Hi Beaches and everyone,

Perhaps it is useful to look at this in context? A score of 4.2 is fine but 6.0 isn’t all that bad either. In the UK the point at which NHS guidelines advise treatment is 5.9 and that is a bit arbitrary anyway. But this test is approximate and only measures total blood cholesterol levels, that is both HDL’s and LDL’s. To understand more you have to do a fasting overnight test which will give a figure that is different and far more useful as a guide for prescribing. It is the ratio of HDL’s to LDL’s*.

Having said that, this whole matter is mired in controversy. There is a shortage of direct evidence linking stroke and heart disease with cholesterol levels. Nearly everyone in the field does, however, accept that lower levels are preferable but it is good to understand that pharmaceutical companies have a VERY direct motive in promoting statins (drugs for lowering blood cholesterol levels) and they supply most of the data……

My view is that you should just eat a decent diet, get some exercise and not worry too much about numbers. I expect that will get me into trouble!

Good on you for losing a few pounds. I keep telling myself that I will but it’s difficult in chilly England. Spring will come, or so they tell us.

RSF

*Too complex to be interesting to most of us but if you had nothing to do one evening, you could Google it.

PS It probably isn’t wise to be taking food supplements after EOT unless you really know about them. Adverse effects are possible and your liver has just taken a pasting but will recover all on its own. Perhaps it would be good to see a medical herbalist or a nutritionist? This is a very technical area. R.

I am just as delighted as everyone else about LG’s fantastic news. Well done girl! You had a bumpy ride compared with some of us.

There’s a bit more good news here folks: I’ve joined the SVR 24 club too. Sweet relief.

If it hadn’t been for you, LG, it may have been quite some time before I stumbled across the good people at Fixhepc. I may therefore have got really ill, which thankfully never happened. Thank you so much. I absolutely mean it when I say that was a kindness I shall never forget, ever.

RSF

Yes I bet it was. Can you relax a bit now?

RSF

Hello again Sven,
Well you obviously can’t be sure it will happen but it has with me: I had a LiverMultiScan a month after EOT and they told me that my liver was totally normal in all respects. I was really surprised and obviously very pleased. With a fibroscore of 9.5 Kpa I was F2/F3 two or three months before I started treatment. An LMS is a more sophisticated tool but doesn’t give an exact comparison, however my fibroscore would have been 7Kpa or lower, given the liver was normal, or so I think.
So I don’t see why your doctor shouldn’t be absolutely right. There are other factors involved and there’s more info about fibrosis regression than I can recall now, but you could look it up. Dr F always puts in the caveat that ‘Your mileage may vary’ but perhaps you’ll be just as lucky?
All the best anyway,
RSF

PS And I am no spring chicken. Alas I shall be 63 this year and though I can’t be sure, I almost certainly contracted the virus decades ago. RSF

Hi Browny,
Splitdog’s approach seems rational but in the end this is a personal choice and must depend on your attitude and the specifics of your case. It’s probable that the treatment you have already had has allowed your liver to recover to a degree so waiting may not significantly add to your problem. However Dr F has already given a view. It may be best if you have a consultation with one of the doctors on GP2U now. General advice is just that.
As to the availability of vox, I think you can be pretty sure that as soon as it is licensed it will start to be produced as a generic and is therefore likely to become available via Fixhepc, because that has already happened with vel. Of course you can’t be sure of the timing but you could give it a little while and see what happens, perhaps?
You can’t discount what your specialist has said but it is worth bearing in mind that he is operating to PBS guidelines/rules and may advise you differently if those constraints did not apply. One thing does strike me: He has talked to you in terms of 12 week courses of meds whereas I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t be preferable to do 24 if that’s possible.
My personal take can be summed up like this: If in doubt remember what it says on the front cover of ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ in large friendly letters and DON’T PANIC! This holds good at all times and in all circumstances. I wish I remembered it more often myself……
All the best,
RSF

Hello Jeff,

Going through re-treatment must be very hard, specially because it’s lonely. ‘The pointy end of a spear’ is a shit place to be. But DAAs are clearly the way forward. The treatment you have already had has helped you and your liver is probably in better shape than before you started though the virus still present. Your ultrasound result is OK too so you’ve bought yourself some time.

My little rant was just that, an expression of personal frustration at the results of closed minds, and the cost to real people of such minds particularly when they belong to influential people. Grrrrr.

Warm wishes for 2017 and the finest kind of SVR,

RSF

PS I could put something in here. There is no “alternative” medicine. Just effective medicine.
RSF