TOPIC:

The major issue that treatment resolved for me was emotional. Knowing I was sick and getting sicker. Knowing there was an effective, relatively side-free tx (I was diagnosed 2 years ago), but I would have to refinance our home, on the verge of retirement, to afford it. It would have been different, for me, if there was no decent treatment choices or if the medicine was $2000 a pill-that would have been simply impossible to pay. So, the anxiety was added to the other mental and physical symptoms. I knew I could buy my health, but have to work until I was nearly 80 to do so. It drove me crazy. I finally opted for Lexapro at my PCP's urging. It was hell for a month, but then things got a lot better. After SVR 12, I will try to quit taking it, but for now I am still riding the "I don't give a shit" bus.
Mike

2 years and 3 days off the bungers here and don't regret kicking them, the money saved has paid for 2 overseas holidays so far.

Makes a difference, doesn't it Paul!

I probably wouldn't have given up myself but for a case f flu so bad it was almost pleurisy... Couldn't smoke after that even when I tried. Then a couple of years later I took up my passion which is sports shooting - and I'd rather spend $ on ammo than smokes any day

Since starting treatment some of the improvements I've noticed are less fatigue/tiredness, a great reduction in joint/muscle aches and pains, improved appetite and digestion and some improvement in balance and coordination. Many of these things have been issues for me for 10-15 years and I had mostly put down to aging though with recognition lately that the hep was making them worse. I now know many were mostly the hep though as someone approaching 60 in a few months I have no expectations of winning an ironman event. I do find the fog is lifting and my cognitive skills and concentration are far better than they were. Still forget stuff from moment to moment but I now realise that much of my declining ability to recall stuff and learn new information and skills during the last 10 years wasn't due to the long, slow journey into early dementia that I feared so much.

However, it is on an emotional level that the really big changes have occurred. Normally I was very much a glass half full person and I have tried to stay positive since being diagnosed but while I saw glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel I had mostly given up trying to reach them. I now realise that I was depressed and had isolated myself from many of my friends and loved ones. I only ever told a couple of people of my illness and swore them to secrecy so when the others saw me struggling and tried to help I couldn't tell them what the problem was.....and I was always so fatigued both physically and emotionally that it was easier to find excuses not to be social. But since starting treatment and experiencing the physical and mental improvements that the medications have brought about, I am once again feeling positive and hopeful for the future. I am also socialising again and telling more people of my situation with most being very supportive and caring (only one has shown any ambivalence). And then of course there are all the wonderful people here who are so, so supportive and share their own experiences so we know we are not alone in what we have been going through.

And those moments of clarity and colour, or as Mike put it so well, that "blue sky feeling". I had one of those the other day while sitting down by the creek, everything just felt so real and it was great to be alive! Reminded me of when I was a child and the world was new.

So above are some of the improvements and of course I'm only at wk 7 of 24. The downsides have been a few minor sides such as early liver twinges and a thick head occasionally and of course the bloody Riba which makes it difficult to sleep, often weary and very emotional at times. Right! Off to buy a new box of tissues now.

Thanks Enkel for starting this thread, good idea to have it all in one place.

It's day 83 of 84 sof/dac. Finish meds TOMORROW. YAY!
HIghs: more ENERGY, better quality sleep and less of it needed, better digestion, no more dry-eye drops needed, less (or no) peeing during night, less anxiety and depression, less muscle & joint pain, more brain clarity (lumosity scores as proof!), skin is less dry, whites of eyes less yellow, eyesight seems better (reaching for specs less), night blindness when driving less hazardous, libido reignited.

Lows: a bloated stomach that is uncomfortable when sitting. Occasional grabbing feeling in liver. Gained 2kg - and now need to lose 7! Pain in calves (maybe cos I've been off magnesium during Tx).

I agree with GAJ and others about the immeasurable emotional benefits. Becoming Hep C free is giving me not only the energy to socialise, but the confidence. I am more honest as the stigma and shame ebb away, and that makes for a more authentic me. There are definitely more 'blue sky feelings', more JOY. And sometimes a little deep breathing about this new concept of future.

