TOPIC:

Hi. I've read posts on this forum for a few months and found it very helpful in finding answers to a lot of my questions and now I've finally decided to register and ask my own questions.

I've been on generic Sof/Dac for almost 8 weeks and very pleased to say, the virus was undetectable in less than 4 weeks. I've suffered hardly any side effects, but since a couple of weeks into treatment, the arthritis that I suffer because of an inflammatory autoimmune disease (thought to be caused by 36 years HCV infection) has progressively become considerably worse to the point that I can no longer walk more than about 50 yards without suffering severe pain and stiffness in my hips. Does anyone have experience of these drugs with any kind of autoimmune disease? I'm wondering if the treatment can trigger a flare of autoimmune disease, and if so, does it subside once treatment ends?

Best wishes to all.

Jan

Hi Jan,

Sorry to hear about your problem Janet.

Often we see arthritic stuff, and autoimmune stuff get better.

What I have seen is the medications cause a flare up of gout, and although this is typically seen in the big toe, and often only on one side, it can affect any joint so I would certainly have your serum urate level checked.

Certainly a checkup of you autoimmune markers and gout markers would be in order. Prednisolone works for both, and although the preference would be not to use it, we may have to consider it to damp things down. A short course should not adversely impact on treatment success.

Thank you, James. I'll ask my GP to check those levels.

I had been considering extending Sof/Dac to a 16 week course instead of 12, just to give myself a better chance of success, but if the arthritic problems are being aggravated by the treatment I'm not sure whether that's a good idea or not. Perhaps, given that the virus was undetectable in less than 4 weeks, I really don't need to... It's a devil and deep blue sea situation.

Undetected at 4 weeks is a good sign but your VL of 24 million is the highest I've ever seen in GT3. 16 weeks is a good idea in GT3 and definitely worth considering.