Pegasys+Riba+Infergen ?!!!

[sunshines76]

Today I met a girl who said she used to have HCV (1b) and that she treated only for 3 months, and now she has been SVR for 3 years. What shocked me in her story was that she said she took weekly pegasys shots, daily infergen shots and daily riba simultaneously, and that combination of all these together helped her achieve SVR so quickly...
I am a little bit confused - who would approve taking both Infergen and Pegasys at the same time? Sounds pretty scary... Have you heard of any cases like this?

[sunshines76]

I am positive I understood her, copyman. She is from Ukraine, and I am sure either her doc or she herself took some liberties in treatment. One thing though - I never asked her how long she had HCV before starting the tx. Who knows, maybe she was diagnozed as soon as she got it and her body cleared the virus successfully by itself, not because she was taking two different interferons. I don't know. I just thought it was a pretty interesting story and wondered if anybody heard anything like this before.

I agree, what matters is that we all clear finally :) As Cortazar once wrote - it only seems that if our passes cross we go different directions; we all go the same direction, simply using different ways.

[copyman]

I like the others have never heard of this before but maybe her doctor "went outside the box" and tried a different & agressive treatment with her.

Or maybe you misunderstood her and she switched from daily shots of Infergen to regular SOC.

If she is truly SVR that is all that really matters

[Lonestar823]

Oh my goodness.....Mother of twins and doing daily infergen. You're even braver than I expected. ; ]  

I can't help but wonder if my doctor hadn't made me wait the six months in between the two treatments if I wouldn't have cleared sooner.  I didn't clear until week 20-22 and so I had to extend to 73 weeks.  I was a runner prior to treatment and so physically I was in good shape.  Good thing, 'cause the first 50 weeks were manageable but in the end the anemia and chemo brain really took me down.  I considered going online to Amazon.com and ordering a burqa only because I was too weak to go out and buy one. ; ]  

I'll be svr three years this summer and blessedly have had no after effects.  My life after treatment is better than I ever could have imagined.  I sincerely hope yours will be the same Sunshine.

Susan:

I'm sorry, how could I have forgotten both you and Magnum?  You are one brave warrior.  

Your, LS

[susan400]

I forgot to add that I was also taking the Riba, too, at that time.  Susan400

[susan400]

I'm not saying that this woman is telling the truth, or she's not..., only she knows for sure.  I can say that people can double dose and with a doctor's knowledge of it.  I double dosed on one of my treatments and my doctor was the one telling me to do it at that time.  But, it was with the same types of interferon and not with like Infergen and plus Pegasys.  I was like using Peg-Intron plus daily low dose shots of regular Intron-A interferon (which are basically the same types of interferon).  The only difference between Peg-Intron and Intron-A is that Peg-Intron is the pegulated form of Intron-A.    Also, those of you who are old-timers on here will remember Doubledose guy, he did it also.  So...        Just to let you know.

Susan400

[sunshines76]

How are you doing now, Lonestar? Is infergen working for you? My doc didn't want to give me a break after pegasys - I switched within a week. Who knows, maybe because I still had some pegasys in my body, the first 3 days on infergen were tough, especially the first night. Then it got better.
I've been undetected since week 8 officially, but it could be that actually earlier than that, but not at week 4. Week 4 was still detected but not able to count, as the viral load was too small by then. I do feel like I now have pretty good chances of SVR, yet sometimes I think - who knows, maybe I am UND only because I am taking the shots daily... and that it could come back as soon as I stop tx.

[sunshines76]

Thank you, Lonestar! To tell you the truth, so far my treatment has been easier than I thought it would be before starting tx. I did have my ups and downs - had my hemoglobin dropping down to 8 in January, but doing ok now with it being around 10. My twins keep me up and running no matter what, and with the weather getting nicer, we spend a lot of time outside, which helps to keep my energy levels up, too.

I just hope when I am done with tx this September to stay UND and achieve SVR.

[Lonestar823]

I remember when you switched to Infergen Sunshine.   We posted to one another at the time you switched.  Really, I'm not here that often but I've had a few days off and have been looking in more often.  So happy to hear you sound so strong at week 30.  I know you'll make SVR!  As to your friend, I'm baffled.  First I thought maybe you had just misunderstood her.  That maybe she had started with the Peg like you and I and then switched.  She couldn't possibly have been prescribed both at the same time and even if she did it without her doctor's knowledge I'm pretty sure blood tests would have raised flags.  It's possible I s'pose.  It's not easy to accuse someone of lying and for what reason would she?  'less Trin is right and she does indeed, suffer from the "my dog is bigger than yours" syndrome.  My meds came in three month bundles.  I had a delivery of Peg just before I was taken off and so had I not donated at my doctor's office I s'pose I could have kept on using it for another three months.  I was so devastated at being a slow responder the thought occurred to me to keep on for another three months without my doctors permission.  Crazy I know, but I was experiencing crazy fear when I was taken off.  Days later though I was offered the Infergen but not before I had a six month break from the Peg.  Again Sunshine, I'm very pleased to hear you sound so strong.

[sunshines76]

Yes, I am one of those who switched from Pegasys to daily Infergen during the same course of treatment, pegasys didn't seem to work for me. I am on week 30 of daily infergen now. Should pegasys worked for me, then I would be done with my treatment in May, but now have to wait till September. Well, the main idea to stay UND. So far so good.
Yet, it's hard for me to imagine somebody would be able to take both of these drugs at the same time. I was shocked with the story. I can't say I don't beleive this lady, she probably did exactly what she said. I just never heard of this before and I think she did it on her own, without doctor's approval. She was probably lucky to servive such an experiment.

[Diane12855]

I agree with Trinity4 completely. Some people just HAVE to outdo everybody else, even if it is a lie.

[Trinity4]

Sounds like one of those my dogs bigger than your dog stories.

I've heard of switching from peg to infergen during the same course of treatment but that was because the peg was not working effectively.  To treat only 3 months for a geno 1 is unheard of even with an RVR.  Injecting pegylated interferon weekly and consensus interferon daily plus riba would cause the whites cells, red cells and platelets to crash beyond belief.  I don't believe it because if it were true it would be an accepted approach to treating HCV and it certainly has never been used as the standard or care.

Trinity