TOPIC:

Ahhhh..
Inchgalbraith...
The old family stronghold on Loch Lomond.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchgalbraith

M

Aye, you can't beat that warming wail of the bagpipes in the distance...

I think yer's names spelt LEFFE!! Nae LIFE!

Voloro -

GOOD CRACK Wullie!

I'm still cacking meself.

And amazed that V's VL can jump from .2m to 6.9m in 13 days.

You funny bugger Wullie! Great laff

And I'm with Joy - incredible viral jump in such a short time. Just goes to show what a perniciously virulent bastard the virus is.

Yes, Thank You Vororo I haven't had such a good laugh in ages
Like 2b I actually started having no trouble all reading/translating

This has been an interesting visit!
I'm planning on being abstinent through Tx. I'm used to a few vinos at night though. I'm doing my best....

Hi folks,

Oor Wullie here!

If ye ken remember, last yere ma luvver enzyme livels were up an doon like Wee Eck's yo-yo, an ma maw wis gettin fed up me praktisin ma cattapult in the front room cus ah wusnae aloud tae sit in the Drumnadrochit wi ma paw onymore on account o the virus. She'd aye be tellin me tae up an dae ma haemwurk or awae an plai in the traffic wi ma frends. But a didna reely hae much enerjy for ony a thayse thungs onymore.

So in the end, me an Wee Jeemie went on-line an foond a super solushun in Australia. An fae the sake o ma poor old maw's porcelin, me an the lads had a whip-roon an we decidid tae awa doon the offy evry nite durin ma treetment. Anyway, its now three munths later, an a jus thoot I'd gie a wee up-date on the latest results fae ma wee eksperiment wie the swalley.

Date	AST	ALT	GGT	Lipase	V-Load	Comment
10-nov-15	82	133	52	135	1.9M	Started FixHepC Sof+Dac
01-dec-15	47	63	46	74		So far so good...
10-dec-15	47	58	44		< 15	Crivvens! Its reely workin!
03-feb-16	30	26	30	105	UND	EOT - Sléinte!!

As ye can see fae the tabel, the Sof+Dac has wurked jus perfeckly. Ah ma luvver enzymes are bak tae normel an even the GGT has come rite doon, despite ah the swalleyin wi me pals. So I can only sae tha the good Dr James was absolutly rite (drinking alcohol will not adversely impact your treatment). An at leest in my case, ma wee eksperiment shows that swalleyin durin the treetment had absolutly no negative effect (an in fact it helped tae keep me sane durin the stress o waitin for the figgers tae come oot). OK, its ony n=1, and so not very "sientifik", but that's plenty good enuff for me!

So if there are ony other doktors reedin this, I'd jus like tae sae that ye shoodnae be botherin yer pashents wi stupit questions aboot alcohol. Ye shood jus get on wie it an treet them ah, jus like the Good Dr James does!

Anyway, ma maw and paw are absultly delited that am back tae ma usuel tricks, even tho they've had tae buy me a nyu pair of dungarees cos I've put on neerly half a stane (which is aboot 4Kg in forrin money). An ma girlfren Primrose is also super-happy that I am kyured an have ma enerjy back (wink). But she still beets me at fitba, which is a bit of a dooner. Still, naebody's perfek!

So I'd jus like tae say I'm awffy grateful tae Dr James and the rest of the FixHepC team! As well as treetin thoosands o folks aroon the wurld, which is nae meen feet, yev also fixed up one o Scotland's favorite icons! So if yer ever visitin Scotland, yed be maer then welkome to join ma wee gang!

Sláinte!!
(Scottish toast)

V....excellent downward trend. You are an inspiration for those that wanted real numbers
posted. But peeps are different and have different reactions to many different things.
You might have posted it, but could tell us again what amount of alcohol and frequency
you are following.

I started tx three days ago. I cut down on my alcohol to 1-2 drink per night. I have enough
meds to continue treatment longer if after 4 weeks there is no significant improvement.

Interesting to note though is that the generic sof/led is very powerful and the effect of
alcohol and other prescription meds are not felt as readily as before....at least that is
what I have experienced. I will post my results as time passes.

Good to hear you are making significant progress and congrats on UND EOT......e.

Hi Re-roll,

You're right, I didn't post exact numbers for the booze. On a beer-day, it is typically 3 small beers (3x1.3 = 4 UK units) or 1/2 bottle of wine (4.5 units). On a non-beer day it is 0 or 1 small beer (yes, I know!...). I have had several party-nights, maybe about one every three weeks recently where we go out or have people in. Always a lot of empty wine bottles afterwards! But always spread over the whole evening, and always with lots of food. These days, I am very aware that after such evenings I am in amazingly good shape the next morning, compared a year ago I would have been wiped out the next day (in fact, a year ago, I only ever had a glass or two at parties because I knew that otherwise I would pay for it afterwards...).

