Side effects?

[Cam65]

I am in week 4 of the Olysio/Sovaldi combo therapy and am disappointed at the side effects I'm experiencing. Prior to starting the treatment I was very encouraged by what I was finding on the boards, especially after two bad experiences with interferon treatment and an allergic reaction to ribavirin. Unfortunately I am experiencing maddening itching which I'm controlling with Allegra and extreme fatigue and an all around foggy feeling.  This started in week 3 and is bad enough that I've gone on short term disability from my job.  Has anyone else had any of these effects?  If so were they temporary or did they continue throughout the treatment?

[hepcandme]

Fingers crossed for you!

All the best and have fun on Opening Day!

~Linda

[Cam65]

Linda,

Thanks for your comments. I just want to clarify that I am disappointed with side effects, not discouraged :) Taking leave from work was the last thing I wanted to do but even simple tasks tend to exhaust me at this point. My employer is very understanding of the situation which is very helpful.  It's only 61 more days which is nothing compared to the nightmare of the int/rib treatment but it's good to know that I'm not the only one going through this. Getting my labs on the 7th and see my Dr on the 24th to get the good news. I compete the treatment 2 days before football season and plan on celebrating at my alma mater's opening game!!

[hepcandme]

Hi Cam

I felt incredibly fatigued at about week 3 and then had other sides including itching, dry skin and dehydration. The itching sort of stopped on its own. I used Lots of hydrating lotions and coconut oil for my skin and I drank more water than seemed possible

It's only 12 weeks - I just powered through every annoying side effect. I stopped taking any other meds because I wanted to give these drugs unmitigated reign to get rid of the virus and didn't want my liver to have to process anything else.

I also worked the entire time because none of my symptoms made me feel as if I would feel any better at home than I would if I were at work and my work is very rewarding. Kept me balanced and able to keep my prospective on the other things that are important in my life

Good luck to you! You'll get through it!

Keep us posted about your progress. I found it so helpful to hear of others' reactions to the new regimen - especially when I thought that it was going to be a piece of cake and discovered that others were having side effects as well

~Linda

[Cam65]

No cirrhosis has been detected.  I have never had a biopsy but had a full contrast scan in March.  I will definitely check out the Allegra link.

[hoping4cure]

Do you have cirrhosis and what is your doctor saying about the itching? Two years ago when I was on the triple therapy with Incievek my doctor prescribed 1mg pills of lorazepam for anxiety that I took very seldom while on the treatment. I broke those in half so I only took .5mg at a time or sometimes even broke them in thirds. One other benefit was it really helped with the itching.

During my first day on the Oysio/Sovaldi treatment I experienced some itching so I took half a dose of lorazepan and the itching stopped within an hour. Keep in mind that lorazepan is processed by the liver.

One of the big concerns when adding other medications while on the treatment is will it be safe for you to bring into the mix. My itching got so bad while on the triple therapy two years ago that I told my doctor you have till the end of the day to do something about this or I'm done. He got me in with a dermatologist two hours later that gave me a prescription for a real potent cortisone spray called Kenalog that again you should only use when needed.

Real potent stuff that instantly knocked out the itch and lasted for many hours. I only used it when I really needed to and just used it a couple of times a week. I always covered my face and never took a breath while I was spraying it on and went into the bathroom when I did. I always left the room right after I was done. Can't be too go for you to breath that stuff in.

You can also go to the drug store an buy Aveeno Oatmeal Bath Treatments, that helped too. Over the counter creams didn't really do much of anything. Good luck, if you can safely get the itching under control you might even be able to go back to work.

http://www.drugs.com/pro/kenalog-spray.html