I don't recommend anyone take anything 'extra'.  What I do recommend is
that everyone take a sufficient amount of riba in conjunction with a
sufficient amount of interferon to get themselves an SVR.  I like
Amantadine too.  The definition of sufficient?  There's evidence taking
more riba than what has been recommended in the past is more
'sufficient', and that's been my experience.  Take it from there.....

Elmo

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum

For my part, I can't make recommendations, I'm thinking out loud in public,
hoping I might stumble into something that others might find worth asking
their doctors about, and perhaps raise the odds of successful tx.

And I don't think we've been speaking about non-responders in this thread (at
least, I haven't). Puckertoe had a good EVR but apparently relapsed a few
weeks after completing what had become a non-standard course of therapy.

There's still so little definitive understanding of this disease and how the
combo therapy actually works - when it works. You'd think given how many
people are HCV+ that a lot more would be known by now, yet it's all still a
crap-shoot.

What seems clear to me is that One-size-fits-all doses are becoming history,
and Riba doses have been increasing. A few years ago, I'd have been on 800mg
per day, even with my weight at 231. Instead I was put on 1400mg/day and have
stayed right there, even as my weight has dropped to 200.5.

The study that was referenced here showed some huge results from massive Riba
doses on difficult to treat patients. It's a single study and the cohort was
only a few dozen patients, and no doubt there are other studies that claim
more Riba doesn't help, but if one accepts the study as valid, "more is
better" seems to be the case. And the oft-quoted Dr Cecil seems to believe
that "longer is also better" and has demonstrated some success with hard to
treat patients by doubling the duration of therapy...

/greyhackles