Sincere thanks to all you wonderful fellow travellers-on-this-path for your humour, courage, sharing and support. And of course Dr James and Greg for making it all possible. And that unsung journalist, Michael Atkin, who put together the ABC 7:30 Report that led so many of us here.
May we all continue to SVR24 and never look back. And may the world become Hep C free, 'no man, woman or child left behind'.

I have 4 weeks of treatment!
I always felt good at physical level. Diagnosed accidentally in 2015 with mild elevated ALT/AST. After 40s, I had basic blood tests every year and all was in normal range till December 2010. I couldn't believe what is happening to me. And yes GAJ, as you, I didn't tell almost anybody my problem. Antisocial behavior, fear of misunderstanding. Don't know from where I got hep C. Maybe cesarean in 1989. That's the way my daughter came to us. Maybe from the dentist.

I know that I had hep C for at least 26 years. Even with good basic blood tests. I know that my emotional problems were Hep C related. I am blessed with a wonderful family and especialy with a patient and loving husband. After I was diagnosed, the only good news was that my beloved family is hep C free. And it is till now!

I refused IFN in 2012. Because I had hope for new options to come in the near future. And I was right. The generics are here and are affordable for many many people, even if their rulers decided that they are too healthy to be treated.

It is amazing how I get used with this burden of hep C!
Only after 3 days on tx I felt a relief in the liver. After 7 days on tx I felt myself more light, as I put down a backpack with at least 5 kg in it! I felt the relief only when the burden was gone! At the emotional level the improvements are more amazing. I am calm and confident. I feel as I am back in time, feeling more alive as in childhood! Yes again, as you are feeling GAJ.
Don't miss to mention that my mind is much more clear! I am back to easy memorising! The last years I thought it was aging the cause of losing easy memorising and sometimes needing some seconds to remember words.

I didn't have side effects. Maybe because I want it, the miracle treatment, so much!
I feel the world much more brighter now! Like I opened a closed window.

Sorry for this long essay! I felt that maybe, other people will be helped reading this. As I definitely was by yours!
Happy that I found this supporting community!

Good luck and be all of you healthy again!

The count down has started:I took #10 this morning.
Tomorrow: #9
I keep looking at the lab sheet that says "Negative"
Hard to believe......
M

Ah my count down is 60

Why not invented a one month treatment.

It's coming Enk.

Let's just hope it doesn't come from Gilead. They will want $3000.00 a pill...
Below is my response to someone I helped who told me she feels GREAT after 4 days of treatment. She asked if that was normal....

Its obviously normal for you! Different strokes, different folks.
I am Type A-all the way. If something's broken, its going to get fixed or replaced-from cars to knees, simple as that. I knew I was sick and getting sicker. I knew there was a "real" cure with few, if any sides. And knew I would have work until 80 to afford it. If it had cost $200,000, it would have been out of the question. So, I was frustrated and worried in addition to all the regular hcv crap. I got to the point it was hard to eat without violent reflux. I was also mad as hell. Mad at the government, insurance, Gilead...just not in a good place. I got depressed and I am a total optimist.
Whew!!!!!!

Now, to answer your question: all that crap was suddenly GONE!!!
BOOM!!!!
I felt a hell of a lot better as soon as the reality set in that I was finally getting better instead of worse. That took a couple days. Then, the physical benefits began to show.
I imagine the medicine eradicates the majority if the virus in people like us i a very few days-especially in the liver. So, no longer fighting off a vast army if alien invaders takes lots of work. Now that energy is available for other things, like having a life with a mind and body capable of enjoying it!
Hell, I don't even hate Gilead anymore. I just hate their board. I may have to arrange a hostile takeover....
Off to school!!!!
Happy for you!
Excuse the typos, I'm still asleep.

Mike

Enkel wrote: Ah my count down is 60

Why not invented a one month treatment.

As I understand, your 2 weeks viral load is 60. Yay!
Well done!
My genotype 1b and Twinvir colleague in hep C!

I am waiting my 4 weeks viral load!

Count down of pills

Excuse me !
Anyway I wish you a very low viral load !