Aa
Treatment so far
Hi! so my blood work cane back with no trace of the virus!! ii think maybe im on my 13th week? counting majes time slow...m really excited. I was not extremely compliant with incvik.. On account of it made me vomit. I couldn't really eat but I tried my best. And I stopped taking it early. Anyway so yea I have another 3 months and I cannot wait! The Pegasus has made me anemic and my doctor has given me diff doses. Taking these medications has made me really depressed and I did not take action and the depression got worse. So finally I told my dr got Meds and I'm feeling better. If anyone has been depressed b4 starting tx I encourage you to talk to someone. I didn't think I could get this so depressed. But it happen and it's a very real side effect. I am feeling a lot better .. I have awful back pains. Nauseous. But nothing that stops me from getting up. Anyway I really want to stress that if your depressed u should really talk to some before tx.. I wish I had taken anti depressants prior to treatment so I wouldn't ever have to experience how it made me feel.
Me too!
My blood came back good and stayed that way through out the treatment, and I also wished that I had started the anti-depresants early on rather then later ... I was stubborn about that and paid a heavy price when the depression hit me like a rock in the face ...
Good news, it caused me to loose over 40 pounds and I wanted to loose some weight anyways ...
Press on through your doing great
My blood came back good and stayed that way through out the treatment, and I also wished that I had started the anti-depresants early on rather then later ... I was stubborn about that and paid a heavy price when the depression hit me like a rock in the face ...
Good news, it caused me to loose over 40 pounds and I wanted to loose some weight anyways ...
Press on through your doing great
Congratulations on the UND. I am really happy for you. I hope you can get in to talk to your doctor soon. Pooh and Cean above are right, I am sorry to say.
Dee
Dee
I'm glad you finally did achieve UND, but Pooh is definitely right about the length of time you need to treat. I'm concerned that your doctor seems not to have prepared you for what to expect before starting tx and allowed your nausea to progress to vomiting, which led to compliance problems and quitting the Incivek early. He should have warned you and he should have given you Zofran for the nausea. If he had, you would've felt much better and probably would have been able to take all the Incivek as prescribed. Since your doctor did not handle that well I am a little concerned that he may not be all that knowledgeable himself, and you may have to be the one to tell HIM that you need to treat for 48 weeks. You might want to have back up info at hand - maybe give him a link to the clinicaloptions.com website that Pooh mentioned above. At the very least you should read up on the correct protocol yourself so you will be able to ask the right questions. Good luck, and I hope the rest of your tx goes smoothly for you.
Thank you tho. I should talk to my doctor next week I guess he was going to lemme know then.
No I haven't spoken to my doctor since I got news. Lol wow I really didn't want to rea that. Well I can't only look at the positive for now
"so my blood work cane back with no trace of the virus!! ii think maybe im on my 13th week? counting majes time slow...m really excited. I was not extremely compliant with incvik.. On account of it made me vomit. I couldn't really eat but I tried my best. And I stopped taking it early. Anyway so yea I have another 3 months and I cannot wait! The Pegasus has made me anemic and my doctor has given me diff doses. "
-----------------------------------
It is great that you are now Undetectable. However, what is not great is that you were Detectable at weeks 4 and 8 of triple med treatment with Incivek.
In a previous post on Jan. 31 you wrote: "I'm about 3 months into treatment and my liver enzymes are dropping like crazy but my doctor told me my virus is still detectable. She said I'm not moving as far along as he'd like but the treatment is working. What does that mean?? That is still detected ? I'm almost done with incivik"
You were actually at about week 8.5 but were still DET. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but since you were DET at week 4, the treatment protocol is for you to continue Interferon and Ribavirin for a total of 48 weeks. You have treated about 14 weeks so you actually should continue Interferon and Ribavirin for another 34 weeks. I know that sounds like a long time, but the fact that you were still DET at weeks 4 means your chances of attaining SVR (cure) are lower and they are a lot lower if you treat for only 24 weeks total. To give yourself the best chance at attaining SVR (cure) you need to treat for a total of 48 weeks.
I know it is not easy. I was DET at 4 weeks. I had to treat for 48 weeks. I did treat for 48 weeks and finished treatment last August 25th. I had my 24 week post end of treatment viral load drawn a couple of weeks ago and I am cured. It was difficult but it was worth it to stay on course and treat for 48 weeks.
Your doctor should know that the protocol/recommendation is for you to treat for 48 weeks. I am wondering if the doctor has not told you that you need to treat for 48 weeks or does the doctor not know the protocol.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to treat for 48 weeks in order to give yourself the best chance to attain cure. By treating for 48 weeks you give yourself about a 64% chance of attaining cure/SVR. If you treat for only 24 weeks, your chances for cure drop.
"Telaprevir. The prescribing information for telaprevir in treatment-naive patients recommends that all patients begin with a 12-week period of triple therapy with telaprevir 750 mg 3 times daily (every 7-9 hours) plus pegIFN/RBV.[53] Telaprevir should be administered with food, specified as standard or high fat (standard-fat meal would be 21 g, such as 2 ounces of cheese or a half cup of nuts). After 12 weeks, telaprevir should be discontinued and pegIFN/RBV continued; for individuals with an eRVR (undetectable HCV RNA at Weeks 4 and 12), pegIFN/RBV should be continued to treatment Week 24. Conversely, for individuals without an eRVR, pegIFN/RBV should be continued through treatment Week 48 (Table 6). As with boceprevir, it is recommended that an HCV RNA assay with a lower limit of quantification of 25 IU/mL be used for evaluating virologic milestones for response-guided therapy. .....
