Pegasys or Pegintron?

[Daria2]

I just discovered this forum (thank you Googls!) and look forward to the collective knowledge/experience of its members in helping me going through with the therapy. My doctor prescribed Pegintron with Rebetol, but I wonder if anybody knows of a comparison in results with Pegasys/Copegas. Thanks in advance for any input.
Daria2

[shagirl]

I am in my 9th week and this is totally crazy, I have severe headaches nausea tired my joints and bones hurt. Is there any thing I can do to get out of pain, and quit being sick, have more energy, the only thing I seem to find to ease the pain is to look on sites and know I'm not the only one in this predicatement. any help would be very appreciated. thanks
mississippi

[cindyazure]

I have a friend who went thru tx w/ pegintron but had no svr at 6 mos.  He is now on Pegasys and says the sx are night and day compared to pegintron.  This is like nothing, says he.

[berlynn]

Hi, was it college ELL that you teach? I have taught ELL for 3 years. My first year was first grade, about 1/2 of my class was ELL and the other 1/2 was regular ed.Then I looped with my kids to 2nd grade. Most of my students were hispanic as I worked in an inner city school in Phoenix. Last year I took a job a little closer to home in a new school district, I taught 1/2 day kinder(regular ed) and 1/2 day ELL. My students were from 1st thru 7th grades. They were from Mexico, Viet-Nam, Yugoslavia, India and the Ukraine. Supposedly our state is going to require all teachers to be ELL certified in the next couple of years. I worry about that a little because teaching EL has so much to do with cultural awareness, making adjustments to meet the diff needs of your students, caring and empathy. There are many teachers that I have seen who do not care about trying to meet the diff needs of their kiddos and have no interest in working with these students.
I decided not to teach this year cause I was scared of the sx and how they would affect the quality of my instruction as well as my ability to be patient. With the short term memory loss I'm experiencing(brain fog) I don't think that I would have been able to teach as well. I miss the kids alot though.
Take care, berlynn

[DH Bill]

That is really cool! We were with my daughter in law at her citizenship ceremony and it was very special. She is more like our daughter now. She stayed with her Gandma over near you (Maine?)at first than with uncle here in Spokane then with us as she completed 5 yrs college.
I spent my first 21 yrs near L.A. CA. every time we tried to go to SF we ended up too stoned or in trouble. Spent my 21st birthday in San Bernadino Co Jail for selling LSD to undercover cop. Thats when I met my wife and got the hell out of Dodge, moved to the NW and quit using drugs but had already picked up the hcv. Glad you had that uncle!
Have a very happy next 4 weeks.
Bill

[MajNeni]

Hey, Bill.
I was a refugee in '56.  Just in case any of you kids sent them, I got one of those shoe boxes with presents in it.  It was a wonderful thing; the Pez was a special touch.  
I got here 2 days before my 10th birthday.  My uncle in NYC said he'd take me wherever I wanted to go; we went to the UN, I'd heard about that on Radio Free Europe.
Teaching esl - as you presumed - is a way of giving back.  Especially since they keep me at part time, and don't pay much.  Anyway, my students are about half Caribbean/Central American (it's wonderful fun teaching them to enjoy snow...) and half from all over.  Many from Ukraine, Russia, and Iraq.  Can't say who learns more, they or I.
Did you get down to SF in 1967?
Happy Christmas

[MajNeni]

Hi.  Ambush, the snow petered out at around 8" total.  Public schools started late but colleges are not aware of weather.  I didn't want to work my class too hard, I'd already tested them last week; so I gave them a brief lesson on apoligizing, such as "I'm sorry I didn't remember your question by the time I tried to answer it," and "I apologize for drinking in front of you in the computer lab when I said you couldn't..." We had a few semi-formal thank yous, and then I showed them the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."  (great listening practice and cultural lesson for beginning ESL...)  

DH, I'm awfully sorry about your headaches.  Galen had lots of those.  Hers stopped soon after tx, but I hope you find a solution sooner; does your doc have any suggestions?  I've also located all my joints during tx... my doc lets me take the occasional Alleve.  I'm only around stage 2...
Looks like we'll both be eager for test results in late January; my 48th shot is Jan.16.  I'll be waiting for the six-month post when you get your end of tx PCR.  
Most of my sx are nuisances now, and switch around a bit; the fatigue and fog are the only really enduring ones.  If someone would haul me up a hill, sliding down might be fun.  I guess that's what ski lifts do, but I sure don't want to get up on those now.  Hope to be back on Cross Countries in the winter.

Peace

[DH Bill]

Thanks! The headaches and pains seem to have gone for now. I sure don't understand how this works but O well.
YES!!!! I had just saw how close you were earlier on OHC site and was going to say something. I'm a little crazy thinking I'm almost half done you must be a whole lot crazy at being done in 4 weeks huh.
I think the 16th is on Friday and I will celebrate with you.
When did you come from Hungary?
I assume ESL is english as a second langauge? Who are your students. I'm very happy for you, Hang in there girl.
Bill

[cuteus]

I too got what I thought was a headache for 10 days, even had a ct scan for aneurysm.  At the end, it turned out I had no cartilage left in a few places in the neck, and it started hurting after all these years? or does the tx wear out the joints somehow?

