PS 200mg Riba

I am also on 200mg of Riba and have noticed some in the States are 600...once again such huge differences! See previous question please.

[Lady E]

Wow! only 200 Riba per day?
I started by taking 1200 per day and due to low platelets (60)
I was cut down to 1000 per day.
I am Geno 1-A, grade 2-3/4, Stage 1-2/4

[Mister beagle bailey]

Hi, what are your stats?  That is really low for riba.  Where do you live?

Beagle

[Dale_Ray]

I am on 1200 per day and most here take a similar dose. Seems very low but I am a patient not a doctor. I am a 1A with similar stats to your own. Platelets being low have been a problem but I understand the Pegasys is the culprit in lowering platelets, again please remember I don't know if the doctor told me that or someone here. My platelets bounce around between 40 and 70 right now. I only have a half a bottle of Riba left so I'll be glad when they disappear. I would like to know why your doctor lowered it so far though. Dale

[blakcat]

I'm also on 1200 mg of riba a day. My pills are 200 mgs each so I take 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening. Please double check your dosage.

[pigeonca]

That's awesome.  Hats off to Committment to Care.

[tipiwoman]

Oh hell I took it for granted that everyone was on 5 tabs a day? So I take 1000 mg a day must have miss read someone's comment about 600mg tabs? I am in the UK and being treated like mushroom by my nurse specialist....kept in the dark and fed on sh..! Have seen Dr twice in 4 months once! Thats how they do it here.

I have met one other in London on prog and he was treated the same way! My nurse says it is hosp policy not to give out blood results! I will demand them next time I see her after reading all your postings in the US!!

What do people do in the US if they have no insurance? In the UK we have the NHS which is a gov free health care system payed for with the taxes.

[pigeonca]

What do poor people do?  

Our system of healthcare sucks, and so does yours.  But if I had my choice I'd take England's, and then pay my own money for the extras, or buy supplemental insurance.  Poor people in the U.S. can usually get help when their problems become bad enough.  But they're frequently screwed on prevention and on care for chronic diseases like diabetes.  People with insurance get screwed too, with claim denials being all too frequent.

If you have little or no money, the pharmaceutical companies help out.  It is more difficult to find doctors and laboratories who provide assistance, unless you live in a larger city.  Middle class people buy insurance, which varies in quality.  Proactive patients can usually get what they want here, IF they're well enough to be proactive or they have vocal and persistent advocates. But many people in the US lose everything they've earned and saved just as the result of one illness.  

One of the biggest healthcare problems in the US, one rarely mentioned by the press, is a problem many of us heppers may face one day.  We can afford insurance, but no company will take us.  Fewer and fewer corporations pay for medical insurance, and more and more people work as "independent contractors" who must buy their own coverage.  You get the picture....

Right now I live in L.A. and have Kaiser insurance, which is the largest and probably the best of the HMOs.  I think they're terrific, but they're not Beverly Hills either.  They can and will make you wait a few months, unless it's important.  If it's an hcv diagnosis, they're on the case.  If it's a cataract, they'll give you a date six or eight weeks from now.  I'm told that they way Kaiser runs is a model for the way national health might operate should that ever occur.  (From my lips to God's ear...)

But going back to the original question, poor people depend on charity here.  Medical care is not a right, it's a privilege (as Nancy Reagan's dad said when he was president of the American Medical Assn.).

[Kalio1]

I want to correct something you said, you don't have to have "little or no money " or be uninsured to qualify for Commitment to Care patient assistance program. I do not fit into either of those categories and own real estate in SB and northern ca. and they qualified me. I believe the max earning after deductions on your tax returns can't be over X amount that is true but I also was told the qualifying amounts are regionally established and I live in a very expensive place so maybe that is a factor. I also am fully insured. Their program will help those with little or no  money and are uninsured but they also help some of us in the middle class. Bless them for that.
I am just afraid some people won't apply thinking they make too much money so they won't help them or they are insured so they think the help isn't available to them but it is. It is well worth applying because in my case, they picked up my copays which were about 600 a month until I reached the max. benefit for the year. They also took my insurance info and I was not able to get an answer when I asked if my insurance company paid them anything on the back end or not so who knows.

[GrandOak]

I'm currently on 1400 mg per day.

I started on 1200, was cut to 600 when first doc failed to prescribe Procrit for anemia, and worked my way back up to current 1400 mg per day by adjusting Procrit dosage along the way to combat the chemically induced anemia of Ribavirin.

I've been at the 1400 mg per day dosage for 9 wks straight now, and hopefully longer.

During the time my Riba was reduced, I did experience a significant viral breakthrough when VL went from 1,800,000 at wk 12 to 2,900,000 at wk 24.  It was explained that the increase was most likely due to the reduced Riba not being able to stop the viral replication occurring as Peg-IFN was killing the virus.

There are studies which identify the proper dosing of Ribavirin, and recent ones which recommend weight-based dosing for it.

[tipiwoman]

You guys in the US and Canada are so much more up on the stats than I have been privi to from my specialist! I go to a hospital that Thatcher (fascist *****)used about a year ago when unwell, so its good. Yet I have been kept in the dark by my nurse specialist and I feel really angry now after reading all your wonderful postings. So good to read and know you're all out there just like me.

Is anyone managing to work or study while on this tx? I am trying to finish a PG Dip in Counselling....and only have this last year to go but have to give 100 hrs counselling to gain qualification.....worried to say the least! I am 49 and dragging my heals. Any thoughts?