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I agree Fitz this forum has good oil and good people
Hoping your tx is chugging along smoothly
Splashes from Ariel

As Larry would say: "Time to git 'er done!!"
Happy for you!
m

Thank you Mike, and Ariel! I would say your support means more than you know - but you know how much it means!

An important milestone today. After fencing for two days with gatekeepers, my specialist called.

She was very interested to learn about the medication (after all, it was she who had prescribed Sof/Led). I explained to her it was manufactured by Mylan (with whom I know she is familiar), that it is identical to the medication she prescribed, and she just said "Well, we need to get you in for labs two weeks from the date you started treatment. The 8th, right?" I confirmed that, and that I had medication for 12 weeks. She then said "OK, I will let my team know that you will be in on the 22nd for tests, and I'll have them get you on a testing schedule". I said "Great!". Then she said "I'm glad you got it". I thanked her for calling, and for her support, and then I hung up and said "YESSSS!!!!"

I had a backup plan for testing, but I'm so grateful I won't have to use it. Will post results as they become available!

Hey fitz! Just came from yer post on my blog to yours.. Isn't it wonderful when you find that there are really caring people in this world DESPITE those who subscribe to the, I won't reveal any names here ... but their initials are "G I L E A D" philosophy of life. No description necessary

That is great! I hope to be getting this as well. I am not going to give up.
Keep us posted.

Time to get well, Sven!

It is your life on the line. Don't let anyone talk you out of saving it, brother!

Bottom Line Sven, if you want to get rid of the HCV, you can.
REDEMTPTION, Incepta and Mesochem are my personal "top three" picks for people in the US.
All are great options, but REDEMTPTION is my recommendation if $1500-1600 is manageable. The guaranteed delivery is a big plus, however I am not aware of any delivery issues with any of the above. If Customs does decide to take an interest in your shipment, Monk Med will do whatever it takes to get the package into your hands. In addition, REDEMTPTION participants are adding their treatment data to a study that is out to prove to the world that generic DAAs can eradicate HCV without breaking the bank. Then there is the advice and support of the GP2U team. One really can't say enough about how wonderful they are down there.
If $1500-1600 is simply not doable then Incepta or Mesochem can cut the price in half. Same quality meds, but not the other fringe benefits offered by REDEMTPTION.
A solid supply chain is vital. All three have it.
Get well!
m

Day 7, one week into treatment:

This morning after finishing my coffee, I headed to the medicine cabinet with a glass of water and took the seventh of eighty four pills. I will take one pill each day for the next seventy seven days. As I looked at the pill in my hand, I reflected on the fact that a branded pill chemically identical to this one is $1,100 here in the US. The single pill in my hand containing the very same lifesaving medications, vetted, lab tested, sourced from a top pharmaceutical manufacturer in India, through the REDEMPTION 3 Trials, was $19.

I thought about that for a moment. This entire course of lifesaving treatment costs pharmaceutical companies about $100 to make. The entire course of treatment had cost me US $1,600 ( US $19.04 per tablet). The math is simple. I paid 16 times the production cost for my treatment, a handsome figure of 1,600% over cost that would allow any manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer along the supply chain to defray advertising, marketing, and distribution costs, and still make healthy margins, and deliver lifesaving medications at reasonable value to the customer.

What then makes $1,100, an eleven thousand percent markup, for the same medications delivered in a similarly sized pill, a "good value"? Nothing. Because at $1,100 per pill (for) me the medication might as well be on Pluto, or the other side of the moon.

There is no way I could possibly pay that price for a course of treatment from my own pocket, and my insurance company would not provide it to me until I was at deaths door - so effectively, for me it was unobtainable. Until I found Dr. Freeman, and through him the Redemption 3 trials, I was fucked, plain and simple.

So every morning since beginning treatment, I look at that pill with a sense of wonder that this is even possible, and with that feeling is a sense of gratitude, because how fortunate am I? Fortunate beyond words.

After waiting a year to see a specialist, and being denied treatment - I got scared. Really scared. They were going to give me something cheaper. Something that damages the liver during treatment, and that was 'OK' with them. Because at F3 (which is actually pretty bad), I still had enough healthy tissue to sustain some damage. And If that treatment had not worked, or maybe even if it had, I would have advanced to F4 and then Cirrhosis, at which point I would qualify for 'the good stuff, the Rolls Royce treatment, which here in the US, only the wealthiest, and the sickest have any hope of receiving.

Scared came just after shocked, and disappointed. After that, I got angry, and anger let to action. I scoured Hep C forums for information, and saw some discussion of generics. Most of the information I found initially was useless, because it simply funneled me back into the Cirrhosis queue, but eventually I found Dr Freeman, and Fix Hep C, and Gregg Jeffrey's blog, and Mike Galbraith's email address,

Then it was down to choices, and that was frankly excruciating. Reaching out required me to go far outside of my comfort zone, my safe space, and take a chance on leveling with and relying upon strangers, people I didn't know, and had no experience with.

I had hidden the presence of this disease since diagnosis, except at the very beginning, when I learned my friends would reflexively recoil and treat me like a leper. After that, I told no one. Those I had told, were led to believe that the awful interferon therapy had been successful. Its terrible to have to live a lie like that, but I had a family, a business, and friends, people that I loved - and I could not bear the thought, or stigma of living forever more as an 'untouchable'. I had learned the hard way that when people know, they stop seeing you as a complete human being. You instantly become something else. Something less. There is always that unspoken distance, an unseen barrier. That is the loneliest feeling I have ever experienced - and it is not one I wanted ever to experience again.

But I reached out, first to Dr. Freeman who was unbelievably caring and present, and who answered all of my questions, and then to Mike Galbraith, who shared his experience with me, and who's confidence, and recovery inspired me to move forward. That is how I came here.

