Best Site for Hep C Help

Resources Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Diseases like hepatitis C can be confusing. To help set the record straight, here are some answers to common questions people have about hepatitis C. Hep C Made Simple: The Basics This video answers basic questions about hepatitis C and the liver. It can help you better understand what the liver does, why the liver is important, and how hepatitis C damages the liver. Getting Started Online: The Search In this educational series, you will learn some ways to best search for healthcare information on the Internet. Hep C Made Simple: Know Your Status Many people with hepatitis C have no symptoms and don't know they have the virus. Watch this video to learn why it's important to get tested even if you don't feel sick. Take the Hep C Screener Many people are at a higher risk for hepatitis C, like “Baby Boomers” born between 1946 and 1964. Use this tool to see if you are at an increased risk for hepatitis C. Guide to Getting Tested There are many options available for people who are ready to get tested for hepatitis C.

Protons, Electrons, and Hepatitis C

Protons, Electrons, and Hepatitis C

Well, technically that title should be PROTON, ELECTRON, and Hepatitis C, the first two words being the names of two recent studies of PSI-7977, a potential new drug for treating hepatitis C virus (HCV).

The Latest Findings

There’s a lot to talk about with PSI-7977—mainly in light of study resultspresented a few days ago at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in San Francisco. So let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way before we go any further: I do not know what POSITRON and ELECTRON stand for. Nor do I know what FISSION, PROTON, and ATOMIC stand for—but more on that later. All I can tell you is that at some point in the history of drug development, pharmaceutical companies and/or clinical trial cooperative groups decided that acronyms were necessary or advantageous for some reason, paving the way for many a BLT, BOLERO and COMFORT for years to come.

PSI-7977 is kind of exciting. In the PROTON study, this drug, a nucleotide analog, was combined with the then-standard of care, pegylated interferon plus ribavirin. (Since PROTON was done, telaprevir and boceprevir were approved, changing the standard of care.) In PROTON, 96% of patients had a sustained virologic response (SVR), which is the measure of cure for HCV. Now, to balance this, is a wonderful moment of parsing the data: 96% is impressive, no doubt, but it has to be mentioned that the total number of patients in that study was 25, with 24 patients being actually evaluable. It was an early-phase study, so that small number of patients is not unusual, but most reports about the latest PSI-7977 results are highlighting that initial 96%, and it’s hard to find the actual N of the study. Here is a PDF of the full report of the PROTON study.

After PROTON delivered its encouraging results, Pharmasset, the maker of PSI-7977, launched ELECTRON, a phase II study in which a number of patients were given the experimental drug plus ribavirin. And that is the key: 10 of the enrollees received NO pegylated interferon. And guess what: the combination worked. All 10 of those HCV patients had an SVR.

Now, a couple of things to explain. First, these were patients with genotype 2 or 3 HCV. The reason why these genotypes were selected is because they tend to be highly responsive to interferon. Wait – so, why were those the people who were not given interferon? Well, the logic was that if PSI-7977 plus ribavirin didn’t work, those patients could be more easily rescued with a course of pegylated interferon + ribavirin than HCV patients with, say, genotype 1, the most difficult to treat variety of the disease. As it turned out, that rescue therapy wasn’t needed, but still, the logic is interesting when it comes to understanding drug trials.

more:  Protons, Electrons, and Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C:"Joe, it's the end of you. Fat drives the progression of the disease."

Hello folks, I have to admit, this is a pretty down day for me. The gravity of having a life threatening illness sometimes gets the best of me. I am not looking for sympathy, but it is nice to know that I am not the only one. I want to write today about a fact that I learned all too late for me, but it may be just in time for someone out there who happens to read this in search for answers to the Hepatitis C dilemma. I was over weight when I was re-diagnosed with Hepatitis C, genotype 3, in 2000. Although my GI doctor frowned about my obesity, (ironically, he is now obese!), I do not remember him saying anything more than cautioning about the usual consequences and said, "... you are in stage 1with minimal scarring to the liver. You'll probably die of something else altogether". In 2006, he did a liver biopsy and still stage 1. In 2009 the bomb was dropped, stage 2-3 and still no instructions about my weight. (I'm getting to the point, thanks for your patience). In January of this year 2011, I was referred to an end stage hepatoligist, (a liver specialist), in my city once a month. But I was drawn to this other doctor in Oakland, about 40 miles away. He said,”Joe, it's the end of you. Fat drives the progression of the disease and you are now stage 4 of 4. You have no doubt a fatty liver and that is why your 2nd treatment attempt failed.

