Medical literature seems to indicate something is amiss. If your doctor is considering doing Interferon therapy to suppress your HCV, be aware of several things you need to know. If you currently have any autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative Colitis (to name just a few), be sure to ask your doctor if he has been smoking left handed tobacco. A very simple blood test called the Anti-Nuclear  Antibodies test  (ANA) will reveal whether or not this is advisable. A normal ANA is < 1:40. It is measured in increments of 40. If your ANA is > 1:160 or 1:320, then you should find out why before you pull the trigger. Interferon will ramp up your autoimmune system. Its like a napalm strike on a raging house fire and its damn difficult to put out the fire for quite some time.

A lot of Hepatologists have a singular mindset on Interferon. If you have HCV and its active and making you progressively more ill, the medical theory is now almost a cattle drive towards IFN therapy with Ribavirin. Investigating what is going on in your own body is paramount before you agree to allow some medical professional to make you another number in some study so he can get his treatise published in the AMA.

The Veterans Administration is all too happy and prepared to put you on this regimen. It has been proven to work on the less-frequent genotypes such as the 2s and 3s, but the long term side effects on a large number of Vets are horrendous. Add to that the fact that it is marginally effective on Genotype 1A &B (most common). So, before you allow Dr. Dysfunctional to wreck your quality of life (as if it wasn’t already), spend a little time and ask a LOT of questions. Remember, doctors “practice medicine”. They don’t know what the outcome will always be or they would advertise that they “perform medicine”. Be careful and don’t think you will offend your physician if you ask questions about what he/she is getting ready to do to you. If they do take offense, its time to find a new “medical professional” if there is such a person.

Add to this the new protocols recently approved such as Teleprevir. Wonderful results appear on paper as always, but there is no funding. Great. We have a solution, but no money to implement it. So much for the Grateful nation showing its empathy for the Vet…