For those who had a riba reduction – when where you able to increase riba again?

[GINGERPAL]

This is my second tx, and I started triple tx 9/28/11  and took last incevik on 12/20/11.
My original riba dose was 1000  mg, but on 12/9  I reduced to  800 mg and on 12/19 reduced to 600  mg and am still on 600 mg.
I started weekly procrit of 40,000 ml on 11/15/11.
From 11/16 weekly hgb went from 8.5  to  8.3  to 8.4 to 8.1 to 8.2  to 8.1 and on 12/28 it was 8.7  !
Hopefully this is a sign that my hgb will start to increase.
When do you think I increase my riba dose?   I wonder if I should be concerned about taking the lower dose and for how long.
Thanks.   Ginger

[eureka254]

Hope your energy level and overall well-being are on the way up like the hemoglobin!  I think folks who have to dose reduce riba all feel that same concern, but still being in the 8s you might want to just get to feeling more alive first :).  

My husband like you had been dose reduced (from 1200) to 800 when he started procrit; after transfusion and a couple of months of procrit and hgb at 11 they tried to increase him back to 1000 but within a couple of weeks he was back in for transfusion and had to be put on procrit 2x a week (ended up at 800 mg riba and procrit 2x a week for the duration of treatment -- in his case, yo-yo-ing around with the riba only made things worse).  Good luck whatever you decide... just enjoy feeling better soon! ~eureka

[crossroadsec]

Congrats on ur numbers going up. Slow but sure! You're reaponding. I was reduced For 3 mos or so waiting on Procrit. Once it hit (4th shot?) I went back up. I'm full dose n hgb hit 10. woohoo!
Good luck. Take care o you n rest til u get there.
Karen :)

[aj7538]

My dr reduced me to 800, snd said.it.is staying that way until my tx is over, definitely feel better with dose reduction even though my hemo.is.9.2 ,,not on any rescue drugs yet.

[sandysf]

Ginger,

I just did 30 weeks of tx with Victrelis and my riba was reduced at week 14 from 1000 to 800.  During the next 16 weeks,  I went back up to 1000 for a total of 4 weeks and then back down to 800.  It did make me feel much better and I never took procrit.  HGB went as low as 9.2 and has hovered at 10.  I have been UND since week 7 and expect to remain so!  I wouldn't worry, but would request to at least go up to 800 if I were you.  Sometimes you have to nag these docs!

[Advocate1955]

My husband had a reduction in ribavirin about 2 weeks ago (from 1200 to 800) due to symptoms of anemia even though his hgb was OK.  He has felt better since the reduction.  He did follow up labwork last week to check counts, but we haven't heard back yet from his NP about the results, so he is sticking with 800 for now.
During treatment #2, they had him hold one dose of riba when he became anemic and then put him on procrit and back to the full dose of riba.
This time they did the dose reduction first and haven't added or changed anything else.  Apparently the dose reduction of riba is the preferred first step with triple therapy with Incivek.  As I'm sure you know, according to the trial studies, the dose reduction in riba did not change the SVR results.
Advocate1955