confused

[mrvacation]

I am in my 9 week of treatment Pegassis /1200 ribasphere gen 2b vl 1630000. My dr does not do vl till week 12. Is this crazy> I see people talking about early responder late responder.Help me.

[meakea]

I've had two different GIs and neither one of them would do a VL until week 12 either.  However, I had an unfortunate (but turned out to be fortunate) problem with my first 4 shots in that they leaked a VERY large drop of med each time (I use Pegasys), so my doc figured he'd better do a 4 week VL to see if I had been getting enough med.

So...I did get my 4 week VL but it was only because of a problem with my shots.  I did turn out to be UND at 4 weeks and, knowing that, made all the difference in my mood and my ability to keep pushing through TX.

[copyman]

like jim said. ask another doctor to write the lab order for it and get it on your own. also if you can afford it yourself (around $300-400) most states allow you to order the test through interent blood test companies, no doctor order needed! You have the blood drawn at a local facility and you get the report emailed to you directly. Bottom line is it is very important to get this test. Good luck

[jmjm530]

Unfortunate but typical with many Gastro's which is my guess who is treating you.  Just one more reason for people to treat with a liver specialist (hepatologist). Good news is you have an overall 80% chance of SVR as a geno 2. You could demand a test now -- or perhaps get it through another doctor -- but that still will not give you a four-week result, of course.