Here's a link to more info about combo treatment. It doesn't have a side by side comparison list but you will be able to judge for yourself. Everyone reacts differently, and some people get pretty minimal sides...
Good luck
Epi :)
I did the old treatment (unsuccessfully).
In 1997 it was called Intron A and was usually three shots per week.
As a monotherapy it had a very low success rate.
Pegalayted interferon was licensed in 2000-it is less harsh.
If you were taking it daily you were probably on concensus interferon known as Infergen,generally considered the harshest regime.
You have to factor in the effects of ribavirin which you probably did not take at that time.
It is ,to quote a leading hepatologist, 'A filthy drug'.
All in all you should find the current regime more tolerable than the daily shots.
I went through one year of peg, and then another year and a half of double dose. My doc wants me to do another 1 to 2 year round. Are there residual or long lasting side effects to interferon?
After two and a half years of Peg and Double that's a question you should be answering.
I won't repeat FIGuy's point, but I am curious to know anyone's experiences after treatment. I have yet to come across anyone who doesn't have any residual side effects at all. It's usually just a question of whether the residuals are better or worse than the damage HCV can do.
My question is why your doctor wants you to do another 1-2 years of treatment when the first two didn't work. Something would need to be very different in order to succeed the third time wouldn't it?
Maybe if you had an early good response then something went wrong, like you missed some shots in the middle of treatment, then I could understand it. Otherwise... huh?
I would do the following:
1. Get a second medical opinion from the best specialist you can get access to.
2. Be very sure that there are significant improvements to the third round of drugs and treatment protocol before doing it again.
3. Find out what the possible consequences of waiting are and consider that against the health risks. Make no mistake about the health risks. They are as real as the risks from HCV.
Do you have records of your how your viral load fluctuated through the first treatments?