Hepatitis C: The Importance of Treatment

It’s a highly curable virus-- meaning it can be gone forever.

With current medications which have very few side effects and need to be taken for 8, 12, or 24 weeks depending on your particular scenario, the cure rates are as high as 97% on average.

So it’s important to take your medications every day because it is possible that the virus could develop viral resistance to the medications if there are missed doses.

And if that were to happen it is possible that the current regimen that you're taking or possibly future regimen will no longer work.

It's also important to be aware of what other medications you're taking and to discuss those with your physicians, as there can be interactions between the Hepatitis C medications and other medications that you may be taking, including over-the-counter medications.

It's sometimes helpful to kind of have a treatment calendar to make sure you stay on your medcations for the appropriate amount of time, and your physician should be available to help you with any questions you have while on therapy, or if you're worried you are experiencing any side effects.

If you're going to embark on treatment for Hepatitis C, it's very important that we have our best chance of a cure.