Hepatitis C Support Group

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.

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clovers 04/27/2014

I just stared and stared at the four bottles which basically hold the return to life for me. if I beat the dragon, No! When, I beat the dragons' butt I still have to deal with my cirrhosis stage 4, but at least I'll have a fair playing field.. very grateful for this chance....can anyone who has started or finished with tx tell me how they are feeling, did the weakness and joint pains go away? I have been dealing with joint pains and weakness for aprox 6yrs now...

Oh BTW I have cirrhosis stage 4 and I am geno 1b and I failed the interferon/riva aprox 6yrs ago... I guess I will start my meds next week cracked my tooth today, so dentist here I come i found it funny because that is all everyone has been mentioning the dentist.. and boom I crack my tooth talk about painnnnn but all is well thanks God.. Blessed week to all...

WarriorGal 04/27/2014

Wonderful news! What tx are you starting? For how long?

as for joint pain, it may or may not be from the HCV itself. Have you ever been tested for RA?:

"It is common for HCV-positive patients to have related rheumatic diseasesproblems affecting the muscles, joints and connective tissue.
The HCV infection often has no symptoms (what you feel)."

Read more here: https://www.rheumatology.org/Practice/Clinical/Patients/Diseases_And_Conditions/HCV_and_Rheumatic_Disease/

clovers 04/27/2014

@WarriorGal, I have never been test for RA, was supposed to take a bone density test but lost my insurance just got a new primary have appt on may 7th will cover every medical issue and what you say is true we don't deteriorate from hcv but from the other medical problems that arrive due to the hcv, I totally forgot thanks
I am starting the Olysio150mg, Solvaldi 400mg and Riv 1200mgs
do you think if I do have RA problems they can will get better if i get rid of hcv? sure do hope so...

ImKramer 04/27/2014

Congrats clovers. I am geno 1b too and failed IFN/Riba.
I am on the second week of treatment with Sovalda and Olysio (we call Olysio Galexos in Canada) for 12 weeks. It's a piece of cake!
I don't wish to put any doubts in your head as it is a very effective treatment. I only question why you are having to take the Ribavirin too? More and more Drs are now no longer using Riba as it made very little if any difference in treatment outcomes. Your Dr. may still feel differently though but latest trial results are basically saying the same thing.
You may have already had this discussion but if you haven't you may want to discuss it.
Again, not trying to create any problems for you but it's good that you know.
Take a little time to look through the study results here:
http://www.ic-hep.com/hepperspectives/aasld2013/library/PPTs/COSMOS_Study.pdf

ImKramer 04/27/2014

BTW I am stage 4 cirrhotic too and was told that Ribavirin was no longer being used with these two drugs

vabuttafly 04/27/2014

Congrats!

clovers 04/27/2014

@ImKramer I will be discussing the Riva with my doc this week I checked out the link very interesting, the only thing I could think of is that since I failed tx b4 with the inter/riva she's trying to give me every chance possible no matter how lil it is. If I'm understanding it right it's showing that the triple tx is working just a tad better for svr and I do a small difference. must think about side effects tho will discuss with dr. thank you so much for link will take copy with me...
Lucy

allaboutliving 04/28/2014

So glad the meds were approved & have arrived for you. I'm curious about the riba being prescribed with Sol/Olysio. Didn't seem to make a significant improvement for SVR with riba in the cocktail but I'd want to have the best shot at success having failed tx twice myself. Will be curious to hear what your doc says. Wishing you SVR this go around.

deleted_user 05/01/2014

Saw my Dr. On Tuesday and after 2 weeks of tx my VL is 27 just plain 27. Im not getting my hopes up too high but this looks promising!

MLTTexas 05/01/2014

So am I right that the Sovaldi and Olysio won't help the cirrhosis?

ImKramer 05/01/2014

Marilyn the Sovaldi and Olysio are only th address the HCV and get rid of it. It has no effect on the state of Cirrhosis. That being said if we get the virus to stop chewing up on our livers, it can begin to regenerate.
The more healthy liver cells there are the faster the regeneration can take place. Those of us with Cirrhosis don't have many liver cells left to regenerate so actual reversal is possible but very very slow if at all.
Hope that helps

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