Newby

This is my first day of treatment. I was wrongly dianosed with ITP (auto immune disease) for 3 years. I was finallly dianosed with hep c this summer. My liver biopsy showed stage 3 grade 4. My viral load is 770,000. My genotype is 1a. I had my first shot 7 hours ago and still feel fine. I wonder though had I been correctly dianosed 3 years ago(my platelets were 28)and not done 6 months of predisone how much better off I would be. How much do you think it progressed in 3 years. My platelets were 88 last week so we'll really have to watch them during treatment. My Doctor did not think that not treating was really an option. My liver and spleen are inlarged which is causing the low platelets and won't really get better unless I get rid of the virus. Would my treatment chances be better if I was say stage 2 instead of 3?     Well, I'm having a positive attitude about treatment and have learned alot reading these posts on this site.  Thanks

[bobbyullc]

sorry bout all the serious screwup, medicine is not a perfect science but you would hope he would find hep c.
while i was on tx my dr asked if i could take prednisone for 3 days and my hep dr said only 3 and no more so i feel it is not good for the liver. if you have some fibrosis it is a LITTLE harder to cure according to studies. age,body weight and viral count are also important. good luck. my sides took about 6-7 hours to kick in and they were a batch. first shot is the worst. lol
bobby

[GrandmaA]

I'm so sorry you were wrong diagnosed and underwent a treatment you didn't need and probably harmed you. You and I are in the same boat (except my organs are not enlarged). I have the same genotype, grade, and viral load. I will be starting tx soon here. Yes, I think you were probably harmed by having predisone. That is extremely unfortunate. When in doubt always get a second opinion. A lady I know has hep. C and lupus. She underwent tx and became undetectable. She took prednisone for the lupus and the hep. C came back. She had to do tx again. I hope your tx is very successful and you can clear the virus. Best wishes to you.

[ejoli]

Yes, the shot kicked in late last night. Started with my neck and a headache.Then the chills and fever. I was a little queezy but didn't accually throw up. I don't think I slept at all till about 8 am for a couple hours. I still have the headache but not as bad. Ben taking tylenol every 6 hours.  One thing I read here that I tried to remember.  THE SIDE EFFECTS MEAN THAT I'M FIGHTING THE VIRUS!  Yeah!  One down, 47 to go.

[sfbaygirl]

Welcome to the tx train! Not pleasant, but you don't have to do it alone. Your sx sound pretty normal for the first shot. They seem to change every week. Hopefully, you will have few sx on tx. Watch your labs, especially around the 3rd week. Many of us get anemia from the Riba around then, that can kick your butt! So watch your Hgb and let your dr. know if you have symptoms of anemia.

Good luck and WELCOME! Keep on postin'.

[friole]

Welcome.  What an unfortunate affair to have to go thru the prednisone treatment for an an auto immune disease prior to treating.  Do you go to a specialist now (a hemotologist)? (I hope so)

I think if your platelets are 28 and your spleen is enlarged, your biopsy results are probably right.  Indeed, your chances of clearing with a lower degree of damage are better.  That is why we are encouraged to treat when the grades are lower.  

I wish you luck.  I hope you are getting CBC's every week.  I have never heard of anyone on this board starting treatment with platelets that low.  But you are sure of the number?


Sorry too that you had such a rough night.  I found it took about 4 weeks to adjust to the meds, but my sides were never that severe.

frijole

[ejoli]

Accually my platelets were 88 last week. They were 28 when I was wrongly dianosed with an auto immune disorder.(3 years ago) The doctor that dianosed that was a hemotologist.( a specialist!) Anyway, I've had low platelets all this time (averaging 80-100) and not had any bleeding problems so my new doctor (a gastroligist) is willing to let my platelets go to 20 or 30 before worring too much. Just can't jump out of any airplanes or anything....

[pln]

Hi, did the tx work for you? Thanks. Pam

[Alady1620]

Welcome to the board!

Hep c is a slow moving disease so it is likely that the 3 years didn't make a whole lot of difference but it is really hard to say for sure.  I don't know about the other medicine you were on.  The most important thing is that you quit drinking if you are a drinker and eat a healthy, liver friendly diet.

Good luck on treatment!  Your VL is kind of low so hopefully, you will clear quickly and have SVR at the end.  Treatment should give your liver a break for a while.  

[SBOK]

I sure things are different now but the big thing when I was doing tx was to drink lots of water the water cut down on some of the side, it did not make them go away but better was GOOD SBOK

[Morgaina]

My impression through my doc is that the prednisone suppresses the immune system, so the hep c could have had a hey-dey with nothing fighting it. That is a serious bummer, just have to go from here. What else can you do?!?!

[tulsatime]

Hi and welcome. I started treatment last time my platelets were 77. Around week 4 they dropped to 50. but then went up a little stayed between 50-90. I treated for 24 weeks and relapsed. I am on treatment again week 3. Started this time at platelet 70.
I am stage 4. so that is why I relapsed (I believe). I am planning on treating 54 weeks this time. If Dr will let me. He is no expert by no means. He has never treated anyone with cirrhosis and is very by the book. Not aggressive at all. I hope he doesn't freak when my platelet gets low. I don't have any other choice he is the only dr that will treat me with no insurance. A good Dr is key!! Take Care... Debi

[ejoli]

I'm sorry to hear that you are having so many problems. When I had my biopsy the Doctor said that it looked like cirrohis.(I ended up being stage 3 grade 4, not quite cirrohis) He also said that depending on what grade of cirrohis you could maybe still treat. That even if you didn't get svr you would still be better off than not treating at all. Another Doctor told me something different.That if you didn't get svr then your liver could not improve. I guess it depends on who you listen to. I would insist on continuing treatment as long as you can. I hope your Doctor doesn't give you too hard of a time. Take care...

[tulsatime]

Thanks for your kind words especially when it sounds like your plate is full too.
I agree treatment does help the liver even with cirrhosis. Here are a few things I found:

Our results indicate that one or more courses of IFN therapy may delay HCC development and improve survival in patients with compensated HCV-cirrhosis, while seem to have a trivial effect on portal hypertension-related complications.

Complete regression of cirrhosis may be associated with a suppression of the necro-inflammation and result in a disappearance of liver-related morbidity and mortality, improving survival.