More Tips for Managing HCV Treatment

Here are some more tips for managing HCV treatment, all spun with a bit of reality and some amusement:

• Establish priorities. If beauty is more important than treatment, then interferon and ribavirin may not be for you. Dry skin, injection site redness, and a little hair loss are not very attractive. However, neither is liver disease.
• Do not expect to lose weight while on treatment. Combination treatment with interferon and ribavirin is not a reliable diet plan. For those who want to lose weight, if you are lucky enough to shed some pounds, it will very likely return quickly when you are celebrating your completion of therapy.
• Do not plan on using your accumulated sick leave for catching up on your television shows. Many patients report that the new pegylated interferons are easier to tolerate. Some patients never miss a day of work. 
• When all else fails, laugh.
• And finally, for other writers-Do not publish anything while receiving treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Inevitably, someone will take you seriously or worse, not think you are very funny. Now that can be irritating.