8 week VL Counts & Missed Riba

[lsaldy]

Hi all....a few questions....received my 8 week VL Count and went from 458000 to 14400, I am a little disappointed as was hoping to see lower numbers.....does this mean I am not responding as well? I am  Geno 1, my liver enzymes are also down from 75 to 30...so if anything at least my poor liver is getting a wee bit of a break I think.  And as I have read from a lot of you folks...the dreaded brain fog is a constant and went to refill my med container today and found 2 WHOLE doses missed...also the week prior I missed a dose...I was totally shocked......so I was thinking of doing the 3 in the am and 4 in the pm till I catch up...any thoughts????? I am so scared I am messing up my treatment.....have now arranged with my hubby to check my pill container daily.  Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

[Rockerforlife]

So far by the looks of you VL numbers you are a slow resonder,if you dont clear by week 12,you may need to do 72 weeks.

[lsaldy]

Thanks!! Am exploring all avenues as my vl's were not as low as I wanted and know if I keep messing up then I can kiss my chance of SVR goodbye!!!!!

[Rockerforlife]

You need to set the alarms for each pill dose,im know its a hassle but you cant afford to miss anymore.I set my alarms this way because i dosed off a few times waching the TV,and if your taking anti depressants or benzos,you may dose of at anytime

[lsaldy]

Thanks for the words of encouragement...will not give up yet

[Joey_M]

As far as fighting a losing battle, I would keep fighting the battle at least until your receive your PCR after week 12. Many people don't clear until 12 weeks and then attain SVR. Since you have already invested so much into this already, good to keep going at least until week 12 tests are back.

[lsaldy]

Thanks Newleaf

[newleaf09]

I am also against 'catch-up'. The object is to keep a steady level of riba in your system to help the interferon, not how many mg's you consumed by the end.  Try not to worry about the skips but also try very hard not to let it happen again.  Can you attach your doses to a habit?  I ate pills as soon as I got up (knowing breakfast would follow), then made my morning cereal. I set a cell phone alarm to 5 pm until I finally got it stuck in my head and at times later when I was too bad off to be sure I'd remember.  Alarms work well if you act on them as soon as you hear them.

[lsaldy]

Yes I am on 1200 now..starting weight 175 weight today...165...ugh trying here to get the weight off ahhahhaha and was worried upping the riba from 1200 to 1400/day might cause some damage but am still unsure as I have read some people are on 1400....still unsure and any other thoughts about the log drop...thinking I may be fighting a losing battle here...

[Joey_M]

Hello - I agree to not worry about the missed riba doses - many of the studies that access success rates use 85% compliance as the marker. But good if you can find a system (timers, calendar notices, clock alarms) that ensure you don't miss a dose. Not a good idea to "catch up" for missed doses - you are already on a fairly high dose and extra could cause some issues.

[HCA]

Your reduction in viral load is 1.5 log in eight weeks.
This is not particulary good,but it's not too bad either.( I assume you are genotype 1).
Keep going and test again at tweve weeks.
The missed ribavirin will have had no effect on your viral load.