ENGERIX-B was the vacc.
Somehow the editor put in a smiley face instead.

Hi Vicki

When I got my hepB vacc. the procedure was to do it once and then test right away to see if my immunity was good enough. It was not, so I got a 2nd dose then which boosted it to the correct level. I don’t understand it but you have to keep at it with the boosters until you get to the right level. I assumed that once I got there I stayed there, but I’ve never been tested since so I don’t actually know.

dt

A whole year lost!
How about decades.
Hepc steals lives, and not just by killing people.
dt

miko3

Simeprevir would not be for me as I could still have NS3A resistance (from telaprevir). If I could use simeprevir then I would use it as a sof/led/sim combo, not change to it later. That would be the most effective way to use it.

I agree with your specialist about the riba and I am going to handle it that way myself. I suspect I will get a rash after a few weeks and maybe have to discontinue.
“His advice to me was to take sof dac riba for 12wks and if I couldn’t handle the riba just to drop it and go buy an extra 12wks of sof dac”
Good for you that so far the riba has not got to you. Ease up on the bike if you get too breathless. Making the heart work harder when its oxygen supply is restricted is not a good idea.

dt

“.. This might also mean that Morocco could soon become a very attractive holiday destination for european Hep-C tourists?”

Yes, if you are not a woman! I base this comment on a travel I did to Morocco, admittedly several years ago. Having travelled in very many Arab, Asian, Indian, countries, Morocco gets my prize for the men who are the most pests to single foreign women. I was unable to walk unaccompanied by a man in any street without being approached constantly by irate Moroccan men who proceeded to lecture me on my very existence being an affront somehow to them. There was no actual bodily violence to my person as I stuck to well-populated main streets, but my clothes were pulled at, even though I was covered with a large headscarf and top-to-toe clothes with only hands and face showing. If I went again I’d wear a full burkha and veil, but It’s probably the one place on this earth that I would never go again, even to get hepc meds.

dointime

I agree crazy8.
And this opens up a whole new customer base for the generics. It needn’t be either/or. All the people who have been doled out 12 weeks of brand name drugs by their health service or their insurance company can choose to supplement to 24 weeks by purchasing their own additional 12 weeks. And it needn’t be the same as the first 12 weeks. For example, if you got sof/led for 12 weeks you could supplement with sof/dac for the other 12, or whatever else was recommended in your case. One thing is for sure. You’ll not have so many hoops to jump through getting your generics as you will have to get your health service and insurance to cough up.
dt

I think this is a great discussion too, and a subject which I have thought a lot about. I think there’s the AASLD recommendations on the one hand and the individual situation on the other hand. If the financial constraints are removed because the person is buying the generics themselves, then the next constraint is safety. These drugs have all been tested for 24 weeks and are safe for most people to take for 24 weeks. So that’s ok, so long as the individual can tolerate them for 24 weeks, especially the riba.

So why would I want to do 24 weeks if AASLD says I can be cured in 12 weeks? Well, I am geno1b, treatment experienced with ifn, riba and telaprevir (NS3), non-cirrhotic, age 65, two previous tx and two viral breakthroughs. I have chronic fatigue. I have no life. I want my life back. So forget about 90% or 95% probability of success, I need 100%. I need to get it done this time or my next stop could be a care home. So I am going for the max this time. I probably will not be able to tolerate the riba, but even if I can do the first 4 weeks with riba I’ll be happy to get the few percent it adds right at the start when it matters most. I also don’t know how I will tolerate the other DAA’s. Maybe I’ll have to discontinue before the 24 weeks. The path of tx often does not run smooth. All I know is that just about every study shows 100% success for non-cirrhotics who do 24 weeks and that’s what I want. 100%. I really couldn’t care less if the 2nd 12 weeks is overkill so long as my body can tolerate it. Just having the psychological pleasure of overkilling that stinking virus will make it worthwhile. Em, I get where you are coming from. Whatever it takes.

dt