The Importance of Staying on Treatment
Taking hepatitis C therapy requires your active participation and a strong commitment to finish what you've started.
If you don't feel sick from hepatitis C now, you might think that it isn't necessary to keep taking a medicine that can make you feel sick while it fights the virus. But even if you experience unpleasant side effects, it is incredibly important to take your medicine as directed and complete your hepatitis C treatment. It's your best chance to eradicate the virus (a virologic response). And it may also help improve the condition of your liver (a histologic response) by decreasing inflammation.
The most common side effect of PEGASYS is flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, muscle aches, joint pain, and headaches), which can be treated. And weathering these side effects is worth it. Because otherwise, hepatitis C causes serious and permanent liver damage over time. Inflammation (swelling) and fibrosis (scarring) slowly destroy the liver's ability to do its job of filtering and removing toxins from the blood.
Should you have any questions or concerns about side effects or your medication, be sure to talk with your doctor — and don't make any changes to your therapy without talking to your doctor first.
A journal can help you through the rough spots.
As you experience different feelings during treatment, it is good to have a place to record what you are feeling and when. When you feel good, you can look back on the times you wanted to quit and feel proud of your progress. You can also look back to see how you got through tough times before — and remember the good days that followed. Any paper notebook or journal will do.
Remember that the interferon alfa-2a in PEGASYS is similar to a substance that your body routinely makes — and your body makes more of it when you have an illness such as the flu. (One of the reasons you feel bad when you have the flu is that higher levels of interferon cause you to have symptoms like fever, chills, headaches, and muscle and joint aches.) But your body's interferon is fighting the influenza virus — so you "put up" with these symptoms to get rid of the virus.
In the case of the flu, you don't have any choice about "using" interferon — it's a part of your immune system. But since your body's interferon is not as effective against the hepatitis C virus, you have to take active treatment steps. The interferon alfa-2a in PEGASYS is specifically designed to fight hepatitis C.
Continue to learn why your liver is so important