help

[journeytohealthy259]

need info on taking incivek twice 3pills daily change in fat requirements? and is there a time difference between doses    starting trip. therapy 2morrow am diagnosed in 1979 failed treatment w/ribba and peg. w/procrit in 2005 sure hope it takes this time

[Dawn703]

I know of some people that were taking it twice a day instead of three, but for very specific reasons and I do believe the trials were done both ways. However, most are prescribed and it is reccomended three times a day; this is because it has a short half life and you need a constant supply. I would do everything you can to make sure the drug works the most effectively to kill the virus and prevent mutant (resistant) strains.

[FrontRangeMom]

Journey: I assume you are not in a controlled clinical trial. So stick with the 3 times a day dosing specified in the approved package insert. Twice daily dosing with Incivek has not been shown yet to be save and effective.

[journeytohealthy259]

thanks 4 all the good answers and suggestions but no one has mentioned banquet pot pies my wife boughtem home today 27grams of fat keebler cookies fudge stripes 3/7grams coconut yummy 2 cookies 8 grms, but read here where someone was on a clinical w/incevik 3/2times daily supposedly better adherence 2 protacol. if anyone knows more i sure need 2 find out.makes sense to me  

[trolleater]

  I am in my sixth week of triple tx with the incivek, ribasphere, and pegasys, and let me tell you to strap up and get ready for a ride.
  You need to take 20grams of fat with each dose of incivek, read all the labels to see where you are at, and you should have got a book with your incivek meds. that has a chapter on foods to eat (examples).  I take the ribasphere capsules twice a day 3- 200mg, and I take them at morning and at 2.00 pm, then only take the incivek in the evening.
  I am a morning person, but you need to seperate the dose of incivek by 7-9 hrs, for example I take my first dose at 5 am, that is the incivek and ribasphere (2 tablests of incivek, and 3 capsules of the ribasphere), and I bought some sausage biscuts, that have 23 grams of fat each, I eat first then take the meds right after, do no wait longer then 30 min after you eat to take meds, they will not work as well.  The second dose I take at 1pm , and once again I take with twenty grams of fat, the same dose as I did first thing,
the final dose of the day is just incivek, once again with 20 grams of fat(pizza,eggs with butter toast or bacon, etc... as long as at least 20 grams of fat.). then you are ready to start new day.
  If you notice I do mine at eight hours apart, If you can do that, that is recommended,  It is really important to be right at eight hrs apart for the first five doses, after that if you have to take it at seven hrs or maybe 9hrs, dont freak out, it is o.k. just dont stray more than that.
  If something happens to you (hospital, jail, etc..) make sure you get your meds asap, or it will not work.
  Moving on to the pegasys, once a week, the same day every week, that is also the day you will want to have your blood work done.
  I take shot out of the refrig. and let set for 20 min. , I dont like to inject in stomach area , I use my upper thigh area, (pegasys website will show you how to do injection), I then take frozen bag of veggies out of freezer let sit on site for 1 min, clean with alcohol prep pad and inject, it does not hurt, but for me I get sick the next day, kind of like a bad flu , and I usally inject about 7 pm , that way I sleep throught most of it.
  I am going into week six and I have tested UND (undetected) yay !!
  Their is also a great chance that you will have alot of side effects, for me it is horrible, it has taken away my life, I dont want to scare you because if you dont get healed you can suffer even worse , and at least this is only for a short period of your life, but I got a bad rash on day three, it has not gone away, and it drives me crazy, I also get bad headaches, and I feel like I am no longer a part of anything, I have had to put my life on hold, thier are alot of people going through this just like me, and on this site they have helped me and I will gladly help you as they also will.    
    Good Luck                Trolleater

[Dawn703]

Welcome and congratulations on starting treatment again. pooh gave you very good info and you must adhere to the every 7-9 hours, but preferably every 8. I started off trying to be very healthy with the fat fests, but it got too hard and too redundant, so just find high fat stuff you like and run with it, mix it up. If you want a grease burger from a fast food place do it. It's 12 weeks. So what I did was went to the store and walked around looking at labels for the fat content plus took advice from those on the forum. Here's some of the stuff I choked down:

ice cream, lots of it
mac and cheese
pizza
hummus with olive oil
avacodo
bacon and eggs I used to cheat and have two egg yokes with 1 egg white
udos chocolate truffles were a life saver, and oh so good for you
peanut butter, but got sick of it and still can't eat it
pies, especially cream pie and cheese cake
cream based soups
mini cream puffs
full fat yogurt and kefir
I would also add heavy whipping cream, real butter, and mayo to boost the fat content of whatever I was eating

I didn't get any sx from pega and riba until 3 weeks before I ended treatment, well except for the low RBC and WBC (HGB) but I did from incivek. Here are the main sx from incivek:

Rash (DO NOT let this get out of control) ask your Dr now for a script for fluocininide or comparable. Others use atarax.

