Good point, I think I would be arguing that it was a small investment on their part to optimise their positive return (cure on first treatment) on the significant investment they are making in the medication…..of course they’re insurance companies so logic may not come into it!!!

Welcome Tomas,

I probably wouldn’t wash the pills down with your SHFV smoothies just in case as there are probably a lot of sugars and acids in them. Sof/Led and also Sof/Dac can be taken with or without food depending on preference. If you have either with food I would suggest a light, reasonably bland meal to get them absorbed into your bloodstream as quickly as possible. I take my Sof/Dac with a couple of sips of water in the morning then go for a 45 min walk to the shop to pick up milk and paper. So when I sit down to breakfast the drugs are pretty much absorbed already. But some find they need to have them with a bit of food.
You may want to have a look in the Experts Corner area of the site where there is a bit of info about vegetarian diets etc if you are on one.

However, I should warn that many of us find that once on treatment our careful, healthy diets go out the window! We can’t help ourselves and start eating things we haven’t had for years. I suspect part of this is that our bodies go into repair mode and we need extra protein and healthy fats to support that. Listen to your body and give it what it wants in moderation…..seems like a reasonable excuse to me?

Hi All,

I think there are a couple of points here:

1.) Most of the data currently available is for old Interferon treatments which is understandable due to short period that DAAs have been in use. But what we do know from that old data is that people with hep c tend to be deficient in B12 and D vitamins, even more so in those in the over 50s age group when our bodies become less efficient at extracting/manufacturing them from our normal diet. But we also need to remember that interferon is not some drug from outer space that our bodies have never seen before. We naturally produce our own similar interferon chemicals to boost our immune systems, see link.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon

What we refer to as interferon treatment is the addition of extra artificial interferon to try and compensate for/trigger extra immune response to fight the virus. So boosting B12 and D should still assist our natural interferon to fight the virus. The ALA, Betaine, SAMe, etc and the rest of B group complex are part of the process of converting/using B12. So ensuring that we have sufficient of each of these should assist our bodies in absorbing enough B12 to support both the fight and healing process. In other words, while the DAAs kill the virus, our bodies need to efficiently dispose of those dead virus and then heal the damage they caused.

2.) RVR is at the start of treatment and SVR is the hoped for result after treatment. You could also include another Viral Response group in there and maybe call it MVR (Maintained Viral Response or continuing UNDetected readings after RVR and before SVR) So the whole process of treatment and then waiting for confirmation at SVR12/24 needs to be supported by maintaining good B12 and vit D levels throughout the whole period.

In other words maintaining B12 and D levels, and the other things that support that process, at upper normal range throughout treatment should be beneficial when using DAAs just by not starving our bodies of the required nutrients even though it hasn’t been proved in trial yet.

The above is my understanding in simplified terms as best I can describe so if any scientists/medicos out there spot any basic errors please feel free to correct my admittedly laymans understanding.

Congratulations on your UNdetected, Joan! That must be a great feeling.

(Just click or tap the smilie you want from the group above the box where you type the message)

That’s interesting. I was wondering about this overnight and whether it may explain some non-responders and supposed re infections where the patient swears they haven’t put themselves at further risk.

Whichever way you look at it though, it does seem to indicate that the way forward for new HCV drugs development should be pangenotypic where possible.

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.

“—nothing would be more frightening to me than losing the ability to think clearly, retain information and/or have difficulty with trying to work on multiple tasks (to name a few) that affect your everyday life……..”

This!!

……but thanks to you Doc and the rest of the FixHepC team, this is one of the most striking changes I am noticing after six weeks treatment. Still a long way to go but I no longer fear losing my ability to function independently.

Thanks again
G