The Good The Bad and the Ugly...

[Force]

Good news my Doctor decided to end treatment today after 36 weeks not the duration of 48 as planned. I was SVR after 4 weeks.

Not sure when I should return back to work though I am presently on a  Medical leave till Feb and things were not good between me and my employer  upon leaving. I have a feeling they might be writing me a cheque when I return saying bye bye.

Does anyone know who I contact regarding my rights when under going treatments and trying to deal with work issues?

I also did consult with a lawyer and documented every action they took against me.

[portann]

"If you strike me down, I will become more powerful, than you can possibly imagine." -Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ep. IV
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I don't remember Jim saying that....

[Force]

Hi Jim you were exactly right!

The recommended treatment for patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection is the combination of a pegylated interferon plus ribavirin 1000 or 1200 mg/day for 48 weeks.[1,2] The ability to identify genotype 1 patients that might respond to a reduced length of treatment would limit the burden of therapy in this common but more difficult-to-treat patient population. Recent data from an uncontrolled study suggest that HCV genotype 1 patients with a low baseline viral load who have undetectable HCV RNA after 4 weeks of treatment with the combination of a pegylated interferon plus ribavirin may require just 24 weeks of treatment to achieve a sustained virological response (SVR).[3]

I had treatments for 36 weeks he is pretty confident the virus is gone.

One thing I will also mention I workout faithfully every other day and this past month sometime twice daily I will contribute part of my success to this. It has kept me positive and in a good frame of mind which encourages healing the body and a speedy recovery.

My true test will be 6 months from now with my next blood test but from the energy I have now compared to the last 4 years I know I beat it!

Thank you everyone for being so supportive. I still will continue be an active participant on this site and if I had one wish it would be to wipe this disease clean form everyone it so plays on your mine daily.

"If you strike me down, I will become more powerful, than you can possibly imagine." -Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ep. IV

The Force be with you!

[orleans]

ALRIGHTY THEN!! A hot topic in the halls heh? I am so glad to her this as I am dealing with this issue. For me it is the difference of having 10 weeks left(heaven!) or 34 weeks (need I say?).  Low baseline VL was once considered 800,000, now 400,000 is the mostly agreed on number. The European protocol for 24 week G1 treatment is RVR plus 600,000or less baseline VL. G4 RVRs are also being stopped at 24 weeks and low VL is not needed for them. ANYONE ELSE hearing anything 'bout this? jerry

[zazza]

Was your baseline viral load below 400'000 IU/ml?

[portann]

I saw my nurse today for my 24 week checkup and was surprised that she brought up what a hot topic reducing to 24 weeks for RVR's was in the corridors of last week's AASLD conference in San Franciso. For her to bring it up out of the blue - I'm not even an RVR :(  - probably says something about the spreading acceptance.

Force, I thought you owned a fitness club or was that someone else in the forum? Sorry I can't help you with your employment questions but sincere congratulations on winding up treatment.

Jim, my nurse loves Dr. Schiffman, says how cute and wonderful he is. She went out of her way to attend one of his talks in SF. Was he your doctor?

[jmjm530]

Sounds like they were following a short-course protocol for geno 1's who RVR. If I remember correctly a low pre-tx viral load was also part of the study this protocol may be based on. Maybe Force will fill in the blanks.

-- Jim