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Hepatitis C Treatment & Depression

Any chronic illness poses the risk of depressive episodes, if not clinical depression. Having to deal with being sick, especially during periods where you feel relatively well, is hard on everyone living with chronic illness. Part of the challenge comes from knowing the illness will have a major impact on you for the rest of your life, while a larger part may be the difficult treatments required to attempt to combat the illness. Sometimes the treatments themselves cause depression as a side effect. DSM-IV criteria states that depression can be seen in up to 70 percent of cases where people are undergoing treatment for hepatitis C.

  1. Depression

    • Depression can range anywhere from mild to severe and can be occasional or chronic. Common symptoms include sleep disturbance (either too much or not enough), thoughts of suicide, recurring sadness, lack of interest in activities that used to be enjoyable, feelings of worthlessness and changes in appetite. Long-term depression can have a dampening effect on the immune system, causing recovery from general illnesses and infections to take significantly longer as well.

    Hepatitis C Treatment

    • Standard treatment of hepatitis C consists of a multi-drug combination. This drug cocktail typically includes Interferon and ribavirin. This treatment is relatively successful in patients who can finish it; unfortunately, many don't. Up to 50 percent of all treatments for hepatitis C result in failure. This high rate of failure is due to both adherence issues and problems tolerating the medication, and can cause an increase in depression symptoms due to the shock to the body and the knowledge that the treatment wasn't successful.

    Depression as a Side Effect of Treatment

    • Sometimes medications may cause depression as side effects, including those commonly used to treat hepatitis C such as peginterferon and ribavirin. Some people are predisposed to encountering depression as a side effect of hepatitis C treatment, especially those who have experienced depression before or have a family history of it. Even those who have no history of depression can still encounter serious chronic depression as a result of taking hepatitis C medications. People taking hepatitis C medications based on interferon are especially at risk, since these drugs are known to potentially cause severe depression and suicidal tendencies.

    Stress of Ongoing Treatment

    • Taking medication every day is another reason that some people become depressed while being treated for hepatitis C. In addition to the actual taking of the pills, side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, confusion, and fatigue can all greatly increase the chances of depression during treatment.

    Severity of the Illness

    • Even with treatment, hepatitis C is potentially fatal. Though many individuals who undergo treatment have no problems staying healthy, the possibility of treatment failure and the uncertainty related to long-term prognosis can be a major contributor to hepatitis C-related depression.

    Fighting Depression

    • One of the best ways to fight depression when undergoing hepatitis C treatment is to remember that with proper treatment, the majority of hepatitis C sufferers recover despite the fact that the disease is a chronic condition. Maintaining contact with a doctor enables side effects to be monitored and action to be taken should depression begin to surface. After successful treatment, careful lifestyle choices can reduce the strain on the liver and allow hepatitis C sufferers to live relatively normal lives.

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