How do you treat hepatitis C ?

There is no vaccine for Hep C. There are vaccines for Hep A & B. The standard treatment for Hep C is pegylated interferon and Ribavirin. The interferon is a shot given once a week and Ribavirin is a pill - dose depends of your genotype and weight. The length of treatment varies depending on your genotype. Genotype 2&3 are treated 24 months. Genotype 1 is treated longer - 48 weeks. Genotype 2&3 has about an 80% chance of clearing the virus with treatment. Genotype 1 is lower, about 40-50% with treatment. There are many possible side effects including: flu-like symptoms, depression, anxiety, anemia - just to name a few. The two pegylated interferons are called Pegasys and Peg-Intron.

Here are links to their websites for more detailed info.

http://www.pegasys.com/?source=goog&keyw...
http://www.pegintron.com/peg/application... Source(s): Health care provider.

get vaccinated
go to a doctor immediately
it depends on how bad the disease is
Look it up on the web. You will get a lot of good info. from there. interferon and riboflavin is frequently used.
Move to Canada and get their free drugs... move to Mexico and get them back for what they are doing to the US.
Kristin C's answer is excellent.

Not everyone who has the hep C virus needs treatment. If your viral count is low and your liver enzymes are near normal, you may not need immediate treatment. That is a good situation, because for many people the side effects of interferon are too severe to continue the regimen. If you have a mild form of disease, you may be able to wait until less toxic treatment is available.

Protease inhibitors are in the pipeline, and the FDA may approve new drugs by 2007 or 2008.
anyone who has active HCV (85%) should treat. the sooner is always better than the later. HCV can take decades to do severe damage, but depending on lifestyle, it could cause damage much sooner.

hcv is not just a liver disease, but it called such because it needs the liver to thrive. each cycle a newly changed virons are sent out into the body. the body becomes confused and overloaded because just as it figures out how to fight the first round, the second round has been released. it caused the body much confusion and ends up taking a toll on all parts of your body from your brain down to the pinky toe. HCV can cause kidney damage, heart and lung damage and all sorts of other "bi-directionals".

It is always better to treat than not to treat.

get with your doctor and ask him about antiviral chemotherapy. not everyone responds to treatment (depending on genotype) but regardless there are benefits of treatment. it gives the liver a break and prolongs the seriousness of the disease.

diet should consist of as little iron as possible, low sodium and lay off the fake sugars....if you want something sweet, Stevia is a "root" sweetner and is used by diabetics as well as those with NASH.

With HCV you can be fine one day and seriously ill the next. Don't take a chance, treating now with interferon and ribavirin is the only chance you have.