Hi LG, there’s no nice way to say this. Your consultant sounds like a right C***. How unfortunate that you drew the short straw with him. However, even a more helpful NHS consultant has their hands tied when it comes to supplying the drugs we need, courtesy of Big Pharma’s pricing and NHS collusion with it.

Now, you have got me started on UK dentists, which are another UK professional body straight out of the dark ages. I could rant on about them for hours but will try to restrain myself. Their greed is every bit as invidious as Gilead’s. They insist you have to be registered with them even if you only want one little filling. My (private) dentist thinks that taking the time to match the colour of my front tooth with a filling is beneath him. He only likes the £500 root canal jobs – which then fail. Even the hygienist was salivating on my first visit hoping that she’d got another old fart with gum disease who’d need expensive periodontal treatment. When she found my gums perfectly healthy her face changed like she’d just sucked a lemon. I’d go someplace better but I’ve already been all over town and not found better and got myself a reputation for switching dentists (a bad thing, must be my fault). I really feel trapped in a system which is not serving my interests. To their credit, opticians don’t do this. I can walk in to any optician and get service. Which makes it even more irritating that with dentists I can’t.

My point is that the UK is riddled with closed shops. We are just the cash cows for their convenience and they tie us up in knots with this enforced registration and transfer of records. The only viable action we can take is the one you are proposing. Go overseas to another country for treatment. If the UK population did this in droves then these dentisits would all go out of business, which they so richly deserve to do. Same for generic meds. India, China, Bangladesh & elsewhere will do business on our terms so take our business there.

dt

Hello everyone

I will start my treatment this Friday (have arranged a week off work next week to see how it all goes)! I have noticed that mostly people on the Forum speak of taking Sof/Dac. I will be taking Sof/Ledipasvir. Is it because of the genotype you are and if there is liver damage etc. that the other combination is prescribed for me? I’m sure it is right, because of course Dr Freeman prescribed it for me however I was just wondering if anyone knew what the different meds were. My liver function, and fibroscan were both good news and I am genotype 1b with viral load of 3.13 million. These tests were done back in February and April respectively.

Trepidation and excitement are setting in today….I have taken Joan’s advice and am just rolling with the feelings at the moment.

Lynne

Hi Lynne,

Welcome to the club, how exciting that you’ve made the decision to go ahead. I’m genotype 1b as well, and taking Sof/Dac. Sof/Led is also used for our genotype and from memory has had a larger trial base. More info under ‘Getting Treated’ above – ‘Genotype Specific Requirements’.

All the best with your treatment. Keep us posted.

Hi Lynne
I have just started treatment on day 4 so we will be travelling the road together. The anxiety is hard to keep at bay and it seems to be part of the process. Its such a huge decision buying and taking the meds. And then the anticipation of how they will impact on you. Yes just try to roll with the uncertainty. Once I started I was surprised that I didn’t have any side effects. Mind blowing actually as I react to everything.
I did feel exhausted on the second day and couldnt tell if it was the drugs or not. I put it down to all the pre treatment stress.
It won’t be long now before you start. I wish you well and a side effect time.

Hi Joan How wonderful that you are almost side effect free…..I sure hope I am too. Nonetheless, even if I do get some side effects hopefully they won’t be too bad. Like you, I pretty much react to everything too I seem to be not so nervous at the moment, the closer my start date gets the less anxious I am…..will post again over the weekend.

Hi Lynne, the GP Cheatsheet under the Forum heading at the top of the page describes Monitoring and I assume 4/52 means the 4-week point. Your GP will probably understand it, But maybe the GP’s query is on the type of viral load test? I am on the same drugs as you and my hep nurse has ordered a `PCR viral load’ test at the four-week mark. I hope this helps.

GP cheat sheet:
4/52 into treatment FBC, Cr&E, LFTs, Hep C Viral Load – See more at: http://fixhepc.com/forum/forum-gp-cheat-sheet.html#sthash.Mm5wpXBp.dpuf. em