Aa
1st time treatment
Starting treatment soon with the new meds and interferon, my doctor said treatment would be for 12 weeks, what can I expect for side effects? Any suggestions on how to deal with them? I've been diagnosed since september, and from what I've read if your diagnosed in the first 6 months of being infected your considered to be acute, but my dr said since I have a viral load of 700 I'm considered chronic, can someone clarify this a little?
Hi worried
I treated several times with interferon. Basically for me I felt like I was just getting over the flu. Kinda achy, and tired headachy and run down.
The 1st shot was the worst I woke up in the middle of the night shivering like I had a fever and was freezing. I finally got out of bed and warped up in a robe took some more Tylenol and went back to sleep. The Dr then at least recommended to take Tylenol before bed which did help.
Also another time when I treated with ribavirin I had my red blood cell count drop quite a bit. I did end up taking 2 weeks off work while the Dr added epotin alpha to help my count. After it got a bit higher I went back to work.
So basically for 3 treatments of six months each I worked almost the entire time except for those 2 weeks. It wasn't a super fun time but you just have to push through it.
Rest when you are tired, drink enough fluids and follow what your Dr recommends. Just hang in there and I am sure you will make it!
Good luck and wishing you SVR on your therapy :-)
Lynn
I treated several times with interferon. Basically for me I felt like I was just getting over the flu. Kinda achy, and tired headachy and run down.
The 1st shot was the worst I woke up in the middle of the night shivering like I had a fever and was freezing. I finally got out of bed and warped up in a robe took some more Tylenol and went back to sleep. The Dr then at least recommended to take Tylenol before bed which did help.
Also another time when I treated with ribavirin I had my red blood cell count drop quite a bit. I did end up taking 2 weeks off work while the Dr added epotin alpha to help my count. After it got a bit higher I went back to work.
So basically for 3 treatments of six months each I worked almost the entire time except for those 2 weeks. It wasn't a super fun time but you just have to push through it.
Rest when you are tired, drink enough fluids and follow what your Dr recommends. Just hang in there and I am sure you will make it!
Good luck and wishing you SVR on your therapy :-)
Lynn
Thank you Advocate1955 I truly appreciate your response.I know everyone is different on how they react to certain meds, and I'm very new to all this so I'm still learning. I've read about some horrible side effects on people who take interferon, can you tell me what you know about them please? Again thank you and god bless
Hi worriedintn38,
It sounds like you will be taking sofosbuvir (a pill), ribavirin (a pill), and interferon (an injection) for 12 weeks and this is your first time treating. Whether your viral load is high or low, doesn't really matter, except when you begin treating your Hep C. Viral load doesn't correlate with difficulty to treat or with amount of liver damage. The only time that knowing your viral load is relevant is 1) when your doctor is confirming that you have chronic hep c, 2) when you begin treatment (so you know your starting point), 3) while your treating (so your doctor knows how you're responding to treatment), 4) at the end of treatment, so you know if you are UNDETECTED for hcv, and 5) 6 months after the end of treatment, so you know if you are SVR. I hope you can find out what genotype you are before you treat, because it would be great if you didn't have to take interferon. If there's a possibility you may be genotype 1, you would need to use interferon to increase your chances of SVR. SVR does mean "cured", it means "no viral load", and therefore it means you cannot transmit hcv.
Keep us posted. Best wishes.
Advocate1955
It sounds like you will be taking sofosbuvir (a pill), ribavirin (a pill), and interferon (an injection) for 12 weeks and this is your first time treating. Whether your viral load is high or low, doesn't really matter, except when you begin treating your Hep C. Viral load doesn't correlate with difficulty to treat or with amount of liver damage. The only time that knowing your viral load is relevant is 1) when your doctor is confirming that you have chronic hep c, 2) when you begin treatment (so you know your starting point), 3) while your treating (so your doctor knows how you're responding to treatment), 4) at the end of treatment, so you know if you are UNDETECTED for hcv, and 5) 6 months after the end of treatment, so you know if you are SVR. I hope you can find out what genotype you are before you treat, because it would be great if you didn't have to take interferon. If there's a possibility you may be genotype 1, you would need to use interferon to increase your chances of SVR. SVR does mean "cured", it means "no viral load", and therefore it means you cannot transmit hcv.
Keep us posted. Best wishes.
Advocate1955
thanks cheflady, dr said my treatments will be for 12 weeks vs 12 months and that he is only adding the interferon cus they can't get a genotype for me so he has to automatically treat me for type 1 since its the worst. I've had 2 test done to genotype me and both have came back with no genotype. I just had another one done yesterday at a different lab so hopefully I can find out which type I am, I also have a very low VL, the dr says I've got a 90% of being svr and if I choose not to use interferon my chances are stil 75%. I'll keep it posted on how things go! Good luck to everyone and god bless
Oh one more question, if i do reach svr, does that mean I can no longer transmit hcv?
Oh one more question, if i do reach svr, does that mean I can no longer transmit hcv?
Hello and welcome to the forum it is true that for the first six months it is the acute stage anytime after it is classed as chronic(long term) this is true to many infections, viruses not just hepc.My hubby did 24wk of the triple tx so i cant comment on the side effects but from what i have read the side effects of the new meds that are available are alot easier then the older triple tx. All i can say was the interferon can cause depression and some anger issues but everybody reacts differently and at the end of the day was worth it because now my hubby can look forward to an hepc free life. I wish you all the very best and please keep us posted. Kind regards Jules
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