I am new: Interferon Treatment vs. Entecavir????

[ambiance3021]

I am 26 yrs old and contracted HBV vertically.  I am new to this site, but am due to start the pegylated interferon alfa-2a treatment (Pegasys) this Friday and am terrified of the side effects.  This treatment is usually used to treat HCV, but I have chosen it over the antiviral pills b/c of the lack of risk of viral tolerance and the dangers connected to skipping doses or quitting an antiviral pill treatment.

As I have read the forums related to HBV, I have not seen any posts regarding others who have chosen to go on this Pegasys treatment as I have.  I was wondering if any of you could please respond to my post in regards of whether or not you were ever offered Pegasys (interferon), and if you were offered, how you decided on the treatment option that you did.

I am a 3rd year full-time student doing a double major in Biology and Radiation Therapy.  Can anyone out there provide me with your personal experiences on Pegasys and whether or not you were able to continue with a busy schedule?  Am I being too optimistic to continue with even a 15 credit hr load?

[momofspot]

Did you lower your virus load and got seroconversion?  I took entacavir for almost a year and hit a plateau and now under Pegasys once a week.  My husband got non detect in virus load after taking entacavir.  So, he doesn';t need to be on Pegasys (interferon).  I am yet to go in for the first blood test in a few days

[stef2011]

if you talk about hcv the results are very different from hbv although sides are the same

the good is now we can see if inf works on hbv in 12 weeks only but when it works hbv eradication is only in 11% nd gets to 30% in 5-10years

[Toollady]

Hi there I hope it goes as well for you as did for me today. I have been on treatment for HepC for 6 months and 1 week. My doctor told me today I am as good as cured. I take treatment until July 1. Then that is it. I go back every 6 months for the next 4 years. After 5 weeks I was undectable. And I was Gentoype 1 that hardest one to treat.

I have only missed 3 days of work in all these months. I hope you do as well as I did.

Tool Lady

[stef2011]

check my posts about vienna congress, now it is possible to know if you will benefit from interferon or not in 24weeks from hbsag/hbdna quantity

the pros of trying interferon are hbsag lower that 1500iu/ml because you have chances of hbsag seroconversion, so they just monitor hbsag and hbvdna drop in the first 12-24 weeks and if there is no responce you can stop it

the cons, high hbsag and high hbvdna load are not suppressed by interferon and sides depend on age and are different from person to person.

i will be starting it in 2-4 months, i have started with entecavir but i went to the research center who made these studies and since my hbsag is only 300iu/ml they will put me on interferon/entecavir combo or interferon mono.at the moment i am on etv+alinia combo

see all posts about interferon/alinia/tdf/etv, there are pros and cons but antivirals have almost 0% rates of seroconversion and life thrapy so i will choose them as a last chance

i think there aren't a lot of posts about interferon because of the high cost of interferon and the high income for pharma companies from life antiviral therapy, so in US the market is all for antivirals
it is the contrary in europe, the drugs are free and interferon is the first choice and if it fails antivirals are the second option

[ManchesterWonder]

Hi ambience,

I am also a student at university studying an intensive course and am due to start my Pegasys treatment for Hep B in a few weeks.

How has it been for you? Have you managed the side effects (if any) and your studies?

ManchesterWonder

[burialincline555]

I tried alfa-interferon for four months to treat hep-B, and my thyroid profile test became abnormal, so I had to discontinue the treatment.  My viral load was too high, it went from 300,000,000 copies to 50,000,000 copies, at the time I stopped using it. Some people tolerate it very well, and have no side effects. The advantage to interferon is seroconversion, and there is some evidence that it reduces the risk of carcinoma, even if it doesn't clear the virus.