pro and cons of treatments

[sis1970]

      is the drug treatment worth the side effects and the cost?

[meakea]

Welcome to the group!

At this point, try not to think too far ahead about side effects of treatment, etc.  Try to focus on learning as much as you can about Hep C because, the more you know, the better your questions will be for the specialist.  

You have actually been diagnosed at a good point in time because there are going to be better treatment meds on the market in the next year or so and you might just be able to wait for treatment until the better meds are out.  Do you know your geno type?  Your specialist will most likely run more tests on you to find out more specifics about the condition of your liver, etc. and, until you know all of that information, you really don't know if you need treatment yet or if you can wait and watch.

I did 48 weeks of treatment and I worked all through it.  It wasn't fun but it was doable.  I'm glad I made the choice to treat.  I wish you the best.

[Deb9991]

Hello Sis, welcome to the forum.

Both bill and Diane gave you intelligent, prudent advice.  Side effects are different for all people.  I just had my 5th injection this week, and I have not suffered much -- I thought it was going to be a terrible ordeal, and it has not been.  I'm actually really amazed.  I have days when I feel more fatigue than others and a little foggy at times.  Some people, believe it or not, actually feel better.  

For twenty years I've carried this virus around and for twenty years I've never felt really good.  There was this underlying feeling of blah -- constantly.  

By treating you have a good chance of achieving SVR -- then it is over.  After successfully treatment, your liver is no longer threatened, or your kidneys, or your blood, or your nervous system, and various other things.  You see the hepatitis C virus just doesn't attack the liver, there are extrahepatic manifestations, and some can be serious.  

As Diane said, get all the details about your liver, and bring those details to the forum, and we are here to help you.

I wish doctors would have pushed treatment on me years ago.  They didn't, because all my liver function tests were normal, until, finally, I encountered an extrahepatic manifestation, now I have to treat, and I just had my 5th injection.  Had I know it was not going to be this agonizing torture, I would have pushed to treat, but, I was ignorant, and just didn't know of the other threats posed by HCV.

Good luck to you,
Debbie

[Diane12855]

Some people have a real hard time, while others feel kind of rotten but are able to continue working all the way through. We all respond to the drugs differently.

The way I thought about it was... I was already feeling really tired all the time, with body aches and nausea, so without treatment I knew that was only going to get worse, never any better. With treatment.... I'll feel rotten for about a year, but if I get SVR I can look forward to my liver getting healthier and me energy coming back. I've read where people on here feel better than they have in years. Yes, there are a few who are left with terrible side effects, but if you will look at the date of the original post, lots of times it is the same post being pulled back up by different people, not new people with new problems.

After you get details about the condition of your liver we can help you sort out the different possibilities for you.

Hang in there,
Diane

[sis1970]

  thanks, Bill, was just told yesterday that i tested positive and that my viral load is very high. I see liver doc tomorrow and am a little unsure of what to expect.  are the side effects as bad as i've read?

[Bill1954]

It certainly was for me. I was on track to lose my liver to the disease; after therapy it’s no longer an issue; what’s to think about?

Welcome to the discussion group, by the way—

--Bill