Thomas, thanks for the informative article.
(http://www.yogajournal.com/health/1736.cfm). Before reading it, I
drank a cup yesterday, and I seem to be deciding to go ahead and use
coffee during my treatment, although in careful moderation.

Moderate amounts of coffee have never seemed to cause problems for me,
but in the past few years, there have been times when I felt pressed to
drink a lot more coffee than normal, in order to combat increasing
levels of fatigue. The fatigue (and other symptoms) was consistent with
hepatitis-C inflammation, but I'd typically conclude it was from
dehydration from coffee and put all the blame there.

For sure, too much coffee will overdose the consumer on caffeine (and I
don't know what else) and thereby cause undesirable side effects. But I
too keep seeing evidence that the dehydrating effects of coffee are
grossly exaggerated. It's also interesting that our requirements for
pure water consumption might also be typically exaggerated and that
coffee consumed should be counted not as part of total water
consumption, rather than as something that detracts from total water
consumption.

Anyway, a few hours after my morning dose of Ribavirin yesterday, I
went ahead and drank a cup of coffee without any adverse effects. The
cup of coffee was stimulating as usual. I was experiencing low-grade
fatigue related to the Ribavirin before I drank the coffee. After
drinking the coffee, the fatigue went away for an hour or two and then
returned. It may have been worse, or maybe not. Thus, it seems coffee
may be useful for ameliorating fatigue, but there might be a price paid
on the rebound--pretty much everything about my performance and
symptoms appears to be turning into a delicate balancing act now that
I'm on the interferon/ribavirin.

BG in Seattle