Riba question

[R Glass]

I have read that Riba. Stays in your system quite longer than Interferon after tx. I have also read that Riba is basically useless in fighting HCV without Interferon. If both are true, why is the Riba not stopped or at least reduced in the in the final weeks of treatment? It seems to me, it would help speed up recovery.

[GSDgirl]

II finished 12 weeks ago and the doc didn't have me take another week, basically I think I had 2 or3 more days.  So far UND.  Don't know if he even knew exactly what he was doing tho.  Hope for SVR for you & all

Denise

[R Glass]

Thanks, I completed treatment a few weeks ago and did take the Riba to the end as prescribed. I knew that if I am to relapse, I would hate myself for not following my Doctors Orders.

[erit]

Hello.I think that riba inhibits the replication of the virus and interferon helps our body to clear it. R Glass your maths is good. It will be better to take it because our body produces a little interferon.

[R Glass]

  First, I want to make it clear that I am not encouraging any to stop taking their Riba early.
I am only looking for a logical explanation of why this theory would or would not work.

This is the information I have found.
Peg Intron has a half- life of 30-50 hours
Riba has a half-life of 12 days.

So, this is how I interpret it. Since Riba is useless fighting HCV on it’s on and if
Peg-Intron has a maximum half-life of about 2 days. Riba has a half-life of 12 days. It seems to me Riba could be stopped 10 days before final injection. This would give about 1.5-week head start on recovery.

This is from one of the studies on peginterferon alfa-2b  I found.

‘The mean peginterferon alfa-2b elimination half-life is approximately 40 hours in
patients with hepatitis C infection ‘.

This is from one of the studies on Riba I have found

"Riba has a half-life of 12 days (Multiple dose) Friday, April 08, 2005
Ribavirin Half Life Following a conversation with Martin Bolton about the half life of ribavirin I found myself fighting the urge to do some maths. Martin informed me that the half life of ribavirin is about 12 days, armed with this information I have done a bit of basic maths".

[drofi]

Yes, Ribavirin has a halflife time of 130 hours after last intake. To stop the intake before week 48 (genotyp 1, "normal" responder) would decrease the chance for SVR. Ribavirin is imprtant to prevent relapse.
Btw, I am a slow responder and took shot 74 yesterday...

drofi

[MagTX]

Once the anti viral riba is stopped it no longer will work at therapuetic blood levels to aid in decreasing the VL..  Anti virals usually are good at battling  a specific virus, however, they are not good for our bodily systems, therefore can sometimes become toxic and linger around for weeks or months until we clear them on our own after we have stopped them, it takes time.  It's good to keep up the water intake poat tx, eat foods which aid in cleansing your liver and maintain a healthy lifestyle to help ellliminate any types of toxins.
Mag