Seven days in, I am experiencing some of the typical side effects one learns are associated with Sof/Led DAA treatment. The physical stuff (mild occasional headache, initial fatigue, brain fog, mild insomnia) is a cake walk compared to the chemo-like effects of Interferon. What was surprising, and unexpected was the eruption of emotion I experienced about three days in. I can only describe it as a kaleidoscopic emotional mix of everything imaginable, with an overlay of sullen irritability, which I tried to, but didn't quite manage to keep to myself. Whether the emotional stuff is a side effect of the medication, or simply a decompression of long suppressed feelings of anger, anxiety, etc., I don't know. Things have settled down though, and I'm grateful for that.

Physically, I'm feeling better. Not dramatically better, just... better. My eyes seem to be clearer, and a couple of odd patches on my skin are clearing as well.

Two week labs (bloods) will be drawn in seven or eight days. I used to dread blood tests, because there was never much good news. Whatever news is forthcoming, I will share in this thread.

Dear Fitz,

Please multiply the " thank you" given to you with 1000 at least.
I enjoyed reading your post, but I also got sad because what you wrote, especially the before tx experience, is a true and sad experience that many had. Things should be much more simple.

Perhaps at this Saga it should be added that making the choice for generics is by far not so simple and obvious: once you finally get convinced that you have a good chance with generics, you need to convince family, perhaps friends, and your doctor about the choice you made and ..... it is not always so easy. At least this was my experience. After having found out about Harvoni, I spent one crazy month searching for information, options, switching extremely from being optimistic to being pesimistic, etc. And yes, talking wih Dr. Freeman as well as with Greg made a difference. I started to gain confidence and be better informed.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to post information on fixhepc. It is vital !!!!!

Last but not least: Good luck with the tx, you are on a good track! The side effects are not so hard as when taking IF+RIB and you will be better day after day.

Cheers
RHF

Oh, so well said fitz,
I did the same thing and feel the same way and continue to, daily after 28 days since SOT
I just wanna add that when I get to thinking about the price "the nameless one" is charging, I think, this little pill is sooo very precious, almost priceless you could easily say ... MAN! Don't drop it down the sink! Why is that toilet seat not CLOSED!!!!
It is, as someone, who shall also remain nameless but who's initials rhyme with fits, said, "It's your (my) life on the line!"
Thanks for your post pal,

MK

Dear Fitz
You have really touched me and I am hijacking your thread to talk about why a random lady (me) was almost dead three years ago not from hepC but from peginf riba
As a white collar who has lost much to fighting a disease I had no idea about.... you have echoed my story; the part about being treated like a leper and people dumping prejudice on us. Also the interferon part. I was pumped with it with no explanation no fibroscan no gene test and a VL of around 400,000 only and in excellent health
I have during and since had to take a huge loan against my house, I have lost my siblings completely, have had no help at all and have also had a huge internal house fire whilst on peginf which was massive and because those meds fried my brain and I forgot the oven was on and I had two daughters to launch in uni and so on. Yes I had to replace whole rooms whilst like a skeleton. I'm still called disgusting names. I'm hepC free but mud sticks and it comes from all sorts of mudholes.
I think it's sad that two things are glaringly in my face and obviously in others faces too
Firstly the fact we have been treated with prejudice
Secondly I am regularly taken for a complete f wit for having interferon so recently and constantly read posts complimenting and affirming people who were educated and getting second opinions and the like. However I had no reason not to trust my doctor at that time, I come from a family full of medicos who then treated me like a leper and refused point blank to engage in ANY way with me when I told them in 2012 my diagnosis and asked for support.
No I simply got sent straight to a private specialist who put me on a supposed cure peginf riba that day and I trusted and I believed
I'm not a doctor I am a teacher and professional cellist. My life has been spent for over 20 years conducting orchestra, teaching the Arts, scholarship cellists and more. Where would I have heard or learned about this illness? Nowhere!
I was new to this whole thing
Now it's so traumatic reading posts about the sheer genius apparently of those who didn't do peginf riba that I see a psych to support me and the ongoing legacy of that negligence in my story.

It's awful, just awful as I am now an activist a helper and a generics promoter. We all want this disease wiped out globally.
I'm thankful you wrote your story at Day 7
I won't hijack your thread again but am relieved that I am not the only one who admits they lost people. Thanks again
I'm emotional too. How can we not be? The mess around this whole illness is enough for anyone who has an ounce of love for humanity to feel emotional
Shakka and peace to you Fitz
Wishing you well and a full cure too, may the weeks fly by fast
Hugs
Ariel

Hugs to you as well Ariel!

Those who don't have, or haven't had Hep C, don't get it and never will. More's the pity for them, the knobs!

The anonymity of this forum, the fantastic people here, and the ability to speak openly to others who understand, is simply irreplaceable. I was more than a little concerned today when there were no Aussies around for close to seven hours. I'm so glad to see that the geoblocking is not keeping OZ off the forum. Its a victory for all of us!

We all took the paths that we took to get here. Hopefully, by sharing our stories openly and honestly, we'll help others move beyond some of the heartache and bullshit they have encountered on the way here.

Sometimes the family we pick are the ones with whom we truly share lasting bonds.

As for hijacking the thread, you didn't. You are always welcome to share on this thread anytime Ariel. Its good to be among friends!

Fitz

Hi Fitz,

Aussies are still here they just need to sleep occasionally.


The geoblocking only applies to three parts of the site that the TGA may consider to be advertising. The majority of the site and forum is still available to Australian members and guests for advice and support regarding HCV.

Great post Fitz. Yep, there's been hell to pay. But now, here we are.

Lovely post, Fitz.
You will realise more benefits to treatment as time goes on.
It's quite amazing the way a disease messes with your mind and turn you into a different person without you knowing it.