What if Your Hepatitis C Treatment Didn’t Work?

Starting hepatitis C treatment and learning it didn’t work is very disappointing and discouraging. I personally experienced this two times before doing a third treatment that helped bring me the cure.

There is a secret ingredient I learned that makes the difference in your journey with hepatitis C and treatment, never, never give up! Keep on fighting the good fight until you get cured. Your life is worth it.

Helpful truths when treatment didn’t work

• Just because treatment doesn’t work once, doesn’t mean it won’t work the next time.
• Don’t allow discouragement and disappointment stop you from taking care of yourself and moving forward.
• There are a variety of treatment options available for the majority of liver conditions.

Be honest and evaluate your treatment. Was your treatment interrupted? Did you take your treatment as prescribed every day? Did you experience side effects that prevented you from completing treatment? Was there a problem with your insurance company or specialty pharmacy? Did you do or take anything during your treatment that would have interfered with treatment or harmful to your liver? Talk to your doctor if any of these occurred to help you decide what is your next course of treatment.

Investigate your options

• Talk to your doctor about other treatments that will work for your liver and medical condition and genotype (virus strain).
• There are pan-genotypic treatments available that work on all genotypes with various liver conditions.
• If you do not have medical insurance or cannot afford co-pays there are patient assistance programs you can apply to help receive treatment. Ask your doctor, specialty pharmacy or liver disease advocates to help you with this process.
• If your treatment has been denied by your insurance company, you and your doctor can appeal. You can also switch to another hepatitis C treatment that may work for you. Keep trying unless you get approved.
• If your treatment caused a problem with another medical condition, ask about other treatment options.
• Ask your doctor if you need to wait a certain amount of time before trying a new treatment.
• Ask about Clinical Trials and what research is being done for your liver condition. You may be eligible for a clinical trial.

Your treatment experience

Discuss your treatment experience with your doctor and what other treatment options are available. If you had a bad experience with your doctor or healthcare team, or if they aren’t willing to fight for you, you can change doctors. As a patient, you have the right to change doctors and receive copies of all your medical records.

Continue to take care of yourself and seek new treatment. One day you will be able to say as I did, “I am cured!” Never give up!