Putting it all together, I am probably drinking at least something on 5 or 6 days out of 7, and averaging about 25-28 units per week. I believe most doctors in the UK recommend not to regularly exceed 28 units/week. So I think am within "safe" limits.

Anyway, at first, I put all my figures in a table just for myself because it helps to show up any trends. And then, why not just put them all on-line? Many of us put the key numbers in our signatures anyway...

Maybe now we take it for granted that many people will get to <15 or UND at 4 weeks. But what really surprised me was that while 6 months off the booze last year brought down the GGT by about 15 points to 50 (almost touching "normal"), just 3 months of Sof+Dac(+Booze) dropped the GGT by an additional 20 points down to 30.

In the FAQ (fixhepc.com/kunena-2015-11-10/faq.html), it says that "GGT will probably remain elevated if you are drinking during treatment, but that's the booze not the bug."

In my own little experiment (n=1), it certainly looks like its the bug, not the booze...

Anyway, here's to sensible drinking...

Cheers,

Anyway, here's to sensible drinking...

Reading this post I noticed I had not paid my daily subscription to the French Paradox .

With that oversight now successfully corrected, nice glass of Barossa Shiraz (Pepperjack) standing sentinel by my side, I recall that we are not the first to notice the benefits.....

"Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy." - Benjamin Franklin

This is usually paraphrased as "Beer is proof that God loves us"

One of the things that has always fascinated me about public health is the notion that longevity is king. What about quality of life?

Now the upmarket version of this is:

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln

Mum has a more succinct take on it

"Life is not a trial run" - Mum

But the one I remember best came from a bus driver who found me online and wanted to continue his testosterone supplementation. Now at the time the party line view was that testosterone kills men early (it's since been found that the men with the lowest levels of testosterone have the highest rates of cardiovascular death) so I gave him the party line about the risk and he told me:

"You know the problem with you doctors is that you want to add 5 years to the end of my life. I'll tell you what I know, those years aren't the best years. If we were talking adding 5 years to my 30's you'd have my full and undivided attention. What testosterone does for me is improve my sex life, improve my mood, and improve the quality of my life right now. I'm happy to take the risk."

He was not a muscle up gym junkie so I wrote the script, and that was probably at the very beginning of the journey that led me here....

Then again maybe it was this slogan that was on my favourite tshirt until it wore out

To hell with Arkansas...
I'm moving to Tasmania....

Agreed 110% about quality over quantity, Dr F. The "living on the edge " quote is a good one.
Life is too short as many of us are experiencing now as we get older. I always thought that I
would die with HCV, not because of it. HCV was going to be another final "edge" until Greg
Jefferys and FixHepC appeared in my life. I have seen the final edge 4 or 5 times in my lifetime.

Luck, fate, destiny, karma, etc has been my partner my whole life. I've always had cats(and dogs)
as pets growing up. Cats only now, but the 9 lives thing...I can relate too.

My decision to drink sensibly while on treatment is my decision and mine only. I have vetted and
done my due diligence on the topic. Everyone on or soon to be on treatment must make their own
decision , notwithstanding the medical profession. 99.9% of them will say "DON'T". Dr F is one of
the .1%.

I am keeping a log/journal on my alcohol intake for the next 12 weeks and the results of my lab
results like Vororo. They will be posted as time goes on.

aaaa, hell...i drank wine...i been drinking wine, im drinking some wine right now and ....I like red wine....its damn hard to find good red wine in this country, but Im going to keep trying seems like what they send over here from other places is the dregs, (I don't blame them, keeping the good stuff close to home is an old tradition)....

but if anyone could recommend me a nice dry red wine from Australia,(that stuff Dr. Freeman is drinking sounds nice, probably can't find it here)
or anywhere else that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, I would appreciate that lots.

oh yea, just got back my tests from 1 week after EOT, and still UND!!! (red wine and all)

Dr James, you have a wonderful attitude to life.

You make so much sense in everything you say or suggest, & so caring on top of it all.

You'd make a perfect Prime Minister.

Wouldn't Australia be a better place if that could be possible.

But bet you'd hate it! You wouldn't have enough time to do all your living on the edge stuff!!
But I'd definitely vote for you

Cindi x

... While we're on the subject of sensible drinking, you've gotta hand it to the aussies