I am now on day 22 and am doing great, other than a little insomnia I haven’t had any headaches or joint pain. Picking up prescription refill 2 tomorrow. Getting ready to head to Arizona to see my daughters and grandkids. I was afraid before I started that it was going to be a chore to drive and have a good time, that’s behind me now.

Dr. James, I just popped on the forum to check out what's going on and discovered your poem. What a fantastic attitude for anyones life. I feel so fortunate to have found the website about 1 year ago and eventually becoming cured by the generic drugs from India through your clinic. At 76 years old and having HepC for over 50 years you know how amazing it still is to be <15 (undetectable). Since the start of treatment on May 17,2018, I have slowly but surely changed my life in many ways; and being undetectable now contributed to all the positive changes. Thank you for all your good work and dedication to helping your fellow man. You and your wonderful staff have truly made the world a much better place.

Be well and keep livin' on the edge

Hi Gable , welcome to the forum, and congratulations on starting treatment. Mavyret is a really excellent drug and you should be very optimistic about reaching cure. Regarding the use of Kratom with Mavyret, a previous answer by Dr James Freeman, FixHepC's founder, on the forum states that Kratom should be avoided when treated with Daclatasvir medication, and that "it should be ok, but..." (so maybe best avoided) when treated with Epclusa medication, but he didn't comment about Mavyret medication in that thread fixhepc.com/forum/drug-interactions/1519...tom-usage.html#26432 Hopefully he will provide his opinion about it here.

It's worth noting though that the patient in the linked thread said "I felt so much better after finishing Epclusa I never bothered with kratom again".

Hi I need to know of low doses of Kratom will effect my treatment on mavyret. I have genotype 3a and have a treatment period of 8 weeks. Please can anyone tell me if Kratom will interact with mavyret?? I have severe chronic back and joint pain but don’t want to ruin my chances of cure. Thank you

Welcome Austincr,

You are already 13 days in and well on your way to being cured forever. Lots of good advice here especially about drinking lots of water and generally being kind to yourself with good nutrition and sleep.

I'm pleased that you haven't had any noticeable side effects. Now it's just about doing the time. Please post any questions that you have. We'll be looking out for you.

Coral

Hello Austincr,

Welcome to the forum!

Great news. The first week or two are the hardest when all the virus is killed off. If they have passed chances are it will all be smooth sailing from here.

Fingers crossed.

Best Regards

Dr James

Hi Austincr, I also used Epclusa to get rid of HepC, which I had for 50+ years. I not only had no negative side effects, the effects I did have were all positive. I began sleeping more soundly and for longer durations, an itching problem I'd had for about 3 years disappeared after 40 pills ( which really surprised me) and after only 9 pills, my viral load went from 16 million to 2300. Pretty amazing. like Mar said, drink plenty of water, make sure you get as much sleep as you personally need, NO ALCOHOL, and eat a well balanced diet. I would also suggest you keep a daily log so you can reflect on your progress and if it helps, set your iPhone to a time of day for your pill. I found that it helped me when I got wrapped up in projects. I am so glad you were able to find this site for your long ranged health. Be well and look forward to a healthier life soon. Ron

Hi Austincr, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on starting treatment. Epclusa is a really excellent medication with a cure rate of about 95%, you should be very optimistic. Another great thing about Epclusa (and the new DAA drugs in general) is that its side effects profile is quite mild. Just drink plenty of water (as it really helps avoid any side effects), and it should be smooth sailing from here on out. Feeling more energetic is a very common positive development after starting treatment, and it should definitely become a permanent feeling with treatment success. Please just make sure you don't take any medications that may interact with Epclusa. Best of luck to you.

I am genotype 1, I started generic Epclusa 12 days ago I was frightened by a lot of the side affects. So far so good, no side affects i also seem to have a little more energy. Hope this continues.

Hi christop88,

Congratulations on your cure.

Diabetes is 3 x more common in patients with Hep C and can impact your appetite so it would be worth getting tested for that.

Congratulations on your cure Chris, fantastic news, enjoy your Hep C free life

Thanks, Dr James, I got blood test results today 22/03/2019 and it seems i'm Hep-c free, my 12 week treatment started 10/07/2018 and finished 1/10/2018-Sofosbuvir 400mg and Velpatasvir 100mg. I've added a screenshot of the results, My energy levels are getting higher, my swollen legs from the knee down are back to normal and my appetite is raging i'm hungry all the time which is not normal for me. Thankyou for all your help, christopher

Was Geno-3 a, started treatment on 10/07/2018 and finished 1/10/2018, 12 week treatment of Sofosbuvir 400mg and Velpatasvir 100mg, had my first blood test after treatment on12/03/2019 and now am Hep-C free, from a viral load of 1373600 in 2017 to nil today. my energy levels are begining to saw and i'm feeling hungry all the time.

From time to time I get asked this question. I've got 4 answers, all true in their own way.

1) I got involved with Hep C treatment by accident. A single patient asked for help, said he was doing it with me or without my help so I figured he'd be better of if I helped. After that stuff happened and by the time I had second thoughts and looked over my shoulder it looked like the road behind was on fire and the bridges burning so forward looked better

2) Morally it really offends me that we've invented a cure for X and patients with needs-X can't get it because it's too expensive. I'm a simple soul. If I find somebody who needs-X I prescribe X and want them to get X - that's what I signed up for

3) I was a bit of an edge case as a kid. I fitted in because I was good at sport, not so much the people stuff. Seeing so many doctors put their personal interests (take no risks) before patient interests (already running the very real risks) made me sad. Supporting generics when most other doctors were too scared to fitted with a lifetime of always being on the outer.

4) I fly hang gliders and have done since 1981. It never ceases to amaze me that after 2000 years looking at the sky wishing we could fly very few people actually want to. Anyway, back in the 90's there was a brand called "No Fear" that had a slogan "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space" and I wrote this poem:

The Path We Choose

Do not shed a tear for me
For I would not for you
Instead just drink a beer for me
And know well that I knew

Dreams of flight do not come free
There comes attached a price
And we do not do it blindly
We know we roll the dice

Before you sail into the sky
A sky slow to forgive
Ask am I, afraid to die?
Or just afraid to live?

So if you try, to question why
When fate can seem unjust
We take these risks, not to escape life
But to stop life escaping us

Thanks Dr James for the tribute to Gaj and your friend Nick. I also think of Gaj when I sign in. I commented when he left us that it is almost hard to explain the impact that he had on this forum and on me personally. He was a calm and compassionate voice throughout my long treatment. Here's to Gaj.