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.
I have come on the forum before.......been dragging my feet, making excuses. Ok so maybe my fear is worse than what I am afraid of......I was reading a post called Starting Treatment Soon !, by "my jimmy" it was on 6-11-15 ....I was going to post a reply there but realized I will get more notice if I make this new post.
I finally chose a start day, for tomorrow, July 10, 2015
I am going to be on Solvadi /Ribavirin
I am genotype 2, have had HCV for about 30 years maybe. approximately.
I won't be able to see & ask Doc questions until the 17th.
his nurse will talk to me if need her.
but the thing is when he first told me about the tx, and requested it of my insurance, he totally expected them to deny it at first , then make appeal and so forth. so he & I were surprised that I was approved immediately and the meds were delivered a couple day later....but then doc told me via the nurse, to not take it YET..........I had some extra testing done he wanted me to wait for that.
not only do I have depression & anxiety already, ( I am on anti depressants and ativan ) but from reading in the past (here) about hepC tx, I have so much anxiety .............I can't believe I even got the nerve to look into the tx..........I had long ago said I would not do it. But my counselor and my RA doctor kept telling me I should find out about the new tx. the RA doc cannot help my pain any better , due to the HepC
and now, I just was told by my liver doc , I have cirrhosis
So , I need a village to help me. I need someone to give me hope and support. I like that you all don't hide the truth.
my husband died last year.......not because of the HepC but I'm sure it did not help. I am doing this for me, for our dog who needs me but of course, for myself .... Or so I should. I have an easier time doing things for other people than myself.
thanks all.
.
I finally chose a start day, for tomorrow, July 10, 2015
I am going to be on Solvadi /Ribavirin
I am genotype 2, have had HCV for about 30 years maybe. approximately.
I won't be able to see & ask Doc questions until the 17th.
his nurse will talk to me if need her.
but the thing is when he first told me about the tx, and requested it of my insurance, he totally expected them to deny it at first , then make appeal and so forth. so he & I were surprised that I was approved immediately and the meds were delivered a couple day later....but then doc told me via the nurse, to not take it YET..........I had some extra testing done he wanted me to wait for that.
not only do I have depression & anxiety already, ( I am on anti depressants and ativan ) but from reading in the past (here) about hepC tx, I have so much anxiety .............I can't believe I even got the nerve to look into the tx..........I had long ago said I would not do it. But my counselor and my RA doctor kept telling me I should find out about the new tx. the RA doc cannot help my pain any better , due to the HepC
and now, I just was told by my liver doc , I have cirrhosis
So , I need a village to help me. I need someone to give me hope and support. I like that you all don't hide the truth.
my husband died last year.......not because of the HepC but I'm sure it did not help. I am doing this for me, for our dog who needs me but of course, for myself .... Or so I should. I have an easier time doing things for other people than myself.
thanks all.
.
mommato2lilmonkeys
http://bit.ly/1HmbIHw
mommato2lilmonkeys
I have cirrhosis & also am a widow.
I see the gastro in Aug, we'll see about another treatment. I'm going to be around here for quite awhile, obviously. I promise to look for your posts and will support you through this. You are welcome to read my journals.
I feel so clueless . so today is my day. have not yet taken the pills but only b/c I have my usual meds to take in morning , one being a very extremely important one , each day of my life........and don't know if Solvadi/Riba stuff will make me throw up my other stuff.
I don't even know where I read it (was it the massive tiny print papers that came with the meds ??) something about separately the tx meds from other prescriptions by 3 hours or something ? I feel very unready but know I need to make the first step. I think my main fears is all the other rx's I take and is there going to be some issue with something not working right now, or making me ill.
the doctor and the pharmacy that mailed me the S & R meds , did look at all my rx's . Just fyi.
I was also give a chart at the times I should take my meds, what days to go for bloodwork, etc.
Don't read too much about those side effects, I made myself crazier.
I never threw up at all and I have a very weak stomach. It is NOT like the OLD treatments of the past, which I did try but was not able to complete.
Make yourself a schedule of times to take your meds (I had to take mine after having food in my stomach).
Maybe this will also help, many including myself continue to get much better with our pain as time goes on. My muscles no longer burn. I do have RA, but not severe. Everything in my body is slowly getting better. I finished treatment Sept 2014.
Keep coming to this site and posting, ask all questions.
MJ
Mj, I did not realize that about my profile. I'll try to fix it but feeling a bit off at the moment plus had been on a long phone call prior to this.......which always makes me feel unwell..(meaning I am not a phone person esp. with talks about ME)
God bless my niece though ; she was worried about me .......I will have to be more careful how I share things with her.
she is an adult ( ie. , not a kid)
but I don't want her worried like that.
I found drinking lots of water, limiting sugar, salt and fat intake helped me.
I took Harvoni and Riba and had anxiety and depression to start with also. Anxiety got a whole lot worse but I think it is because I couldn't stop eating sweets while I was on treatment.
Also have arthritis and of course the sweets did a real number on it. I was a total mess about a month after treatment but it was only then that I found out that arthritis is diet related (you think the doctor would have told me that !!).
I definitely think the more you get your arthritis under control, the easier your treatment will be. I ended up having to get off 2 anti-depressants and my anti-inflammatory (after treatment) after I had a bad reaction to something. And it was only at that point that I started to realize the co-relation between diet and arthritis and to my surprise discovered it was related.
Anyway I'm working on my diet every date - it's hit and miss - some days I can hardly walk but I refuse to stay that way.
Good luck with tx - interested to know how it goes.
Prayers
Bill
whew man ! I won't make that mistake again. It seems the daytime is not bad really , if I keep moving and just drink the water and rest when i really have to.
the night time Riba was not an issue if I take pharmacy advice to take before sleep at bedtime so I can sleep through that exhaustion.
so basically so far exhaustion is my most noticable problem. I think of those who went before me, bravely and did the former tx's.....and I can only say to myself "just woman up " and if they can handle that , you can handle this.
So nice to have new folks here to chat with.
I have been on the viekera pac with the ribavirian 20 weeks so far.
It hasn't been too bad but the riba may cause you some side effects. Mine have been mainly insomnia.
I take whatever i can to get sleep. My pharmacist told me ok to take melatonin, L-triptaphan, and i have a script for ativan which i only take 3 nights a week as it can be very addicting. Even with all that i still struggle getting to sleep. I hope your side effects are mild.
I also experienced some mild anemia.
All in all to be rid of this awful virus that is trashing our precious livers is well worth it.
I did miss a dose or two of the riba and my pharmacist assured me not to worry as the riba is just for making the other drugs work in our systems longer, Harvoni, solvidi, or as in my case the vikeris pac.
Let us know how it goes, we are here for you to get help and give it.
I have soo been helped by the loving support of these people here. Thank you all.