HepResearcher reg. Alinia

[ladywhy]

Hi HR
I am @ 38th week of tx. At 25th wk  (vl 1350)  my Hp Dr. doubled the pegasys. At my 10th week went from riba 1000 mg to 1400 mg. What I would like to know...is do you think Alinia, at this juncture, may be a benefit? ...and if so...is there some paper that I could bring to my dr.?
This is my 3rd time txing. I did monotherapy Intron-A, I was in clinical trials with riba/interferon bundles and became UND...I would appreciate your opinion.
In a little over 10 years...I went from zero liver damage to Stage 2, Grade 2-3 bridging fibrosis. I am 44 y.o and the future doesn't look so bright.
Thanks for anything you can tell me...or any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Sincerely
Yvonne

ps. Getting a PCR this week

[ladywhy]

Thanks..I will ask him and if he can't tell me where he was @ 11:45...I'll try to fill him in. ;) I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to give me some ideas and some hope.. to walk in the dr's office and use this in our discussion. You've been a great help.

One more ?...if I may be so bold.
One on the forum here (Lonestar) switched from Peg to Infergen (@ 6 mos in tx)...she is now 1 year post SVR. I asked about switching to that rather than Doubling up the peg...and Dr. didn't have a good opinion of consensus infergen....What's your take on infergen?

Again thanks for your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Yvonne

[Myown]

Ladywhy, routing for you sweety. Sometimes when things look great and you get a big thumbs up even from leading hepatologists - it still might not work out, - I know that:)

And sometimes when you get a big thumbs down and all studies say quit - things work out -"Lonestar" - she was given what something like a 17% chance AND SHE MADE IT!!!! YAHOOO

I was given a 90% chance to SVR and DIDN'T MAKE IT. But thats okay the fat lady didn't sing her song yet.

So keep your chin up!!!! Nothing is impossible with God and you know that!!

[zazza]

What can I say, Yvonne, you really are having a tough time, losing your job, and tx and all. I am on week 56 now, and I don't know either if tx is working for me, nobody does, right? So we all go through hell without knowing if there will be a reward at the end, we can just do our best. My thoughts are with you, as always, hope life will deal you an easier hand tomorrow. Zazza

[Hepatitis Researcher]

If you are UND at this PCR, you could still ask him to add it to give you a better chance for SVR. The fact that none of the EOT UNDers in the Egyptian trial had a relapse at 12wk post tx ( again,only shown thus far  in geno 4 patients!) gives rise to the hope for some stabilizing effect of NTZ on the UND status. Since he was at the AASLD he will have seen the presentation. He might or might not have been in the grand auditorium when this was presented at Tuesday 11:45am, so ask..

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[ladywhy]

HR: What about if I am UND?...what would you suggest? No Alinia???  If I could get dr. to prescribe and I 'm und...why not Alinia?  Maybe a better chance at SVR?


Copyman No...but if you would be so kind as to send me a message privately with his name, I would appreciate it.

[motheroffour]

ladywhy, good luck to you.  My husband is on his second round of treatment.  He was a slow responder during his first treatment and cleared well past week 24 can't remember exactlly but I think it was closer to 32 or 33.  He responds quickly to Peg/Riba but once his viral load is under 1,000 he is very slow to clear to UND.   His doctor felt that with his probable cirrohsis diagnosis from his biopsy that continuing on treatment would give his liver a rest.  He relapsed within 2 weeks of stopping treatment and his doctor had him start again immediately.  On this second round he still was showing a viral load of around 900 at 8 weeks and again he had a steep decline in viral load between week 1 and 8.   He has been referred to the big U in our state and his appointment is this week.  He is now in week 12 of the second round of treatment, so I'm assuming the new doc will schedule a PCR at the appointment.  We do plan on asking if they would be willing to add Alinia (especially if this 12 week PCR still shows a low level of viral activity).  My husband tolerates the Peg/Rib very well with just a few little side effects and it is definitely keeping his liver enzymes down and all his liver functions very stable. While your doctor may seem alittle unconventional in keeping you on the drugs although you have not cleared, he may be thinking that it's giving your liver some rest from inflamation or he may be just hoping beyond hope that you'll clear and be SVR and I'm sure you are.  Docs are human too.