Good News

[TeeTom]

I got my first week TX results today and my viral load dropped from 3,000,00 to 1,500,00. I'm excited and I hope this keeps happening. That is about a 50% drop in one week. WooooHoooo.

Teetom

[TeeTom]

Yeah, thanks. Bill has sorta been my Mentor. I did a search on Google and found a youtube that shows how to use the windows calculaor to determine log results from viral load.

Thanks for hanging with me...

Teetom

[epiphiny]

Gosh, how interesting that they are giving you VL results so early in the trial.  On my trial we didn't get any VL results until 8 weeks in!  Reason being that they didn't want to influence the outcome in any way.  I'm not even sure if they did a VL until week 4. In a way I think it might have been easier as I just didn't think about it.  

I'm glad that Bill walked you through the log drop formula so well, I was trying to think of how to explain it properly.

The most important result is your 4 week result so hang on til then before you start drawing conclusions as to whether you have the real deal or placebo.

Keep on keeping on, my friend!

[TeeTom]

It's ok buddy I value your opinion greatly and I want you to be honest regardless. I can take truth much better than a lie or grey-lie. I don' want any false hopes. If this round don't work... I'll catch the next bus...lol

[Bill1954]

Often with this virus, progress isn’t measured in linear fashion; that’s why logarithms paint a more precise picture.

Another way of showing this:

This is linear expression: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20…

The virus often expresses more like this: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024…

1 LOG reduction in viral load = a 90% drop
2 LOG reduction = 99%
3 LOG reduction = 99.9%
4 LOG reduction = 99.99%

And so on….

Bill

[Bill1954]

Hi again, Tommy. I really don’t know enough about this drug to comment intelligently; all I know is that we expect a lot from the new protease and polymerase inhibitors. Perhaps others will chime in with their experiences.

From my own experience, talking with others, and reading learned opinions, a very robust initial response is predictive of successful treatment with interferon/riba. I’ve heard reports of 4 and 5 log reductions in viral load within 4 weeks in some clinical trials; but we don’t have much comparative data on initial response at the one week juncture.

Again, I think it’s great that you are responding; and don’t mean to cast any shadow over your treatment so far… I was remarking because I thought maybe this drug might have shown a better initial performance profile. This could very easily be my naiveté showing through :o).

Good luck and keep us all informed—

Bill  

[TeeTom]

It is a double blind study, I wont know anything as to who is getting the actual drug untill week 12 or at least thats what the nurse told me.Epi and Dragonslayer cleared with the same drug. Hmmm if my vrial load didn't drop as well as it should have I may not be getting the PI. Hopefully, it will drop by 50% every week, that will put me at 187,500 (or und) by week 4. I'm optimistic.

[Bill1954]

Oh, okay; and good luck, by the way. I’m unfamiliar with the characteristics of this new drug; typically, we like to see *very* large reductions in viral load at the beginning to avoid development of escape variants/mutation. Did the study nurse comment at all? Just curious…

Be sure to keep us informed as to your progress; and thanks for your participation--

Bill

[TeeTom]

This was the first week report. One week of tx. I get the results of week two and three on the 19th. I don't have to go in next friday.

[Bill1954]

Hi Tommy,

It’s nice to see it dropping like that; and while a 50% reduction is good news, using logarithms, it’s only .30 log reduction. I know you’re in a trial right now; have they offered any indication if you’re receiving the real McCoy, or if you might be getting placebo for the experimental drug? I imagine this is a double blinded study, and even the doctors aren’t aware of which drug you’re getting.

Does this reflect the initial first week reduction, or is this a two week report?

Hang in there,

Bill