ribavirin amounts and times

[marty59]

I am starting tx this week with the 3 meds. I had to buy them via my insurance co. mail order. I just noticed the label on the ribavirin bottle says to take 3 pills 2x daily.
The incivek says to take 2 pills 3x daily, but in the instructions it says to take 7-9 hours apart.

First question is, does everyone else take the riba 3 caps at a time twice a day?
If I take riba twice a day, how far apart, and can I take it at the same time I take the incivek?

I knew there would be 6 caps of the riba to take and 6 of the incivek, I just assumed they would be equal amounts taken at the same time.

[ceanothus]

Thanks for all the answers! I've also searched more on the pharmacy website and it does seem to confirm that I need to eat first. I'm glad I found that out within the first week. I think I only had one or two doses where I may have swallowed the pills while I was preparing the snack instead of waiting until after I had eaten it. I'm amazed at how many things that seem high-fat are really only half what we need, unless we can manage to eat huge amounts of it, such as two whole cups of whole-fat yogurt. I couldn't eat that much at once even without the nausea and even if I was truly hungry. My morning dose is the hardest, but I seem to be doing much better with it since I gave up on the large chunks of cream cheese, peanut butter or cheese and went to a breakfast pastry instead. The relative dryness of croissants or morning rolls seems easier to tolerate with my nausea. I got a little tired of ice cream every night, especially now that the nights are getting colder, and I rediscovered the Nestle Toll House ready to bake cookies. Two "ultimate chocolate" cookies and a glass of milk do the job. I suspect that the constant nausea I'm having will tend to add some kind of taint to almost any sort of goodie over time though, so I'll have to keep looking for new ones all the time.

[FrontRangeMom]

Hagen Dazs -20 grams of fat per half cup, or for one of the ice cream bars. Easy pre-measured serving. Still, don't think I want one for breakfast.

Two days of peanut butter was enough for me. I can't even look at it now. Brown Cow whole milk yogurt over bananas is perfect, while providing 9 grams of fat per cup

[hostalavistababy]

The 20 grams of fat should be consumed within 30 minutes of taking the Incivek.  You can eat and then take the Incivek immediately afterwards or you can wait up to 30 minutes before taking the Incivek.  

[marty59]

I'm in my 9th week now and I have found just toast butter and peanut butter is working for my morning snack, with a cup of coffee, it makes it seem normal.
I eat first, then take the meds when my stomach is ready for them.

I eat a normal late lunch, usually a cheese burger type luch. Plenty of fat there.
Then for the evening snack, I started with cheese and crackers, then went to  a combo of cheese/crackers and small ice cream bar.
Now I'm doing a warm large blueberry muffin or apple cinnimon muffin with a tbsp of butter.

[Advocate1955]

My husband is on the triple therapy with Incivek too.  He works swing shift so he gets home from work at 11:45 PM.  His medication schedule is 7:30 AM fat snack, 8 AM 2 tab. Incivek, 10 AM 3 tab. Rivavirin, 3:30 PM fat snack, 4 PM 2 tab. Incivek, 8 PM 3 tab. Ribavirin, 11:45 fat snack, 12:15 AM 2 tab. Incivek.  Plus of course the weekly injection of Peg. His nurse practioner was very clear that the fat snack must be eaten 30 min. before taking the Incivek. Hope this helps.

[ceanothus]

I just started triple tx with Incivek on Sunday, and am having a very hard time with the required fat intake, particularly since I'm feeling pretty nauseated. There is absolutely nothing that sounds good when I wake up, and I've been shocked to discover how little fat is actually in all the foods I'm used to eating. I like butter, cream cheese and peanut butter, but the quantity required to provide 20g of fat, is way more than I'd ever choose to eat at once, especially when it's only a "snack" and not my normal mealtime. Do most of you manage to do this as a snack, or have you mostly moved your mealtimes to coincide with your Incivek? I wonder if they ever studied the possibility of getting the plasma concentration up by letting people eat normal little snacks but giving them larger doses of Incivek. I'd sure rather swallow twice as many pills than all that fat, particularly first thing in the morning.

Okay, now I've ranted, but I do have a question too. I've been under the impression that I just have to get my 20g of fat in within 30 min. one way or the other of taking the pill, so sometimes I eat first and sometimes I take the pill first. Is this wrong? Many comments here make it sound like one should eat first and then take the pills. If I'm going to suffer through all this I sure don't want to screw it up with a silly mistake. Thanks!