Hi KarenB,

Feeling a few twinges where your liver is - right side, under the ribs at the top of your abdomen is quite normal. It is indeed your liver shrinking as the damage done by the virus begins to be undone.

With respect to your Kratom use during treatment, did it hinder it? Are you undetectable now? Also, how much were you using a day?

Dear Coral hi,
thanks for your words of encouragement- means so much.

The very thought of the possibility to be clear is so motivating, that it makes me feel better than ever... It's a placebo which comes as a bonus:) - hope that the drugs work too though:) Last couple of days I feel few times per day a tingling sensation on the upper right side, and I am imagining that it's the harvoni beating the virus:)

I look forward the LFT at week 4. Keeping fingers crossed. Will share results here.

Bests!

Hello Nerv02,

Sorry you are worrying.

Either you have been infected with Hep C or you have not. Most people exposed to other people with Hep C do not contract it - you need direct blood to blood contact.

To check for infection we do a Hep C antibody test. If this is negative you have not been infected so stop worrying. If this is positive read on...

25% of people infected with Hep C get rid of it themselves.

To check this we do an HCV PCR RNA test. If this is negative your immune system has cleared the v virus so stop worrying. If it is positive read on...

Ok, so you are infected with Hep C - treatment is easy, not too expensive, and cure rates are 95%

Just walk yourself through the steps and if you need to get treated, well that's what we are here for.

Hi Karen,

I'm happy to hear that you are into your second week and everything is going well. The medications really are the quiet achievers, just going about their business killing the virus and allowing us to go about ours while they do it.

Good luck - it's really such a short time for incredible long term effects.

Coral

Dear Dr. James,
thank you! this what you said sounded very reasuring, i truly hope at the end of this journey, to be among the lucky 90%+ with SVR....

I actually planned to do exactly what you suggest: check the enzymes at week 4.And than maybe do viral load just after week 8,cause this was initially the duration of treatment that i was prescribed by my doctor although then we decided to take the full 12 weeks just to be on the safe side.

looking forward to each of this milestones.

thank you for being here <3

Hi KarenB,

If you want a sneak peek, and assuming your ALT was elevated on your CMP you can just do that. It typically falls to normal within 2 weeks of starting treatment. This is a lot less expensive than a viral load.

There is an 80% chance you will be undetected by the end of week 4, so that's the time to look.

Hell beahavan,

Yes, getting cured substantially reduces the risk of premature death for patients with Hep C but does not entirely eliminate it.

Patients with cirrhosis definitely need regular 6 monthly AFP and Ultrasound. For everyone else, routine checkups are about it.

Accepting that life is a terminal disease, and sexually transmitted at that the basis of good health is pretty simple. Don't smoke, don't be diabetic (or be well treated), don't have high cholesterol (or be well treated) and don't have high blood pressure (or be well treated). These 4 are the major causes of the heart attacks and strokes that carry 60%+ of us out of here.

With your blood pressure, it's fine. 134/73 is not high and is not something requiring treatment. Over 160/90 is high and needs treatment.

Other useful things for health are staying fit and active, maintaining your social relationships, being in the healthy weight range, eating a good variety of fresh food, getting enough sleep, and not drinking too much (note that moderate drinkers live longer people who abstain)

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25207479

Donghee Kim, MD, PhD, of Stanford University School of Medicine reported in Gastroenterology that mortality from cardiovascular disease or diabetes increased among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection after treatment with DAA. This is just one study from one country and it goes on to say that "long-term post-treatment extrahepatic outcomes should be available in the next five years. These data may better elucidate whether the increased extrahepatic mortality risk is higher among successfully treated patients, untreated patients, and the general population."
www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/hepatitis/80742

I am on a low salt and low sugar diet. I walk 3 miles every morning. I am not overweight 5'7" and 140 lbs. I am 68 yrs old. I am concerned about heart health since I have a family history. My blood pressure is a bit high 134/73. My ASCVD risk is 7.8% I have been doing everything I can think of to stay health. I have CBC and Comprehensive Metabolic Panel run twice a year. I am always trying to lean new ways to stay healthy and reduce inflammation.
drweil.com/diet-nutrition/anti-inflammatory-diet-pyramid/dr-weils-anti-inflammatory-diet/
My journey to recovery is ongoing. I am always looking to incorporate new wellness ideas into my life. Hopefully we will stay health together.

Dear Mar,
thanks a lot, I really hope it does its work "behind the scenes"

I first thought to follow my doctors advice to test just 12w after treatment, but Ill probably like to also do a check at some mid point too. I hope for the best & I'll be letting you know. Thank you & bests!