Stunned, I left the office and drove home in a daze. How could this be? Why didn't anyone tell me? I will lose this weight! I knocked off 50 of the 60 lbs. I needed to lose in 6 months with diet change and exercise. Weight Watchers is a good method because you can eat whatever you want and still hold yourself accountable.

When I returned to the doctor in Oakland, he was astonished. "You look so much younger! This is huge!"

So the bottom line is now that I have lost the weight and am in the best shape ever, I have a good chance of treatment being effective, but I still have only around a 50%-60% cure rate because of the prior attempts and no new drugs that work on genotype 3 as their are for other genotypes of Hepatitis C.

I have a resting pulse rate of a runner, but it may be all but academic. My hope is that I can save someone else like I could have been saved by knowing this information. Yes, it may have progressed anyway, but I know in my heart of hearts, it was the fat that made me have to bail in the 3rd week of my 2nd treatment attempt. There is a passage in the bible that says, "Without knowledge, my people perish". I'll get the chapter and verse and add it in later but I must post this now!

Waiting for treatment, diet, excersise, and tests

Of the many preparations I am currently undergoing for my upcoming third attempt to rid my body of the deadly Hepatitis C Virus, the hardest thing has been…, well, everything!

      Change diet to low fat, low sugar, low salt, high fiber and all at Weight Watchers Points Plus daily value of 36 or less. (Something others facing interferon treatment should know that you physician may not know or tell you is that my second attempt at treatment failed because of a fatty liver and being obese. I was completely down for the count within 3 short weeks due to severity of side effects. This was mostly due to being over weight.

      Regular exercise: Join a gym or be disciplined enough to work in some type of effective program at home. (More about expansion on these bullet points later on).

      Stop smoking: you will not even be considered for a liver transplant if you are or have been smoking within the prior year!

      For myself, (this is a preference but I think a major help in tolerating side effects), and many of you who have pain from treatment, (flu-like symptoms, aching joints, muscles and mouth pain), A good pain management program which includes, Narcotic Pain Medicines! They are the only thing that works and eases the suffering much like a cancer patient, hepatitis C in later stages as mine, (stage 4 of 4), there is much pain and my workouts would have remained a fantasy without my pain meds. Yes I will probably have to be weaned off them if I am cured after the treatment but the upside, (saving my life by staying on the treatment for the whole coarse), definitely out weighs the downside. Besides, most people who take even Oxycontin as directed do not become addicted. It’s when you start to mess with the doses, i.e., cut the pills in half for more time release at once, taking more than prescribed, etc. that you get into trouble. 

      I know this sounds extreme. This is my 3^rd time around. This first treatment worked using the methods I mentioned above, but the first round, (back in 2006), was 6 months. Had it been for 1 year, I would have been cured the first time.

      Unfortunately, I have what’s called “genotype 3” a sub category of Hepatitis C that although it has a higher response rate, the new drugs being touted do not work on this genotype. So it’s good ol’ Peg interferon Alpha 2A for me unless they come up with a new drug before Feb. 2012.

      This is my first post in this new blog/forum. The intent is to help others avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into head first and to hopefully encourage each other through the hell of interferon treatment. Most people aren’t fortunate enough not to have side effects form interferon. But hey, if you’re out there and you’re so inclined, please feel free to post a comment.

My Hepatitis C Treatments: "A Work In Progress"

1. The first treatment attempt was unsuccessful even though I responded well and viral levels were undetectable. The 6 month treatment was not long enough, (in hind sight), and it came back in 6 months.                                                    

2. The second treatment was discontinued within 3 weeks as my being obese and resulted in a fatty liver, which increased the side effects to an unsafe level.

3. Now that I have shed the pounds, changed my lifestyle to include regular exercise and diet changes largely due to Weight Watchers, I have a good chance of success in my 3^rd and final attempt to be rid of this monster that threatens my quality of life and ultimately, my life itself.

This is an article that tackles head-on, the widely missed issue of the new drugs not working on certain genotypes of the disease. (Genotype 3, (the one I have), does not respond to the new drugs).

http://blogs.plos.org/workinprogress/category/clinical-trials/

I know I am really going out on a limb, posting such personal info, but I want to do something worthwhile and above all, (I hope), helpful to others facing this devastating disease and hopefully keep my sanity in the process. Please come back and feel free to comment if you or someone you are close to is facing interferon treatment.