Thanks very much everyone. I appreciate all your answers. You have been a big help. I don't know if I'm stage 3. I used to be between stage 2 and 3 when I had my bx.

One thing to consider is that Dr Cecil's patients are mostly stage 4, non responders or relapsers, he does not have many easy to treat patients.  He has customized the tx for these subjects, not your average joe.  for them it might be better, for the rest, might not.

Check the archives...This was debated for weeks

I've never seen anyone on this board advocate gradual dosing in the year and a half I've been here.

WOW!!!! Amazing how people change views around here. What was it, maybe 6 months ago when Cecil's approach came up, and I was the only person on the board 100% against the gradual dosing method..Now it's the majority opinion..
And to think, we wasted numerous threads and 100's of posts debating this.

You want to hit the virus as hard as possible during the first 12 weeks, POINT BLANK...Cecil also recommends 72 weeks of tx for anyone with moderate to severe fibrosis regardless of EVR or RVR..He gradually increases interferon levels until patient reaches undetectable status.. Though the theory seems appealing, it is not "standard" practice or the general thinking that most of the medical community practices.

My thinking suggests that if you give the virus even the slightest opportunity, which low initial doses do, you give the virus the wiggle room it needs to mutate and elude the virus. This deafeats the purpose, but thats just my opinion.

Dr. Cecil wouldn't have any higher a result whatsoever.  Please do NOT buy into any "hype" here.  While he is a reputable doctor...the studies themselves (across all hep patients) show the results.

Taking LESS or HALF DOSE is going to SERIOUSLY hurt your chances on SVR from every single article and study I have EVER read.

And sensibly...if you aren't taking the full dose - then NO study has really been done to even PROVE that you will EVER (or what odd) achieve SVR - so its just not worth trying.

There are and have always been different trials and experiments to try and beat this disease but right now there is only ONE way to cure it - and that is to take the meds AS THEY ARE ORDERED BY PROTOCOL.

Doing a LONGER treatment isjust intended to try and train your body to continue to fight against infection recurring.

But most data is BASED on 4 week and 12 week PCRs, EVR and RVR...taking 80% of the meds 80% of the time blah blah blah.

It's easy to want to believe that there are easier ways but they are NOT PROVEN and do NOT have studies to back them up...therefore to an educated person like 99.999% of the doctors treating - they do NOT exist.

I don't want to see you believe everything you read - just try and remember if there were easier ways we would all be doing them.

Please!

So maybe Dr. Cecil would have more than 50% success rate if he started his patients off with a higher dose. Very interesting. My mind is open and miracles do happen. I've seen plenty in my lifetime.

Thanks for all your input. There's nothing like personal experience. Dr. Cecil's advice for anyone at stage 3 to do treatment is one of the reasons I have decided to finally do it. I have already talked to quite a few hepatologists over the past 5 years. I also have been going to hepatitis C support groups and listened to many personal experiences with treatment, etc.
I slept wonderful last night since I have made my decision and I don't have to be in that trial. The nurse could not understand why so many patients wanted to be in the ertex trial and not Roche. She seems it's just as good. It was funny.

NY girl I wrote you a message on yesterday's message below on herbs you might not see it.

My Dr. put me on 1/2 dose of pegasys and co pegasys for 2 wks, and just to let you know ,half dose makes you feel just as bad, so unless there is a good reason not to, go for it. He told me why he put me on half dose, but I was so happy he was going for 72 wk tx I forgot what it was, but I'm on the 72 wk tx now.

The average IS a 50% cure rate for geno1 (depending on SVR predictors like age, weight, how long, how far liver damage(fibrosis) etc. not just for Dr. C.

I completely agree with what the two above have said.  It goes against the grain of everything we know I think. It's contrary to what Dr. Jacobson said in fact and if I were to pick one of those doctors - well obviously.......

We are all aware of Dr. C and several members have written to him in the past.

There really is NO EASY ALTERNATIVE TYPE TREATMENT that will cure HepC.  If you decide to go for treatment in fact...the best thing you can do is take as much meds as the doctor prescribes, not miss a dose ever and not dose reduce (especially in the first 12 weeks) and just stay the course.

It's not easy but instead of looking for a shortcut type thing - put the energy into doing the treatment and killing the disease.

IF there were an EASY(ier) cure...we would ALL be doing it instead...but there is NOT.

I agree with Kalio. No studies I'm aware of that suggest starting with a lower dose and moving up is better. In fact, hit it hard and early -- with no dose reductions -- seems to be what most of the literature and hepatologists suggest. The interim aim is to achieve RVR (rapid viral response) if at all possible. RVR correlates positively with SVR, i.e. cure. This is not in any way a criticism of Dr. Cecil, but something that you should consider. I spoke to 3-4 heaptologists before making my treatment decision. Maybe a little excessive but I think speaking to more than one may be a prudent path.

All the best luck.

-- Jim

You might want to research that approach a bit as it flies in the face of what most studies I have read say. The "hit it fast hit it hard" approach to tx shows the most success. Ridding yourself of the virus quickly is a strong predictor of SVR so if you go at it slowly and "titer up" it could reduce your chances of SVR.  A 50% cure rate is about the average for geno 1 not just for Dr. Cecil's patients.