Rebuttal Double TX

[survivor2003]

I contracted Hep C from multiple blood transfusions during surgery and the dr had cut the aorta and iliac arteries and veins by accident. I have very good insurance, thankfully, and since I was willing to experiement on myself, I did not have a problem getting the interferon form the dr office as well as delivered to my pharmacy.

Spinach is a food that is healthy for the liver  so are the other dark green leafy veggs and the fruits. My liver specialist informed me that protien, caffiene, too much acetomephen( spelled wrong) the main ingrediant in Tylonol, are actually hard on the liver. When the liver is being strained the kidneys have to pick up the slack. So While on treatment I ate a Liver Healthy Diet. As far as the wine goes, I talked with my Dr. about what my intentions were and had mentioned the wine, he did not advise me to drink it, but I did and it, Thank God, did not do me harm and it was not a mega glass only about 3 oz. For me that was better than taking mood stabilizers.

Asprin is not toxic to the liver, I have taken asprin for pain, aches, etc for as long as I can remember and that is I why I took asprin, which added to the stomach problem and had to get Nexium. They tell you not to take asprin or motrin, nsaids, etc while on tx because they thing out a certain component of your blood.

I used 2 syringes full of the interferon and took 5 riboviron per day. From using such a large dose of the interferon, my body reacted as if getting chemotherapy, hair fell out in patches (shaved it) vomiting, severe ab cramps(hot water bottle helped) I could not tolerate my regular diet, so Dr gave me a list of Liver Healthy Foods, foods that are actually good for your liver and easy for your liver to process. Our liver filters out toxins..... because the side effects were so severe my Dr prescribed Procrit, which I used 1x per week and I was able to return to work and attend lectures after I got the Procrit and changed my diet.

I can say for a fact that more Interferon, a Liver Healthy Diet, and the less chemicles you take while on tx will increase your chances for positive outcomes, but as I said most people quit tx early because they can not handle the side effects of the small dose that the FDA allows the docs to give.

I am not telling anyone to do what I did, but wouldnt it be worth talking to your liver specialist about? And I hope that all of you are seeing a Dr who is a GI and specializes in Liver Desease and who has been doing so for many years.

Good luck to you all

[jmjm530]

As Trinity suggests, Procrit is for Hemolytic anemia which is caused primarily by ribavirin, not by interferon, even when interferon is double-dosed.

[jmjm530]

Thanks for some clarification.

If you took twice the prescribed interferon then it does sound like you double dosed. Were they using Peg or the 3X a week non-pegalayed back then? We have another member -- "DoubleDose" who given his screen name not suprisingly double-dosed back a bit although not sure of exactly sure how long ago. Seems both of you were a bit ahead of your time. That said, double dosing seems to be used more and more in both re-treatment scenarios and hard to treat populations. I double-dosed myself until UND, or close to it.

I'll give you the spinach thing because nutrition isn't my forte -- Rocker might know more here -- and hey, if it worked for PopEye, what am I to say?

But I do know something about the aspirin/Tylenol thing.

Aspirin is fine in most cases. I took it myself before treatment. I take it now after treatment.  But aspirin is not a good idea ON treatment, at least according to the liver specialists I've spoken to.

The reason to avoid aspirin on treatment is not because aspirin is liver toxic. We both agree it is not. The reason is because treatment lowers our platelet count and many of us don't start with a very high baseline anyway due to liver damage. So,  if you add aspirin to the equation, the blood can potentially get dangerously thin and bleeding can result. My doc was very specific in this. No aspirin when treating.

Tylenol, on the other hand, does not have the platelet issue. And within prescribed amounts is not liver toxic to the extent that liver experts are concerned.

But yes,  Tylenol beyond prescribed amounts can be liver toxic so important that one keeps track of the total amount of acetaminophen (Tylenol's active ingredient) consumed daily. Acetaminophen might be found in other OTC preparations as well, and that should count toward whatever amount of Tylenol your liver specialist allows. And btw Tylenol and alcohol can potentially be a deadly combination.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your story.

-- Jim

[Trinity4]

Could you please tell me why Procrit was given for the effects of interferon as opposed to the effects of Ribaviron?  Riba cause the anemia and procrit builds up the red cells.  Interferon cause platelets and whites to drop.  Are you saying triple dosing interferon also cause a dramatic drop in red blood cells?