Long term side effects of interferon

[Melvil]

Dear all,

My wife was treated for her HCV in 2001 with interferon plus ribavirin. She was like a guinea pig and now, 8 years after, she is living with side effects that have never gone : hypotension (around 8), fainding every day, unbearable headaches, kidney pyelonephritis every months, and an exhausting fatigue that keep her in her bed sometimes several days, where she can hardly eat alone. Before that, she was so full of life, making car races, flying planes, being a model for photographes, and photographer herself. All the physicians and experts that she met told her that it was impossible to be due to the Interferon treatment, but before the treatment, all went well. She is so exhausted that she can't fight no more against medical community in order to admit the origin of her symptoms and to push them to try to find a beginnning of solution.
Is there any progress in the comprehension of the cause of these symptoms ? Are there some new treatments that appeared recently to counteract exhaustion and pains ? Do people group themselves in associations to better fight against this disaster ? Would you have some testimonies, books or adresses to advice us in order to be updated in the comprehension of these sides effects and their potential treatments ?
Any information will really be of great help,
With my best regards.

[willbb]

Mike .. I have read many articles that cite that aslo ..actually some estimate as many as 65%.however I guess no one knows the exact number .
So that would mean  given there are at estimate approx. 180 mill known infected there  most likely is approx.117 mill..that don't even know they have it.

If the scientific data that med scape quotes that approx. 20  -50 % of people will develop cirrhosis in their lifetime and therapy cures approx 75 % of these folks then my math says approx. 30 mill people could stave off having a chirrotic liver  because of treatment .
more awareness is needed surely...so more can treat...
Will

[1oftheclub222]

So we are talking about the whole population of known Hep C patients with our stats, you are taking about the projected 1-5% that would die from Hep C...we are talking about 2 different things...who knows how many of those that treated and have been cured would have died from the disease...or at the least had their life drastically altered by the disease...there is no way to know cause you can't take the treatment back to see...for me, I rather treat and not take the risk...

[rambleon40]

wrong cite on Dr. Koretz.  Should have been:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/business/22hepatitis.html?pagewanted=all

[rambleon40]

I generally presume that facts admitted by the person for whom the facts are not so good have some special validity.  

[rambleon40]

It is interesting to note that the younger you are when you get it, the less likelihood of serious consequences.

So is it 8,000 - 10,000 deaths per year in the 2.7 million (0.3%) that have it in the US or the 170 million (0.05%) that have it in the world?

[mikesimon]

It's really not known how many people die from HCV. The estimate is that less than 50% of people infected with HCV are diagnosed.