Next month, I begin the Pegasys/Copegus treatments for my hep c. I am opting for treatment despite the fact my disease is mild right now (fibrosis 1, grade 2 inflammation). First, I haven't had children yet and don't want to pass this on to them when I do. Second, I don't want my liver to get any worse--better to treat now while the disease is mild. I am young and don't want to have this anymore.

Of course, I am afraid of treatment because I have suffered from severe depression since childhood. I am currently on 150 mg of Zoloft and 50 mg of Seroquel. My psych and gastro docs both say that I can and should continue my anti-depressant meds during treatment to prevent the depression from returning. I definitely don't want that to happen.

Is anyone else out there on treatment for hep c and depression? Does the interferon interfere with your meds? Has depression/anxiety returned even though you are still on your anti-depressant meds?

I will be under close supervision by both my docs so if anything comes up, they will either change my meds, or stop treatment of the hep c.

In this case, I know that the cure is worse than the disease, but I am determined to beat this and try to have a long, healthy life. However, this is the first time in my life that I have felt good and am not depressed. I am afraid of that horrible depression returning. But I am just as afraid of leaving the hep c alone to damage my liver and potentially cost me my life.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

P.S. Hair loss...how prevalent is it in females being treated with Pegasys/Copegus? I know that should be the least of my worries, but I am a woman after all :) How about weight gain? Do the meds cause weight gain? I have been lucky so far with the anti-depressants...no weight gain! Again, excuse the vanity--blame it on being female.

Thanks.

Next month, I begin the Pegasys/Copegus treatments for my hep c. I am opting for treatment despite the fact my disease is mild right now (fibrosis 1, grade 2 inflammation). First, I haven't had children yet and don't want to pass this on to them when I do. Second, I don't want my liver to get any worse--better to treat now while the disease is mild. I am young and don't want to have this anymore.

Of course, I am afraid of treatment because I have suffered from severe depression since childhood. I am currently on 150 mg of Zoloft and 50 mg of Seroquel. My psych and gastro docs both say that I can and should continue my anti-depressant meds during treatment to prevent the depression from returning. I definitely don't want that to happen.

Is anyone else out there on treatment for hep c and depression? Does the interferon interfere with your meds? Has depression/anxiety returned even though you are still on your anti-depressant meds?

I will be under close supervision by both my docs so if anything comes up, they will either change my meds, or stop treatment of the hep c.

In this case, I know that the cure is worse than the disease, but I am determined to beat this and try to have a long, healthy life. However, this is the first time in my life that I have felt good and am not depressed. I am afraid of that horrible depression returning. But I am just as afraid of leaving the hep c alone to damage my liver and potentially cost me my life.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

P.S. Hair loss...how prevalent is it in females being treated with Pegasys/Copegus? I know that should be the least of my worries, but I am a woman after all :) How about weight gain? Do the meds cause weight gain? I have been lucky so far with the anti-depressants...no weight gain! Again, excuse the vanity--blame it on being female.

Thanks.

I am concerned about what I perceive to be a minimizing of the potential effects of the interferon on your psychiatric stability(with your history) and the balancing likelihood that your belief includes potential for serious liver disease and possible death. Nothing is likely to be further from the truth.

A healthy young woman, such as yourself, with minmal liver damage has less than a 2% chance of EVER progressing to cirrhosis, nevermind death. This was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in July 2003.

On the other hand, the chances of having an adverse event involving depression are quite high with your history.

In my opinion, this is completely off-kilter.

Added to which, the treatemnt can negatively affect your ability to conceive a child (per the FDA package insert for the product)and the rates of transmission to a neonate is very low.


All in all, this is a decision I would encourage you to revisit.

For articles and more information, check out the website below my name.

I hope this helps,

thanbey

HepatitisC Outreach Project
www.hcop.org

...all information is intended for general information and is not an attempt to speak to the specifics of any one person's medical situation or decision...........

preapproved by moderator1

Thank you so much for your input. My doctor doesn't really shed too much light on the situation. He said it was up to me what I wanted to do. He told me what I would go through (side effects, probability of remission, etc.), but he didn't really get into whether or not I should treat. He did get honest for a minute and tell me that the drug companies make more out of the illness than they should--of course, at $200 per treatment (thank God I have insurance or it would have been $1,600) it's a lucrative business. But everyone wants me to get treated. My parents, my boyfriend (especially him because I am the future mother of his children and he has a compromised immune system and no spleen so he's afraid I'll get him sick), the people at work. In the end, it's my body so I should do what I think is right and all those people don't really know about Hep C or the treatments. I will take your thoughts into consideration and perhaps read up on this some more or attend a hep c support meeting and talk to others who have and have not gotten treatment before I take such a serious risk with my mental (and physical) health. Thank God I am still healthy and still have some time to think this through. Thanks again.

Household transmission rates are miniscule.

You cannot infect anyone by eating with the same ustensils, drinking from the same glass, hugging, or kissing.

Follow some sensible precautions when you knick or cut yourself, do not share personal items like razors and toothbrushes.......

A female sexual partner is not a risk to a male sexualy partner unless there are behaviours involving blood. Mensus is not a risk, either, simply because blood is present. There must also be a way into the male bloodstream and that is problematic because the direction of travel of fluids and biology does not support this occuring. (check the website for more detail, including Sean's blog entries)

So again, all things considered, you are wise to explore and research whether the basis of the fears being expressed to you are reality based before making such a huge decision.

And, stick around. We're here to help.

thanbey

HepatitisC Outreach Project
www.hcop.org

...all information is intended for general information and is not an attempt to speak to the specifics of any one person's medical situation or decision...........

preapproved by moderator1

Hi,

To answer your question:

"Of course, I am afraid of treatment because I have suffered from severe depression since childhood. I am currently on 150 mg of Zoloft and 50 mg of Seroquel. My psych and gastro docs both say that I can and should continue my anti-depressant meds during treatment to prevent the depression from returning. I definitely don't want that to happen.
Is anyone else out there on treatment for hep c and depression? Does the interferon interfere with your meds? Has depression/anxiety returned even though you are still on your anti-depressant meds"

I can only relate to you my own experience. I've already finished a tour of duty in the hepc fighters' tx army. I'm SVR. I entered the battle with a case of clinical depression made manageable by SSRI's and valium (for rare anxiety attacks). I had the same concerns you do. I was so worried. Am I going to lose it (or want to end it all), or feel hopelessly unhappy, or so sad I didn't want to get out bed every day? Well, I can honestly say I didn't lose it or feel hopelessly unhappy- nor did I have any drastic "bad" thoughts. I did feel lousy, and could have stayed in bed for most of the final few months- but that was on account of fatigue brought upon by the tx drugs, not depression.
I personally feel that if Zoloft is working for you now, and you are actively being treated by a mental health professional, then you can do tx without fear of the "depression returning". This is only my opinion. Stay close to your docs. Keep asking a lot of questions.
I'm not here to talk you into doing tx or not doing it. It appears to me that you have thought about it at length, and will make that decision based on what you've learned.
I strongly recommend that you join a support group. If you need the name of a local one, post your city name and someone may be able to steer you toward one. Post to the internet boards (there are several good ones), join a FNSC (Friday Nights' Shooters Club), join a hepc online chat group, and of course read up on anything hepc related you can find. Just some ideas that have worked .....
Anyway, nobody here is a doctor. I know I'm not one. "Work" (with) the ones you have.

Good luck,

fonzz