Hello, SB. And welcome to our little corner of usenet.

Here are some (well, many ;-) of my thoughts regarding your situation:

- genotype 3's have a high success rate with the current gold standard therapy
regimen of pegylated interferon and Ribavirin.

- genotype 3's (usually) only have to do 24 weeks of therapy to achieve
success - referred to here as "sustained viral response" or SVR.

- although biopsy can be helpful in knocking folks off their own mental
fences, it isn't necessary for genotype 3's - and the reason is the odds of
success are very much in your favor.

- some folks simply breeze through therapy; for the most part the horror
stories are with folks that have genotype 1 or 4, and who have to do 48 weeks
on therapy, with markedly lower chance of success. If someone were to describe
treatment for g1/g4 as a crap shoot, I'd be hard pressed to argue, even though
my treatment (g1b) was successful.

- damage accumulates with time, and not necessarily in a linear fashion.

- one cannot predict the level of liver damage from LFTs or viral load;
further one cannot predict what other damage/deleterious affects may crop up
from chronic HCV infection. We already know it can cause diabetes; we already
know it can damage the renal system; we already know it can cause other
problems that degrade the quality of life; and it is quite likely that other
effects of having an immune system constantly under siege will eventually be
understood by the medical community.

- you are basically correct that in general the medical community is
"challenged by HCV". Most doctors are frankly clueless about the disease and
the treatment, but with some help from this group - quite a few are in your
general vicinity - you may get pointed to a recommended specialist that
actually knows more than we do :-) which would be a very good thing indeed.

- if you are predisposed to depression, that can be concurrently treated
during therapy. In fact the odds are a good therapist will recommend you go on
anti-depressants a few weeks in advance of initiating anti-viral therapy.

- the two major pharmaceutical companies that developed the current treatment
regimens have programs to assist with the cost of the treatment drugs.

- the longer you wait the less likely of achieving SVR

- there are many new anti-HCV drugs currently in development, but to this
point, even the current "great hope", Vertex Pharmaceuticals VX-950 (aka
"telapravir") is a couple of years from being generally available - and as
time progresses there is the realization that it isn't going to be a knock-out
drug after all - at least, not as a monotherapy agent. In fact this drug is
being tested (Phase 2 tests) as a third agent with *both* pegylated interferon
and Ribavirin, so the prospective patient gets all of the sides of the current
treatment *plus* the side effects of VX-950, with the perceived benefit of a
highly rate of cure. While we're all very interested in the progress of
VX-950, it would not be prudent to assume a major change in the treatment
paradigm in the near term.

- while it is *possible* some "alternative therapy" might mitigate the rate of
damage accumulation, this has not been independently proven to be the case.
This would include "traditional" medicines, regardless of origin. The
alternative medicine industry is fraught with snake-oil salesmen that can spin
a yarn that sounds convincing, but should be avoided like the plague - at the
very least until legitimate therapy is attempted.

- at 30 years old, you are *still* quite young - you're still in the prime of
life, and far too young to be dead-set on anything regarding your health -
other than to take care of business! Heck, son, you're only half my age :-)
and if I was your dad I'd be all over you to do the treatment *now*, not
later.

Stick around, SB. Ask any question you can think of (even the stupid ones ;-)
and the good folks here will help in whatever way they can...

Cheers

/greyhackles

Welcome to the group!  I agree with what Grey just said.....that you
ought to go ahead and get treated now, not later.  If you're looking for
a well qualified professional to treat you, I know someone in that
category that has her practice in North Jersey, an hour west of NYC, if
you're willing to travel that far.  She comes highly recommended.  LOL.  
elmo

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

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