TOPIC:

Blood Pressure – If Hepatitis C causes a significant amount of liver scarring, portal hypertension can develop. Blockage of the blood vessels due to liver damage inhibits blood flow through the liver and causes high pressure (portal hypertension)
After EOT is it possible this condition /hypertension/ to improve?

Can anybody share personal experience on that topic?
It will be greatly appreciated

Hello Murr,

Yes it will probably improve.

Cirrhosis consists of 2 things - necro-inflammation (dying liver cells being attacked by your own body) which are then replaced by fibrous tissue.

On treatment the virus is suppressed or completely killed to the driver of the inflammation goes away.

Inflammation is a generic response involving cells and extra blood and fluid - the red swelling you see around an injury that is healing on your skin is inflammation. The cardinal signs of inflammation are dolor, rubor, calor (Latin for swollen, red and hot)

Anyway if you consider balloons being expanded in a mesh that's a bit what it's like. Not healthy and quite squeezy in there. The liver becomes tight and rigid. If you "deflate" the balloons the liver relaxes a bit and as a result blood flow through it improves.

Hazel Heal is a patient at SVR24 who started @ 40 kPa on fibroscan and is now 9.5 kPa. This is a stellar results but most patients see progressive improvement with SVR.

This is largely academic because what you want, and what you get is this:




SVR leads to a massive reduction in all causes mortality.

Murr wrote: Blood Pressure – If Hepatitis C causes a significant amount of liver scarring, portal hypertension can develop. Blockage of the blood vessels due to liver damage inhibits blood flow through the liver and causes high pressure (portal hypertension)
After EOT is it possible this condition /hypertension/ to improve?

Can anybody share personal experience on that topic?
It will be greatly appreciated

Thanks for bringing up this topic Murr
BP is definitely one sx I had from peginf and it certainly rose during DAA tx but not as serious as on peginf
On peginf and post peginf it swung between 120/70 and 220/120. I was tested for Wenegers and various other issues but no, no underlying issue. I do extreme sport every week I am extremely fit. My heart rate is around 65.
I'm post SVR24.
My BP has recently gone up again and I am back on the meds that were recommended whilst on Generic Harvoni.
After one week on these meds my bp has dropped from 160/95 to 115/75.
Nothing else has changed in my lifestyle and I have been physically active including surfing for over five hours in one session.
I'm keeping an eye on my bp with my GP.
A home monitor was a great investment
I'm sure there are other stories about bp and we are all made differently.
I'm NOT in the business of scaring people but I wanted to be honest about bp and the continued stabilisation of same in my case.
The most important thing is that I feel fantastic I actually can't believe how great it is now I am HCV free I keep thinking "is this what it's like to really live!"
My message here is just a caution that yes I have to keep an eye on bp ever since peginf and it did pop up a bit on DAAs
It's all a long process but worth it
Ariel
* note
I have had all scans etc including aorta and portal

Dear Dr. Freeman and Ariel,
Reading your messages today brought me a lot of hope, I what to say THANK YOU! (and )

I,m personally struggling with BP almost 2 and half years. It's not related to the treatment at all. I have had all scans etc including aorta and portal too in the hospital. The doctors tried very hard to find what was the reason for my BP and their conclusion was that is stress related.
I Believe it stress and hep C too...
My body never really liked the medicine they gave me at the hospital/I have tried several times to made my doctor change it/ out there are so many diff. kind. I was not a wanker, I just felt funny not like myself anymore.

Now I'm taking 5 mg of Amlodipine and diuretic, I have reduced it to 5 mg from 10 mg because of the side effects like headache and dizziness, some days palpitations and manly fatigue and the one I really hate is slightly swollen ankles.
I have sometimes very good days as before, but mainly days so and so/ feeling tired and down/.
When I,m calm my BP is normal, but If I,m not it's totally different matter, like my anxiety it's taking over me .

I brought this topic is because I want to stop BP medicine eventually and I was wondering if somebody had similar issues?
My hope is, if I keep up been HCV free after treatment, this condition can resolved by itself - improvement of liver may help to improve the condition of other systems of the body... and the body as whole. ....Just it's going to take a some time.
How naive is that or may be not?

Pardon my English, i,m not a native speaker, can you make sense of what I,m trying to say?


P.S. My liver is not cirrhotic, before treatment my F.scan was 9,2 and LFT relatively low, ALT41, AST41.

I just finished my SOFOSBUVIR+LEDIPASVIR one week ago and I will do VL and LFT 4 weeks after EOT to check how things are going so far.
I,m positive and happy that I took this path - one pill per day for 12 weeks.
In the first month I had some headaches and insomnia, but now, looking back, It was a related to my anxiety and being worried if the drugs will work for me.
WHAT Now? I am heading now to SVR12 and I hope to reach it !

I must thank Dr. James Freeman, Greg Jefferys, Monk med - Tim and Dr. Debasis for finding a way, and making a cure possible for all of us around the world who so desperately need it, and supporting us during the treatment. Also many thanks to all of you who posted messages on this forum sharing your knowledge, experiences and hopes.
I feel so lucky, and once again, so grateful......

Dear Murr
Thanks for sharing your views I agree stress is a factor as I am going through a serious issue in my own family actually so possibly that's another influence.
I'm pretty sure my issues really got triggered by that old peginf riba tx
Like you I will be hoping for my bp to be normal again
There's only so much we can write on any forum but yes stress is defs a factor but also my experience on Harvoni was real and I was not going through the added issue that I carry just now.
I wish you SVR12 and a successful outcome and thank you for writing back it is very kind of you
Sending love from Ariel xx

Hi Murr,

I don't have high blood pressure so I can't share that experience with you but I did want to thank you for posting your story as there is very likely someone who has the same concerns and they will feel a little bit less anxious.

Congratulation on finishing your treatment and everything crossed for your SVR12

Hi Coral,

Thank you very much for your wishes, I,m glad that this post had been helpful for somebody else beside me.

I wish your friend a successful and smooth journey, we all have here a lot of friends !

Murr

Hi Murr,
oh yeah I recognize the tiredness and the swollen ankles sometimes I think its the entire leg!!!! I too have high BP and always figured it was a hereditary problem which it still could be I guess. Now on 4 different meds with a topping of Warfarin to thin the blood!!! Originally on a couple till I realized I could barely make it up the road without becoming breathless. It was super frustrating (not that I do extreme sports like Ariel although surfing down the streets of London could be fun!) being so aware that your body is not working as you would wish it to!!!!

After seeing my GP it turned out my heart was playing up and beating erratically. The name for it is Atrial Fibrillation AF for short much easier to spell for me! Tests have revealed that my heart is in good shape but they cannot tell me what has caused this. I am not for a moment saying that high BP will lead to AF or that AF affects everyone this way, but like high BP I now wonder too if HepC has been the cause of it and am hoping that it will all improve after treatment given time. There are many days I feel bloody fantastic except for the AF giving grief if I overexert! So annoying!!!!

I had not appreciated till coming onto this Forum how HepC causes inflammation of other organs. So much info and so much to learn on here and more importantly hope!

I really hope that your BP settles the longer you go free of this virus. Wishing you slimmed down ankles and no more meds and tiredness.
love and affection
Nadia xxxxx