Resons for failing Treatment

[Ealonder]

I'm HCV+ for over 30 years , genotype 1a , I was treated in 1997 , when I received 24 weeks of Interferon Alpha 2B at 3 million ui , 3 times a week. I failed to clear the virus and a recent PCR shows I am still HCV+ , I have cirrhosis also. I have always been interested in why my treatment failed as I am considering having another go , so have kept an eye on the Internet for drug developments and HCV research which may answer some questions for me , or offer hope for a successful second try.
Recently I have been coming across many articles and studies which talk about something called Insulin Resistance , and the symptoms sound very familiar to me , and I reckon it might answer my questions , do any of the doctors or anyone here have any knowledge or experience of Insulin Resistance , should I be treated for this in advance or during any HepC treatments??
Thanks in advance

[CoWriter]

Success rate for interferon by itself was about 10-15%.  Also, treatment for a genotype 1 is 48 weeks and you treated for 24 weeks.

Here's something I wrote on insulin resistance.  The second link is a list of insulin resistance studies.

http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/68011?personal_page_id=450

http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/71197?personal_page_id=450

Co

[Rockerforlife]

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Hepatitis/Common-Hepatitis-C-Acronyms/show/3?cid=65

[rkw599]

Greetings!  I am new to the site.  I am having problems figuring out the abbriviations.  PCR, UND??   I did the Interferon Alpha 3 times a week in 1995.  Then the once a week peg version with Ribraviran in 06.  I only lasted 2 1/2 months on first try.  Had a mild depressive eppisode and white cell count was too low. Second time I fared much better.  Lasted 6 months and came close but no cigar!  Base line when I started was 850,000.  At 5 months it was 14,500.  Month 6 it went up to 16,500 so doctor took me off.  Too many bad side effects I was having.  Mostly rage.  Doctor was sure I was a non responder.  I am genotype 1A.  I have 3 friends who are the same genotype and they were successful..  So there is hope!  

Good luck everyone!

[nygirl7]

you took the interferon 3x a week but did you also take the ribavirin? These days we do peginterferon once a week and a healthy dose of ribavirin on top. I'm not sure if you guys who treated back then had riba back then?

If you didn't..............there is your answer in an easy nutshell.  If you did - did you take enough riba? Weight based at least is very crucial especially in the first 12 weeks in order to achieve SVR.

Also these days with more frequent PCRs (starting at week 4) you can find how you are responding to the meds and if there is not enough of a log drop you can increase the peg or the riba or both even and help try to get it down to UND by  week 12.  If positive at week 12 extending to week 72 (as I had to do) gave me much better odds for clearing.

All these things I don't believe were known back in '97. I don't think it had to do with insulin resistence but just they hadn't made these important discoveries yet. If you were to treat now you would have a much better chance at success.

Make sure you learn everything you can and find a very competent doctor who is up to date on all the latest studies. HOnestly, some of the members in here are much smarter (more up to date on current advances) than the docs are - without them I might not have succeeded as my doc was one of the ones who didn't know Jack.  Now he does.

Good luck.

[nanaviking]

I don't know how the insulin resistance figures in but I have read on the National Institute of Health site that Interferon only has about a 15 - 20 % sucess rate with 1a.  It may be better now with the pegalation.   I found good info on that site and also the Center for disease control site.

[fretboard]

Welcome, there was alot of ppl who went thru that treatment and failed to clear.  After those years of failing treatments, the pharma industry added the ribavirin and tweaked the interferon thru a process called pegalation and fortunately alot more ppl are able to treat, clear and go on to SVR.  Most likely you didn't clear b/c the interferon alone wasn't working for everyone.  There will be other ppl on this forum in a few hours who will chime in and answer your specific questions about Insulin Resistance.  You can read around for awhile.  If you look above you will see the archives and you can do a search on IR and some stuff will come up.  good luck