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Drinking and treatment

If a patient drinks while on Sovaldi and Olysio, what are the likely effects or consequences?
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Avatar universal
Like with most everything in this world, it depends. If you're healthy with no fibrosis, I don't imagine a glass of wine is going to hurt. If you have cirrhosis, then I would ask myself why am I even bothering with tx if I need to drink.
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317787 tn?1473358451
I have hear the same for years, drinking alcohol with HCV is like putting gasoline on a fire.

Beside the damage there is also the dehydration that occurs just on tx, adding alcohol could cause severe dehydration which ads to the pain, aching, head aches, etc.

Good luck
Dee
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Avatar universal
Let's see...High Powered medicine + alcohol ...sounds like an acid trip inside the body. Let us know what your Ins Co team of nurses say about it.
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142841 tn?1201975052
Accelerating liver damage.
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Avatar universal
Call your Insurance company and ask them. Let us know what they say.
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Avatar universal
I had not had a drink in years and never abused alcohol or was accused of ever abusing alcohol, yet it seemed like every time I saw my hepatologist he confirmed that I was still not drinking. I do think that there is concern (other than adding stress to your liver) that drinking could affect adherence to treatment. There is a difference between a drink once a month and a drink or more every day.

During treatment with ribavirin and sovaldi, I couldn't imagine adding alcohol to the mix. Good Luck. Jo
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Avatar universal
http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/provider/guidelines/2006HCV-groups.asp


Patients with Ongoing Alcohol Use
in those who completed HCV therapy, SVR was similar in drinkers and nondrinkers . Thus, alcohol users should not be excluded from antiviral therapy but treatment adherence should be stressed



Patients with Ongoing Alcohol Use

Alcohol is an important cofactor in the progression of HCV disease to cirrhosis and HCC (43) . Thus, patients with hepatitis C should limit or abstain from alcohol consumption. Limited data suggest that heavy alcohol consumption of >80 g/day (approximately eight drinks or more per day) reduces HCV treatment response. It is unknown whether consuming less alcohol compromises HCV treatment response (44) . In patients with recent alcohol consumption, there were higher treatment discontinuation rates; however, in those who completed HCV therapy, SVR was similar in drinkers and nondrinkers (45) . Thus, alcohol users should not be excluded from antiviral therapy but treatment adherence should be stressed (9) .



RECOMMENDATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH ONGOING ALCOHOL USE

1. Patients should be encouraged to decrease consumption or to abstain (III).

2. Patients should be referred for behavioral intervention to reduce alcohol use (III).

3. Antiviral therapy should be offered to patients regardless of prior alcohol use who otherwise meet criteria for therapy (II-2).

4. Alcohol consumption should be discouraged during antiviral treatment, because alcohol reduces adherence and treatment response (III).
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Avatar universal
I'm not quite sure where you got your information about drinking having no effect on clearing the virus. Early studies at NIH showed just the opposite. I don't know of any studies done with the new all oral treatments but it is always wise to abstain from alcohol when one has liver disease.
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Avatar universal
Soldier take Livelife's advice. She gave you a honest answer plus a good reason why not to drink...
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Avatar universal
This question has been asked in the past with much controversy.  The study's show that drinking while undergoing Tx for the virus has no effect
on clearing this disease.
The answer instead has to do with morality as to why someone would chose
to further damage their liver with alcohol since your liver is already compromised.  Personally I wouldn't want to drink while going thru Tx but
each person has a right to do whatever they feel comfortable with.
Will drinking dash your hope for clearing?   No, but it could likely cause dehydration issues among other negative consequences.
While on Tx you may want to give yourself a break to avoid further liver injury.
Stay safe
....Kim
Helpful - 0
7469840 tn?1409845836
The best way to get the answer to your question would be to contact Gilead and Janssen directly and they will advise you. Good luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
No matter what type of  tx you might be on, doing everything  you can to protect and benefit your liver through proper diet, hydration and exercise is paramount. There is a term that is used widely when referencing the effects drinking alcohol when one has hep c. Drinking alcohol is the same as adding gas to a fire.Very compromising! These drugs are highly expensive and toxic, my recommendation is to respect that and give yourself every chance of possible SVR.
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