Choosing whether to do treatment or not is a dilemma. My main concern was that I wasn’t ill and maybe never will be, so why inflict my body with powerful drugs?
The turning point came when I realised that Hep C was actually making me ill; the unexplained tiredness, headaches and general malaise could be accredited to the virus. I also couldn’t stop thinking about the virus after diagnosis and an increased awareness of my future health made me all the more determined to try and get rid of it.
When I was offered 16 weeks treatment it was a surprise as the doctor had only talked about 24 weeks and finding the time is always difficult. So I felt this was a more manageable time.
Choosing which treatment type is hard as it boils down to Roche Pegasys 2a, a syringe pre-filled with a liquid form of interferon or Shering-Plough Pegintron 2b, a pen with a dial to calculate the dose - interferon in powder form and water are in separate vials in the pen that are mixed by shaking. It must be pointed out that the pen also has a needle so it’s not an alternative to needle stick. (Both are taken in combination with anti-viral tablets).
I was treated at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and they offer Roche Pegasys 2a interferon but I could have used the Pegintron 2b pen if I had requested it.
How do you know which is best?
A study by both companies into the effectiveness of both treatments has shown heartening results that the SVR doesn’t differ significantly between the two treatments.
See abstract from the paper - http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/361/6/580
Therefore it’s down to personal preference. I didn’t have any problem with the syringes apart from the caps which could be a little tricky to remove causing the odd breakage. The syringes are smaller than the pens and more discreet to carry and I didn’t have too much bruising at the injection sites. The pens are quite bulky and are not reusable. Pressing them to administer the interferon needs quite a bit of force and could cause more trauma at injection site, but that’s just my opinion.
Both companies have excellent advice on their web sites, well worth having a look at if you are not sure which to go for.
http://www.pegasys.com/about-pegasys/default.aspx
http://www.pegintron.com/peg/application/ (links on right hand side of blog)
These sites offer lots of information and you can see photos of the Pegintron pen.
Before you agree to treatment it is important to know what suits you and that you have a choice.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
