has the Olysio been prescribed for you yet? I don't know that there is anyone here on sovaldi and Riba, let alone on those two and had to be taken off Riba.

Yes the Olysio has been forwarded to my insurance company for approval. Just waiting on them. I think they may just lower my dosage to 400 mgs of Ribavirin if they don't pull me off of it for the month. I guess 400 mgs of Ribavirin will still work till I'm approved for Olysio.

400 is lower than I've ever heard of - not to say it's not viable. How much are/were you taking? I was lowered to 600mg to alleviate anemia.

Hi Billy: so sorry to hear of your anemia. I had the same reaction, but they did give me a "recue drug" called Procrit, which helped a tiny bit.
I cant remember if you are Genotype 1 or 2?
I dont know anybody from my Home Group, who is treating solely with Sovaldi. I believe you will have to take it with the low-dose Riba, until your Olysio arrives. Hang in there, and make sure not to exert yourself at all physically. Anemia causes there to be less oxygen in the blood, going to the heart, so there is more chance of heart attack

I had neupogen shots 2x a wk to deal with the anemia but my txs did not include Solvadi. My understanding is that you won't need riba with the off-label Solvadi/Olysio. The lowest I've known docs to go with lowering the riba is to 600 mgs.

Solvadi alone, mono care, is definitely not recommended. So sorry you have had to go through the transfusions & are struggling with the anemia. Hope you can change course & replace the riba with Olysio. So cool that your doc is willing to do that for you.

Are you undetectable yet? I was just reading some articles about Ribavirin, and if you have gone undetectable, it is safe to reduce the Ribavirin dosage if you get anemia and it won't negatively affect your SVR according to the studies.
However like allaboutliving said it's not a good idea to just take Sovaldi alone while waiting for the Olysio, any longer than necessary.

An interesting side note, in studies, those who developed anemia had a higher SVR (success rate) than those who did not develop anemia.

Solvaldi alone will not work

I did treatment two years ago with Incivek, Ribavirin and Interferon. My doc had to reduce my Riba from 1200mg to 1000mg per day after my HGB dropped below 9, and that seemed to fix everything.

A small number of people do not tolerate Riba at all, and have to stop taking it. It would not be very effective on its own, but there are studies showing that people have been cured even after drastic reductions in Ribavirin dosing, or discontinuing it completely. It MAY be that many people could be cured with far less Riba, but who wants to take that chance? So the standard is to take as much as you can tolerate.

I don't know anything about Sovaldi or Olysio, but I do know that the drug I took - Incivek - could not be stopped. If you did stop, your body developed an immunity to it, and you couldn't start it again. If that is true for your drugs as well, that is the only issue I would be worried about.

though this thread is older I just was told yesterday by my doc ( I began Sovaldi /Riba 1 1/2 weeks ago ) that if I am anemic , he can reduce my Riba (my first BW during tx is in 2 days) He said it would be ok, b/c it seems to be , that for people who get the low RBC (?) /anemia from Riba , still have the same cure rate as those on higher dose, (I meant to say if the Riba needs to be lowered)
he said for some reason it seems clear that when your red blood cells are lowered , your body is fighting the virus even better.

oh and again it was long time ago the question the OP asked but no, you cannot take just the Sovaldi. the paperwork that comes with it, clearly states do not take it alone.
also same is true of Ribavirin.

peace

I am taking Sov /riba for two weeks on uesday tuesday and I get my first bloodwork done then onthe olc soc I got severe anemia and had to have iron infusions . I have only heardof riba being reduced to 600mg (half of what I take at the moment ...I was warned NOT to take the sovaldi Without the riba but mostpeople I know did ok ona reduced dose
hope it is sorted soon
Jan

omg......it is so ironic actually posted on here in the past week ......and yesterday I am told by nurse (my doctor is out of town for a month!) that I need to immediately stop the Riba , completely, and to just take the Sovaldi alone until I get a CBC in a week.
I am scared, concerned, depressed and angry because the last thing my doc said last week when I saw him was he believed I am an early anemia patient (my first BW during tx, was on Friday7-24) and he told his nurse even though he was going on vacation that same day, he wanted her to check on my lab results on Monday, and to contact him with it, so he could advise her to tell me how to continue. She dropped the ball. I called HER on Tuesday, (yesterday) had to leave message. when she called back she said don't take any more Riba.....your rbc (?) has crashed, hard.
I told her, I just got done taking my dose........she almost had a cow. She said if I take it, I could die.
she said she'd find another doc to consult with. She called me back later and said for me to quit the Riba completely for a week and to keep taking the Sovaldi. I had a thousand questions about how you are not supposed to do that , and what is my blood counts, etc. She said something about an 13.3, 8.5, and 25.7 I know one of those is hemocrit (? sp)and not sure what else. she mumbles a lot on phone. After reading the post from bivalve, I am wondering if it is the hemoglobin of mine that is at 8.5. Probably. I wonder why I cannot just lower the riba instead of stopping ....I am trying to get her to get ME copies of these results (since she is so bad at communicating and I need to stay on top of this, I can see that) I don't know that the doc she is consulting with , is giving correct advice MY doc at that practice, is the only one who deals with the HepC patients/treatment. He told me so himself, and the nurse admitted it, too, that the others are not as educated on tx for it. as far as OP /BillyVaughn, I wonder how it turned out for him.....anyone know ?

in case anyone comes across this rather old thread here, i'd like to add to what i posted a few months ago..
after becoming too anemic , and had to go with the Ribavirin for about 2 weeks (? honestly i do not recall exactly how long but 1-2 weeks i think )
and i was told to keep taking the sovaldi each day , and NO ribavirin......
until my blood work came back up-
after going through it all and me crying and worrying , as it was opposite of every bit of info on it i had ever read........finally the substitute doctor shared, that he had looked into it and found research that indicates it is ok for patients on sovaldi to go without the ribavirin for up to a certain lenght of time.
i wish i could exactly what i was told but i was going through a rough time and don't recall everything said.
bottom line, it is ok , temporarily.......
oh, and when they did add back the ribavirin, i was told to take
a lowered dose----and that dosage changed, up and down over the course of my treatment........each time i'd get my CBC done, if i was getting too anemic , or getting over the anemia, a bit, the dose of riba would be adjusted.
so , i have been on it at the beginning of 1200 mg a day, and at different times, i was on it at 600 mg a day , but also 400 mg a day.
the speciality pharmacy explained it to me before my doctor did, how that works.......when they add back it can range anywhere in that amount , between 400 mg a day , divided dose//// to 800 mg per day, divided.

i think i am saying that right.