How long to clear tx

[R Glass]

Does anyone know of a study that tells how long it takes for your body to clear the Pegintron and Riba? After completing 24 weeks of tx.. I have read somewhere that it can take up to 3 months for them to completely get out of your system after completing tx. I have other people telling me it takes 6 months. With the Riba, I just don’t have the patience to search for it and would greatly appreciate it if someone could post one for me.

[wyntre9]

From what I've read it can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

but if Gish says 4-6 weeks, I'd take his word for it!  :)

wyn

[debnevada]

i asked Gish this question last week because of surgery coming up for me.

he said it is safe to have surgery because the drugs are gone in 4-6 weeks.

[jmjm530]

As far as ribavrin and being a known tetragen (can cause birth defects) it's recommended that barrier contraceptives be used for at least six months after stopping the ribavirin although I've heard that this is probably a conservative figure. More practically, it "leaves your body" a lot sooner and you can probably figure out the percentages left by applying the half-life model of 10-12 days. As far as the Peg is concerned, my doc said most of it will leave the house in a few weeks, although some issues probably related to the peg triggered immune response of course can last a lot longer and varies from individual to individual as witnessed by the stories here on the post SVR experience. As one personal example, it took my rosacea and other skin issues close to a year to "calm down" back to pre-tx levels, or let's say mostly calm down as still some lingering issues.

-- Jim