Version July 2025
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Should I be treated for hepatitis C? —
Hepatitis C is a serious infection and a major cause of liver disease. Treatment is safe and works very well. Everyone with hepatitis C should think about getting treatment. Your doctor or nurse can talk to you about the different options and what would work best for you.
How is hepatitis C treated? —
There are different medicines to treat hepatitis C. Some of them only work on certain forms of the hepatitis C virus. The best medicines for you depend on:
●If you have been treated for hepatitis C before
●How much liver damage you have
●What other health problems you have
●What other medicines you take
You will likely have to take a combination of 2 or more medicines. They come as pills. Sometimes, 2 or more medicines are combined into 1 pill. Treatment usually lasts for 3 months. But it can be as short as 2 months.
If you are being treated for hepatitis C, it is very important that you:
●Take all your medicines exactly how your doctor or nurse tells you to
●Never skip doses
●Never stop any of your medicines on your own without talking to your doctor or nurse
What if I do not take hepatitis medicines as instructed? —
If you take these medicines the wrong way, they might not work as well as they should. You can also do yourself more harm than good. With some of the medicines, if you skip doses or do not take all your medicines, the hepatitis C virus can quickly become "resistant." This means the virus learns to outsmart the medicines, and so the medicines do not work.
To help you remember to take all your medicines at the right time, use special reminders called "memory aids." For instance, use a "talking" pill box, wrist watch, or smart phone app that can be set to tell you when to take your pills.
Do the medicines for hepatitic C cause side effects? —
Yes, but most of them are not serious. Some of the medicines used to treat hepatitis can make you tired or nauseous, or give you headaches. Tell your doctor or nurse any time you get a side effect that bothers you.
In very rare cases, people need to stop taking their medicines because of side effects. But talk to your doctor or nurse before you stop taking any medicine. They can help decide if you should stop taking them. They might also have ways to deal with the side effects so you can keep taking them. For example, if you are nauseous, you might be able to get medicine to help with this.
Even if your side effects do not go away completely, remember you only need to take these medicines for a short time. If you can handle some side effects, there is a good chance your hepatitis C will be cured.
What if I already take other medicines? —
Some hepatitis C medicines can cause serious problems or might not work as well when taken with certain other medicines. These are called "drug interactions." To prevent problems due to drug interactions, review a list of all your medicines, including herbal and non-prescription medicines, with your doctor whenever you start a new medicine. You can find an example at this website: www.fda.gov/media/73856/download.
If you are thinking about trying any new medicine, vitamin, or herbal product on your own, talk to your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist first.
Will I be cured? —
If you take your medicines exactly as instructed, you will likely be cured. People who have not been treated for hepatitis C before are cured over 95 percent of the time. Even people who did not respond to treatment before or who have cirrhosis can be cured over 90 percent of the time.
At least 3 to 6 months after you finish treatment, your doctor or nurse will do a blood test to see if you are cured. If you are not cured, they might suggest trying a different combination of medicines.
Even if you are cured of hepatitis C, this does not protect you from getting infected again. You can get it again if you have contact with the blood of someone who has the hepatitis C virus.
For more detailed information about your medicines, ask your doctor or nurse for the patient drug information handout from UpToDate. It explains how to use each medicine, describes its possible side effects, and lists other medicines or foods that can affect how it works. You should also ask your pharmacist for the FDA Medication Guides that come with the medicines.