Nausea ask for a script for zofran (can cause headaches but works so well) gingerale works well for for mild nausea and I also used sea bands. Others have used ginger of some type, but I could never stand the taste.

Eat a high fiber diet and eat yogurt/drink kefir to avoid loose stools and the flaming shards of glass syndrome. This too can get out of control.

Also ask your Dr for a script for 2.5% hydrochortizone (others have used other things they will chime in) for hemmeroids. You can get them bad.

for insomnia (well this is from riba), which I am only plagued with occasionally, there is chamomile tea, warm milk, meditation, stretching and controled breathing  exercises, if all else fails some people take a sleep aid.

for hemolytic anemia or neutropenia, please make sure you ask your Dr about his protocol for these, when will he intervene and how

Be prepared for the fatigue as well

Others will chime in on other sx and solutions

Above ALL drink lots and lots of water, it can help with sx all around and keep moving, get some light to moderate exercise as much as you can.

Good luck and we are here for you

[pooh55811]

Welcome to the forum.

Incivek is taken 3 times a day and should be taken every 8 hours within 30 minutes AFTER eating a meal that contains 20 grams of fat. The fat is necessary for optimal absorption and efficacy of the Incivek.

My schedule was:
get up and eat 5:30 am, take Incivek by 6,
fix food and eat at 1:30 pm, take Incivek by 2 pm,
fix food and eat 9:30 pm, take Incivek by 10 pm.

Taking the Incivek every 8 hours is imperative. You can jeopardize your treatment if you do not take the pills on time and within 30 min. of eating 20 grams of fat. Do whatever is necessary to eat the fatty food and then take the pills every 8 hours on schedule. Incivek has a short half life. The blood level starts to drop if the pills are not taken on time and the virus gets a chance to mutate and make resistant strains.

You did not say if you were a partial responder, a null responder, or a relapser in 2005. Regardless, it is imperative that you follow the instructions and take the pills religiously and on time. If you miss doses or take them late or don't take them with 20 grams of fat, you jeopardize your treatment success.

Set alarms, timers, and/or programmable watches to go off every time you need to take your pills. The mind gets very fuzzy on Interferon and memory is less than desirable (an understatement). So it is best to reset the alarms and timers right after they go off (for the next dose time). I had a timer I carried from room to room. I also set my alarms as needed. It's a good idea to put the alarm clock across the room so you have to get up to turn it off. Most of us were exhausted and we could easily have fallen back to sleep without taking our pills. Also, figure out some system for keeping track of your pills. I wrote on the bubble packs days of the week and the times. Each week I took one of the boxes of 7 bubble packs (a week's worth of Incivek total), marked each individual package with a day of the week and marked each set of pills with a time. That way I would not get my days and times mixed up and wonder if I had taken them or not. I did the same thing with my Riba bubblepacks (and I took the Riba at 6 am and at 6 pm). If your Riba pills are loose, get a weekly pill organizer. I never could remember 5 minutes later if I had taken my pills or not. Anyway, get a system that works for you.

"How to Take INCIVEK
Take INCIVEK exactly how your healthcare provider tells you. Your healthcare provider will tell you how much INCIVEK to take and when to take it.

    Take 2 INCIVEK pills (a dose) 3 times a day
    Eat a meal or snack that contains about 20 grams of fat, within 30 minutes before you take each dose of INCIVEK
    Each dose should be taken 7 to 9 hours apart. Pick the same time each day to make it easier to remember
    INCIVEK must be taken with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin


Always take INCIVEK with food
If you take INCIVEK on an empty stomach, you may not get enough medicine in your blood to clear the virus. That's why it's important to eat a meal or snack that contains fat, within 30 minutes of taking each dose of INCIVEK.

Examples of foods that contain about 20 grams of fat that could be eaten with INCIVEK include*:

    Bagel with cream cheese
    1/2 cup nuts
    3 tablespoons peanut butter
    1 cup ice cream
    2 ounces American or Cheddar cheese
    2 ounces potato chips
    1/2 cup trail mix

*The food you eat with INCIVEK should NOT be low-fat.

INCIVEK comes in a box with enough medicine to last you for 4 weeks. Inside each box are 4 weekly packs. Inside the weekly packs are 7 strips (1 strip for each day of the week). Each strip contains a day's worth of INCIVEK (2 pills 3 times a day)."

http://www.incivek.com/how-to-take-incivek

More foods that are high in fat are Greek Gods regular honey yogurt, 1 avocado, bratwurst, 2 ounces Havarti cheese, eggnog, liver pate, Brie cheese, and many other items. Read the labels to be sure you get enough fat. Also, try to eat some solid food each time you take the pills (eggnog and toast, yogurt and toast, etc.).


Best of luck and be sure to ask any questions you may have. We have remedies for side effects too so just ask us. One tip, get on top of the side effects immediately or they can really snowball out of control.