To Treat or Not To Treat

[mauilady]

I'm sure this has come up before, but I can't find it: I'd like to know what made all of you opt for the treatment (interferon/ribavarin)?  I went to the HCV class yesterday, which was put on by a hepatologist, who seemed to really know his stuff.  (too bad he can't be my primary care md... )  He basically said that there is really no way of knowing exactly where the virus stands; that only 5% of the people infected will at some point in their lives end up with a full-blown case of hep.  If alcohol is stopped (and he couldn't stress the importance of this enough), and one leads a healthy lifestyle by eating right and getting lots of good and aerobic exercise, and taking milk thistle, the chances of living a long and healthy life are significantly greater.

To be honest, I really don't feel like subjecting myself to a year of misery, which would also entail driving to town (a place I prefer to avoid; it's an hour away... and totally nuts) TWICE a week.  The cost factor didn't even come up.  So I would rather take that five percent chance and continue doing what I'm doing, as I feel totally fine now.

Comments, please!!  :-)

[mauilady]

Apparently, the way Kaiser is doing it on Maui is: interferon is given once a week, on Friday, then on Monday a lab is done, to keep monitoring the meds.  I could be mistaken, but that's what I understood.  Ribavarin is still on a daily basis... I'll double-check, though.

[GrandOak]

As a Geno 1A stage 4 VL 72,000,000 who was diagnosed 10/31/05 and delivered by His grace and mercy from alcoholism on 05/05/05 having 2 sons (15 & 9) and a daughter (12) with a wife of 23 yrs now struggling with depression and trying to find the right AD meds, it more or less was a no brainer for me, and not for myself but for my family.

Facing the reality of perhaps needing a transplantation however is fast becoming a much bigger decision with which I have found myself struggling with recently as tx is thought by doc to not be working for me.  It hit especially hard when a young girl here spent her 10th birthday in the ICU waiting for a life saving liver transplant for a disease she has struggled with all her natural life just a few weeks ago.

The thought of someone so young, who is innocent of doing anything to place her in that position, fighting to possible live a natural life by obtaining a liver while someone like myself, who is most likely responsible for youthful indiscretions which placed me in the position I find myself, might one day deprive someone like her from recieving life if I were to need and accept a transplant is something I no longer think I could ethically or morally do!!!

If nothing else, this insidious disease has forced me to address face on the reality of my own mortality and develop a radically different appreciation for life and what is of importance in it.

[NYgirl]

SoCalLady said:  I only see my doc or NP every few months.

Ditto. I hardly EVER see them and really have no reason to!

[avidreader]

I waited forever and forever to treat and in hindsight wish I hadn't waited quite so long (even though I don't know yet if I have acheieved SVR.) I finally decided to treat because the quality of my life had slowly deteriorated and I had all kinds of symptoms that I'm guessing now were directly related to having the virus for 30+ years. I began treatment when I was 54, finished when I was 55 (2 months ago) and right now feel better then I have felt in a decade. I was a stage 2/grade 2 but that wasn't my motivator for treatment--I was tired of feeling like sh!t. You have to weigh a lot of personal factors/professional opinions/econmomic issues etc. Good luck-take your time making up your mind. You always have more time then you think!

[SoCal Lady]

Re: The thought of someone so young, who is innocent of doing anything to place her in that position, fighting to possible live a natural life by obtaining a liver while someone like myself, who is most likely responsible for youthful indiscretions which placed me in the position I find myself, might one day deprive someone like her from recieving life if I were to need and accept a transplant is something I no longer think I could ethically or morally do!!!

I admire the altruism reflected in your final sentence, though I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion.  You have a family, and they certainly deserve to have their father around as long as possible....

[motheroffour]

GrandOak, I think your family would have very different feelings than you do about your perceived right or lack of right and your future.  Life is about what you do the next day just as much if not more as it is about what you did the day before.