Hello Karen, I'm glad that you didn't feel any side effects at all, the modern Hep C medications are a walk in the park compared to the older Interferon based treatments. Don't worry, the drug is working behind the scenes, most patients don't feel any side effects either, and the cure rate is over 90%. Drinking plenty of water is key here. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for the remaining 11 weeks as well, best of luck.

Hello all,
I'd just like to share that I'm done with week 1 of generic Harvoni pills. Took the 7th one this morning.

Compared to my fears of how treatment will go and what side effects I may face and weather I would be able to keep my daily chores as usual etc etc, I should say that: I dont feel any side effects so far whatsoever.

I take the pill in the morning in the mid of a light breakfast. And than I continue my day with all my usual activities (walking the dog, bike ride to office, working, some light exercise in the afternoon, house chores, evening walk with the dog...) I try to eat healthy balanced meals and drink lots of water, even a bit more than usual, since I picked that advice here from all of you guys:)

Feeling good and hope that to stay unchanged during the next 11 weeks too. I also hope that the pill is still doing some work inside, even though it doesnt show:)

Dear DrJames hi,
thank you for your answer! And thank you for all you've done to make this community, for granting access to information and treatment to people who would have otherwise stayed isolated, hopeless and without a chance to try to heal (because they cant afford or because the health systems in their countries suck)

Glad to hear that Harvoni itself does not impact iron levels.

I also hope that low iron levels don't impact harvoni do its work in next 3 months:)

To your question, I dont have those numbers (ferritin, transferin etc) I have the serum iron levels under the normal range, hemoglobin to the low border of the range.

You are probably right that this is, very likely, linked to heavy periods. I am not taking oral contraceptive and dont intend to. I have avoided any kind of medicines most of my life, specially after being diagnosed with hepc, trying to be tender with the liver, as much as possible:)

I think I already ate healthy so far, but will try to focus on iron rich foods. Much looking forward to better test results in a month, hopefully the enzymes to go down and to be on the right path of killing the bug:) My hepatologist told me to just check enzymes during treatment, and do the HCV RNA only 3 months after Im done, not before. I think I will follow her advice, as I think it would only make me nervous if I overdo it during treatment and dont see yet what I want to see. I will wait to finish and than test. Do you think that's reasonable or any other thought? Cause, I was thinking, whatever the viral load says during treatment, there's nothing much to do about.

Thanks much & many warm regards!

Hi KarenB,

Welcome to the forum.

To answer your questions, first I note you said

My doctor told me that it’s not alarming

So you probably don't really even have to worry. Do you know the ferritin, iron, transferrin and saturation numbers?

Harvoni will not impact your iron level

Iron from animal meat sources is better absorbed than from vegetable sources but the vast majority of vegetarians are not iron deficient so either sort of diet generally works

Iron supplements should only be used if absolutely necessary because they are not natural (and natural tends to be better), they often upset peoples digestion (stomach pains) and they will turn your faeces black. The Iron+Vitamin C ones work best.

Given you are 40 and (from your name) a female it's probable you are still menstruating. For most women who are pre-menopausal and iron deficient, the cause is heavy periods. If you are using an oral contraceptive your periods can be quite safely stopped by skipping the sugar pills and having (say) one period every 6 months when you take the sugar pills. That fixes the problem at the source.

Best of luck with the treatment. It's generally smooth sailing to cure.

Hi Karen, welcome to the forum and congratulations on starting treatment . I understand what you mean by it being like a dream, it's like you can't believe you may finally get rid of Hep C. But with cure rates of over 90% with these modern medications, it will hopefully be a reality very soon.

Regarding side effects, they are generally quite mild. Hazel gave you good advice, drink plenty of water. There is reasonable coverage of what to expect in terms of side effects here: fixhepc.com/treatment-side-effects.html

Dr. Freeman, FixHepC's founder, has described what to expect in a previous thread too, here is what he said :

For most people, it goes like this. For the first few days, you feel something is happening. It's a bit like the feeling you get before you get influenza - you know, that I'm not quite right, but can't put my finger on it.
At this stage, some people (1 in 5) will have a headache and feel a bit unwell (aching joints).
Then it just goes away. This corresponds to the drugs wiping out most of the virus.
Then most people feel better than they have for years.
About 1 in 5 people have problems sleeping, which does make people tired.
Other than that, it's pretty much like taking any other antibiotic. Some people get an upset stomach, the occasional person gets an itchy rash.
All up, it's generally smooth sailing, with little in the way of noticeable side effects other than feeling better.

Best of luck and please keep us updated on your progress.