[Daria2]

Thank you all for your prompt and warm welcome. The info on the comparison is priceless to me, let alone that it saved me hours of research. Six years ago I went through the Intron therapy with terrible side effects and no results. I quit after 3 month since there was not much hope for change. I am genotype 1 so I know I have to brace myself for a long battle. Thank you for giving me extra ammunitions.
Daria2

[DH Bill]

AK, I was thinking about getting rid of the rain and having a white Christmas so I will lighten up :)
Berlynn, Yes, neck, chest, knee pain and migraines. It seems all my old injuries started to hurt. The Trazadone helped me sleep but caused constipation and made me retain fluids to the the point I was swollen and gaining weight.
In the last few days the pain has gone away and I feel much better.
This makes me feel kinda of crazy cause normaly when I have pain like this I have caused it by going over my handle bars from 12 feet in the air off a jump or something like that but this just comes out of thin air for no reason and now it's gone.
Hang in there! I think it will get better. These tx drugs are strange.
Bill

[jonihs]

The only thing I can add is that I've read that the 1/2 life of Pegasys(the part tht stays stronger in your bloodstren) lasts almost twice as long as peg-itron. Don't take that as gospel.  My best Joni

[AK - Hepper]

I don't mind you sending your storms east but please don't send that Mack truck north anymore, I thought I was done with all that...WRONG!!!

[berlynn]

Bill, I'm glad to see you back, I've been wondering about you lately. I'm sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling well. Have you been having any neck and headaches lately? I have been having off and on headaches that remind me of the migranes I used to get when I was pregnant. This has been going on for about 10 days now,yeeowwwwwwwwww :(

You are almost half way there now so hannnnnnnggggg in there buddy. Let me know when your ready to do the "death to the dragon" dance and I'll jump up on my computer desk and join you :) Take care, berlynn

[DH Bill]

Yes, I did send the storms east. NOBODY has wanted to mess with RIBA DuuuuH Bill lately. Until this week my only friend has been my dog Bailey.
I had to quit taking the Trazadone on the 29th as it was doing some strange things to me. The doc offered Ambian but I declined for now and am toughing it out as far as sleep goes.
It appears I have leveled out this week. The aches and pains were bad but now are gone. I almost feel human again except for fatigue.
I will do shot #24 on Jan 15th (half done) BUT.... my company starts a new insurance coverage on Jan 1st and I'm only approved for the first six months. The insurace/medical people better not mess with me seeing I can control the weather.
OHC, I'll see if I can find some of my old commune pics from Oregon to scan and post. You would get a hoot.
Bill

[Ambush]

majneni ~ how bad did you get it down there?  We've got about 8" so far and it's still falling.  So, this is all Bill's fault, huh?
ambush :)

[MajNeni]

Hey, Bill, nice to see you on board again.  How is it going?  Hey, stop sending your storms East.  They kind of gang up with the Lake Effect, and give us double whammy in the Northeast. MN

[oldhippiechick67]

Thanks for the laugh Bill, pull a rat out of a hole, funny stuff.
"Rules", yes, sounds kinda harsh for an ol hippie, but I thought I would address the matter before someone with Riba Rage did, scaring off the newcomer.  OHC

[layla]

Welcome. My doc was going to give me pegintron but I insisted on pegasys. He said it was fine either way. See you around. LL

[Sambone Martian Ambassador To the moon]

welcome aboard daria. I don't think that the resultss are that different. From what I hear the big difference is in the amount and severity of side effects. If I had to do the tx again I would try teh pegasys. I took the peg intron and the sides were horendous, so if I had to go through another 57 weeks I would try the pegasys out of self defence.

[DH Bill]

If old hippies like us had made up better rules back in the 60's we wouldn't be on this forum today.

If some countries had made up better rules years ago we wouldn't have had to drag an old rat out of a hole yesterday.

Bill

[Space Coast]

Who made up the rules? Why do you have to call them rules? I thought oldhippies rebel against rules!!!!!

[Indiana]

To date there have been no head to head comparison studies between the 2. The stats put out by the individual studies show a SLIGHT edge to Pegasys for type 1's....but not enough to make them all that different.
The real difference comes in the side effects catagory. Doctors and studies show no difference but we patients report a BIG difference with the winner being Pegasys. Those who have done both meds almost all report the same thing.
If I were starting nowadays and given the choice I would choose the Pegasys.

[oldhippiechick67]

Howdy, welcome!  Glad you found us.  We are a helpful group and always have someone willing to answer questions.  The rules you need to be aware of are 1) we only get about 5-6 threads a day, so when you post/ask a question that's one thread.  So we appreciate it if you have several ?'s to put them all under the first thread you started.  The threads can be used by more than one person asking questions.  You will find some that go on and on!  Anyways, rule #2) have fun, be kind, make new friends, and use this forum for Hep C related matters & support. usually. And we arent Doctors here, just folks with Hep C sharing our tales, with lotsa hands-on, been-there-done-that knowledge.
There are other sites too that have a lotta questions answered such as  www.janis7hepc.com
Cheers, OHC

[odessit]

Welcome to the board!
You will find lots of valuable info and knowledgable people. I believe this question was discussed pretty recently, Dec 12.
You may want to take a <a href="http://www.medhelp.org/forums/hepatitis/messages/C35767-34.html">look</a>;