Husband is a nonresponder

[plainjane51]

My husband found out that he had hepc.Doc sent him to a specialist. He started his treatment of 3 pills in the am, and 3 pills at night ,and the 1 shot a week. For 6 months it went from over 8 million to just over 2000. He was doing great or I thought. He was having no side effects at all. No sickness, alittle weaker than normal but that was the extent of it. On the 7th month he was tested again, and it started going up(17thousand), so docor changed him to the same pills daily but the shots every day. He still remained the same with the symptoms. He did that 6 weeks and was retested, results were I believe 75 thousand this time so the doctor pulled him off his meds, and said it was not doing him any good. I am so depressed that I can not see straight. He seems to be taking this very well,He says that he is gonna just eat right and take care of his liver the best that he can. Is this normalfor treatments to go this way? Any suggestions on any of this would be greatly appeciated. Thanks in advance.

[NYgirl]

I think it's time for you to ASK the doctor (and boy I know they can very intimidating) what shot he was receiving on a daily basis...

That way you at least know if the doctor DID switch him over to Infergen (Consensus Interferon vs. Peg) or not in case he decides to treat again in the future.

Unfortunately the current drugs do not work for everyone.  But your husband has GREAT attitude and insight - this is a VERY slowly progressing disease in most cases.....and in fact most of us probably will die of something ELSE even if we don't treat!

Do you know what Grade/Stage his liver biopsy showed?  That is really the only way you can decide if he needs to continue onwards right now or not.

It sounds to me like he should have STOPPED the peg - given his body a rest and THEN started over in a few months with a CLEAN SLATE and the new drug to attack those creepy virus.  

I'm sorry for your rotten news.  Nobody deserves this stupid disease and we all have it and hate it too.

You are NOT alone.  Come in and talk if you need whenever you want.  Part of the whole experience IS the stress...and remember we are here if you need us.

Best of luck, Debby

[mycoldfeet]

No thats not the norm, sounds like Doc started him on Peg/riba then went to consesus interferon or something like it. I wish I knew more to tell you but if you have an hour go to www,clinicaloptions.com and this is 2 Doctors giving other Doctors the newest in research and you have to register and where it asked what kind of doctor you are scroll down and press other. watch the core video then advanced, and they do explain what causes this better.

[GrandOak]

First off, we are only patients here, so we can only comment based upon our own experiences which should not be viewed as any sort of medical opinion.

From what you described, your husband experienced what we call a viral breakthrough.  In fact, although I did not see the same VL drop as him, I too recently experienced what is being viewed as a similar situation.  But in my case, they gave me another 12 wks at full medication dosage since my first doc reduced my daily med 4 wks into tx and my new doc and I had fought ever since then to try and get back to the full dosage.

I do not understand the shot per day change though as the per week shot is one type of medication where as the daily is another, albeit similar, medication.

Both the shot and pill work in concert in this tx to eradicate the virus.  The shot works to kill the buggers and the pill works to spay/neuter them from reproducing.

I suppose either could be changed to try and combat a viral breakthrough, although my experience is to adjust the pill that keeps it from reproducing and leave the bug slaying shot at the regular dosage.

In my case a possible alternative discussed, should the doctor be correct in that the existing meds are no longer working, was to change from the weekly pegylated-interferon shot to a daily injection of Intergen.  Perhaps that is what they already tried with your husband.  Sounds like more info would help to better understand.

Other information which helps is to know what genotype of virus he's got and what stage is liver is at.  While a change in diet certainly can not hurt.  I do know of folks with certain genotypes and little to no liver damage who simply live with the disease by a healthier diet and lifestyle while waiting for a different treatment which is more effective and/or easier than current therapy.