and then finally at 24 weks after end of treatment for the final verdict.
I also don't recall your genotype but assuming you are a 2 , perhaps your doctor is basing is decuision on studies that show if Genotype 2's have a low starting VL and clear the virus at 4 weeks stopping at 16 weeks have almost the same chance as someone tx'ing 24 weeks.
If you are a genotype 1 then you better find a new doctor quick!
best of luck
If you are a genotype 1 then you better find a new doctor quick!
best of luck
you must remember that it's not only that it is not detectible but...if it's actually still present that your body needs enough time to train your immune system to continue to kill it off for you.
This is why we do treatment long after we become undetectible (for example a geno 1 who might be UND at week 4 will go to week 48 - someone not UND at week 12 will go to 72).
It's a hard decision and one that should not be entered into just to stop treatment early because it's easier. Should the virus come back once the meds are stopped you will then need to treat longer the next time with more meds.
Good luck with your decision - aside from a biopsy I don't understand how a doctor could imagine that your liver has recovered that much in this short an amount of time. What stage are you?
Remember don't sell yourself short because it is the easier way to go. It might not be in the long run.
This is why we do treatment long after we become undetectible (for example a geno 1 who might be UND at week 4 will go to week 48 - someone not UND at week 12 will go to 72).
It's a hard decision and one that should not be entered into just to stop treatment early because it's easier. Should the virus come back once the meds are stopped you will then need to treat longer the next time with more meds.
Good luck with your decision - aside from a biopsy I don't understand how a doctor could imagine that your liver has recovered that much in this short an amount of time. What stage are you?
Remember don't sell yourself short because it is the easier way to go. It might not be in the long run.
"liver responded so well to the treatment he belives it may already be gone" is a stretch for the doctor to guess. He really doesn't know how your liver responded, but he does know that you became undetected after four weeks and have completed 4 months of treatment.
What is your geno-type?
You will likely have a head-scratching decision point in a few weeks. You will likely wonder if it's OK to stop treatment sooner than the 24 or 48 weeks that were originally planned. That will be a tough decision to make.
What is your geno-type?
You will likely have a head-scratching decision point in a few weeks. You will likely wonder if it's OK to stop treatment sooner than the 24 or 48 weeks that were originally planned. That will be a tough decision to make.
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