The response-guided therapy strategy with telaprevir is based on the results of 2 phase III trials in treatment-naive patients. Results from the ADVANCE trial strongly suggested that 24 weeks of therapy is sufficient for patients with eRVR.[29] In the T12PR48 arm of this trial, patients with an eRVR received 12 weeks of triple therapy followed by 12 weeks of pegIFN/RBV, whereas patients without an eRVR received 12 weeks of triple therapy followed by 36 weeks of pegIFN/RBV. Among patients who achieved an eRVR and received 24 total weeks of therapy, the SVR rate was 89%, confirming that this strategy results in a very high SVR rate (Figure 11). ..... Patients who did not achieve eRVR all continued pegIFN/RBV through Week 48, and 64% attained SVR (Figure 12). "
http://www.clinicaloptions.com/Hepatitis/Treatment%20Updates/HCV%20New%20Agents/Module/Practical_Guide/Pages/Page%204.aspx
-----------------------------------
It is great that you are now Undetectable. However, what is not great is that you were Detectable at weeks 4 and 8 of triple med treatment with Incivek.
In a previous post on Jan. 31 you wrote: "I'm about 3 months into treatment and my liver enzymes are dropping like crazy but my doctor told me my virus is still detectable. She said I'm not moving as far along as he'd like but the treatment is working. What does that mean?? That is still detected ? I'm almost done with incivik"
You were actually at about week 8.5 but were still DET. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but since you were DET at week 4, the treatment protocol is for you to continue Interferon and Ribavirin for a total of 48 weeks. You have treated about 14 weeks so you actually should continue Interferon and Ribavirin for another 34 weeks. I know that sounds like a long time, but the fact that you were still DET at weeks 4 means your chances of attaining SVR (cure) are lower and they are a lot lower if you treat for only 24 weeks total. To give yourself the best chance at attaining SVR (cure) you need to treat for a total of 48 weeks.
I know it is not easy. I was DET at 4 weeks. I had to treat for 48 weeks. I did treat for 48 weeks and finished treatment last August 25th. I had my 24 week post end of treatment viral load drawn a couple of weeks ago and I am cured. It was difficult but it was worth it to stay on course and treat for 48 weeks.
Your doctor should know that the protocol/recommendation is for you to treat for 48 weeks. I am wondering if the doctor has not told you that you need to treat for 48 weeks or does the doctor not know the protocol.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to treat for 48 weeks in order to give yourself the best chance to attain cure. By treating for 48 weeks you give yourself about a 64% chance of attaining cure/SVR. If you treat for only 24 weeks, your chances for cure drop.
"Telaprevir. The prescribing information for telaprevir in treatment-naive patients recommends that all patients begin with a 12-week period of triple therapy with telaprevir 750 mg 3 times daily (every 7-9 hours) plus pegIFN/RBV.[53] Telaprevir should be administered with food, specified as standard or high fat (standard-fat meal would be 21 g, such as 2 ounces of cheese or a half cup of nuts). After 12 weeks, telaprevir should be discontinued and pegIFN/RBV continued; for individuals with an eRVR (undetectable HCV RNA at Weeks 4 and 12), pegIFN/RBV should be continued to treatment Week 24. Conversely, for individuals without an eRVR, pegIFN/RBV should be continued through treatment Week 48 (Table 6). As with boceprevir, it is recommended that an HCV RNA assay with a lower limit of quantification of 25 IU/mL be used for evaluating virologic milestones for response-guided therapy. .....
The response-guided therapy strategy with telaprevir is based on the results of 2 phase III trials in treatment-naive patients. Results from the ADVANCE trial strongly suggested that 24 weeks of therapy is sufficient for patients with eRVR.[29] In the T12PR48 arm of this trial, patients with an eRVR received 12 weeks of triple therapy followed by 12 weeks of pegIFN/RBV, whereas patients without an eRVR received 12 weeks of triple therapy followed by 36 weeks of pegIFN/RBV. Among patients who achieved an eRVR and received 24 total weeks of therapy, the SVR rate was 89%, confirming that this strategy results in a very high SVR rate (Figure 11). ..... Patients who did not achieve eRVR all continued pegIFN/RBV through Week 48, and 64% attained SVR (Figure 12). "
http://www.clinicaloptions.com/Hepatitis/Treatment%20Updates/HCV%20New%20Agents/Module/Practical_Guide/Pages/Page%204.aspx
Glad you are doing OK so far. What was your status at week 4? Do you know when you became UND? I ask since your Viral Load at week 4 determines how long you treat.
You say you only have three more months so I am guessing the virus was undetectable at week 4. Incivek made me very sick in the beginning as well.
I am glad you are off the Incivek and that you physically feel better. I started an AD (antidepressant) prior to treatment since I treated before and I knew I might be prone to getting depressed (or whatever). These can be tricky meds and with some things there is no way to predict what is happening until it happens. Good for you for speaking up!!
Take care ♫
You say you only have three more months so I am guessing the virus was undetectable at week 4. Incivek made me very sick in the beginning as well.
I am glad you are off the Incivek and that you physically feel better. I started an AD (antidepressant) prior to treatment since I treated before and I knew I might be prone to getting depressed (or whatever). These can be tricky meds and with some things there is no way to predict what is happening until it happens. Good for you for speaking up!!
Take care ♫
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