TOPIC: HARVONI FATIGUE

I'm in my 21st week of a 24 week HARVONI treatment.
Week 4, I was <12 Detected PCR.
Week 12, I was Undetected. PCR.
In the last couple of weeks I've been experiencing server fatigue & tiredness, after doing very minimal excercise.
I'm falling asleep in the middle of the day.
As this, has only started up recently, my thoughts are that its a good chance it's the HARVONI build up.
I will be finished my 24 week treatment in 3 weeks, so I'm hoping once the drugs are out of my system, my energy levels will increase.
Has anyone else experienced these sort of side effects on HARVONI ?

Yup! The last few weeks of tx kicked my ass. I finished taking the meds 6 days ago and every day I am feeling more normal. More energy, almost no achy muscles, appetite is better, digestion as well. Not sooooooo thirsty all the time. Hang in there!

Thanks Ken,
I can't wait for my energy to kick in.

Hi Michael from a fellow 1a on Harvoni. From what I have read, we GT1as can be more inclined to be in the slow lane reaching UND.

I am getting in week 10 the Harvoni fatigue currently. For me, the first few weeks on tx I had amazing energy, felt so much better and had a 'spring in my step' - I felt great! Then I managed to pick up some bug and get a chest infection / sinusitis in month two, so this really slowed me down. Month three I have improved, the sinusitis dragged on for weeks. It's hard to distinguish what was the bug and what is the sx. I am bright in the morning, but in the evening, I get very tired and can suddenly be overwhelmed with tiredness. I can literally 'pass out' in a matter of seconds. It is almost like an anesthetic effect it's that quick! a novel experience for me as I have always taken a while to get to sleep previously. I wake up in the night with reading glasses still on, lights and TV on etc

These are powerful medicines and it would be strange if we did not feel some sx like this after taking them for a while. Maybe it's the body's reaction, making us rest so the meds can do their stuff. Really, there is little in the way of data as yet as these meds are still very new. It makes sense that a longer tx will cause a few more sx too.

Well done for getting this far, I will be extending to a longer treatment period too, got to make sure we do everything we can to rid ourselves of this, it is also a drain on our mental energy as well as physical, no wonder we get tired. My very best wishes for every success, looking good for you now as UND some weeks back

ps At what stage did you add the Riba?

For ME it was the first 8 weeks where I was really tired. Finished tx seems ok now.

I'm at 18.5 weeks of Twinvir.
I've been more tired than before I started Tx almost all the time.
I fall asleep in a chair most evenings.
Need 1 or 2 rest days after exercise.
Bit worried about ALT and AST still being elevated

Hi Tim,

I presume you've been checked for Hep B? If not have that done. Also have your iron checked to see if you have haemochromatosis, and your blood sugar to make sure you have not become diabetic.

B12 supplements seem to have helped some of my patients so they might be worth a try.

Hi
I'm tired sometimes and not other times
My threshold is very high however I have developed an iron skin. If I find myself dozing off too much I get outside and get active and soak up some fresh air. I may sound glib but I am not meaning to be I have had an extremely rough ride before these meds and I find that these are bringing all over excellent results on tx which psychologically override the intermittent fatigue, such as I have regained weight, my skin hair and nails are healthy, my hopefulness quotient is high, I can actually see a future worth investing in again. These factors plus I was much more fatigued post peginf for three years have countered the sporadic fatigue of my last few weeks of tx. When I do need a day in bed I just take it. That's about one day a week since week 8.
I'm much happier with that than every day sleeping half the day for more than two years which was how my life was rolling before these meds.
I hope you get your tiredness sorted and it's nothing serious but just a regular sx like LG, Ken and I mentioned xxx
Ariel
Ps I always check in with the doc if I am concerned about any sx

Hi Michael I probably don't 'belong here' because I'm on Sof/Dac but like you and others have described I have had horrid chronic fatigue for weeks now. The 1st month quite energetic and motivated and then a shocking migraine that lasted days and then days to recover and a week later another and haven't felt good since (don't believe it's related just a timeline thing). I start out dragging myself out of bed - coffee and a walk gets me going but by the arvo I start going downhill fast. I'm a complete couch potato at night. I am sleeping solidly though still wake really tired.

Wishing you all the best

I'm with you Chejai (as others have reported as well) Had rather uncommon energy (where I thought, 'damn, is this what "normal" people feel like?' Yeah apparently it wasn't lol) the first 3 weeks but less and less since. Of course not the same crushing fatigue as before tx!

The bone/muscle pains have returned a bit now too, but the only very occasional liver twinges, which were absent the first month. Guessing this is just how your body reacts to treatment...just because you're UND does not mean there's still a battle going on to eliminate those few persistent bastards

Heya all

You can add me to the mix of feeling wiped out also, I finished a 12 week course of Sof - Led on the 24th Feb of which the last 4 weeks of tx till this point in time I have been feeling fatigued. Its reassuring to see that its not just me. Thanks Dr F for the B12 advise when I see my nurse again Im going to ask to have Vit B and Vit D levels tested.

About the liver twinges. We must remember that the liver has to heal as well and liver twinges could very well be from a damaged liver and not just from the hep c per se. The area around my liver still feels kind of bloated/ inflamed a lot of the time . I figure that at F3 before tx, it's going to be a while until those feelings diminish and hopefully one day disappear.

Ooops Zhuk, i see you are F0. I doubt my comment applies to you.

Only 13 days in and feeling okay, but there is a definite limit to my energy levels. I can tell I am going to have to take it easy for the duration and feel sorry for anyone who has to do a full-time job while treating. Paradoxically I also feel better when I get some exercise in the pool...more grounded and centred. Its ridiculously hot here for mid March so thats an energy sapper too. But I can tell my system is compromised.
Manky feeling right in the back of my throat/ sinuses that I can tell would evolve into an infection if I wasn't blitzing it regularly with my special home made clove oil gargle.

kenbasman wrote:
No worries ken

I had the twinges fairly persistently (bare minimum a couple of times/day) pre tx, for about the last couple of years...links in with all my other symptoms which seemed to ramp up within that time too.

So I think the lack of fibrosis isn't necessarily an indicator as to whether you'll get those stinging pains or not.