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  • in reply to: Re-infection due to contaminated intimate objects #28122
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hi lifepivoting,

    during treatment I used disposable razors and cheap toothbrushes as much as I could.

    Bleach and water for the toothbrushes and changing them after a few days, and daily change of razor for quite a few weeks. Backed off a bit later on to just bleaching toothbrushes and every second day ditching the razor.

    Figured it was cheap enough to put the mind at rest.

    Used the cheapest toothbrushes and razors I could find as well. They were that crappy you would want to change them anyway!

    In the big scheme of things, a few extra dollars over the week – not much more then a good cup of coffee though. At worst a few minor lacerations to the face, and a very weird taste in the mouth is my main memory of that time.

    All the best,

    Jeff

    in reply to: Hello new guy here #28083
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hi Greedfighter,

    This is not so much relevant to this thread, but when I go on this forum I usually have a glance down the bottom to see how many Guests are there. Today at 12.09pm (Australian Eastern Standard time) there are 110. I wonder where they are living as well, and what time they are staying up to looking for information about how they can kiss HepC good bye.

    I didn’t blink when I first used generics late 2015 as there was an article about Dr Freeman in the Sydney Morning Herald. The SMH paper is a bit like the NY Times would be to Americans? Due diligence wise this was a good as it gets.

    Treatment failed first time and second time worked (so far so good).

    Must be hard in some countries where big pharma has ‘the powers that be’ declare that you have to wait until you are f2 or f3. We used to be warehoused in Australia too. For f.ck sake! Look at the first line of my signature to see where f2/f3 got me!

    Due diligence wise, any Guests not so sure what’s going on here may care to click on someone’s profile and follow it back over the years. Mine goes back to November 2015.

    Yours

    Jeff

    in reply to: Hello new guy here #28059
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat
    Nick-Campfield-facebook wrote:

    so i got my fibroscan done. to keep it short indont qualify for treatment intill i have a f2 or f3..

    Hello all,

    me thinks that if they are going to approve funding DAA’s when you are F2 or F3 anyway, why not approve it at first point of call. Maybe save some liver damage on the way through.

    I know I have heard this type of thing before …., but it still amazes me to hear it again. I’d be just as worried about becoming a gibbering wreck using your system over there. Does my head in just to hear about it.

    Don’t know what the costs are to get generics to the States, but I guess it is still a significant amount if you are short a quid. Using generic DAA’s here too before they were fully subsidised cost a bit, but no more then copping an expensive servicing bill for the car.

    I like my car, but I like my liver too.

    Yours

    Jeff

    in reply to: My Epclusa should be here tomorrow. #28051
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hi Mrcleanrt,

    I had the virus 25 years and after a week or so on DAA’s noticed the difference. When I relapsed I noticed a difference (back to THAT old feeling) before I was tested and they found the first treatment failed.

    The same second time round but with Ribavirin it was hard to tell – I tend to have a hard time with that stuff and after the levels of it got up to where they should be the gloss went off my improved health while on treatment.

    All came good post treatment and have not noticed anything to date. I am sure you will get a pleasant surprise when you start.

    Fifty years with the little freeloaders! I expect they have worn their welcome out and good on you for showing them the door.

    Jeff

    in reply to: Any one from the united states #27937
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hello Sheldon,

    “American insurance companies wants you to be almost dead before they will pay for treatment.”

    We in Aus were lucky because we had generics through GP2U (Dr James) before the government saw sense and subsidised the meds.

    I am F4 – don’t go there if you can get rid of the virus.

    Took two goes to clear and even with a crook liver still feel heaps better.

    Best wishes with treatment.

    Yours

    Jeff

    in reply to: Sof/Dac 2018 guidelines for treatment of G3 #27833
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hi RSF,

    Sof Dac did not get me over the line first time around though it made me feel better while taking it.

    Adding the dreaded Ribavirin second time round made the difference – I hope still SVR as the next blood test is in June. Have to add my liver had seen better days as well.

    Jeff

    in reply to: Hello new guy here #27808
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hi Nick,

    I had Genotype 3 which is harder to treat and made worse by cirrhosis which occurred over twenty plus years. Far as I know I am still clear of the virus after DAA treatment.

    Using GP2U (Skype) was pretty okay here in Australia and the generic medications easy to obtain, though at that time they were not free, but still affordable. In Australia we have something called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and now the DAA’s are subsidised (read only need a token payment and the government pays the rest).

    Read lots of posts on this forum from people in America, and people who cannot get the DAA’s through your insurance schemes there, appear to manage to get them anyway at an affordable cost.

    The “Not for me but for my kids, they need a father” resonated with me as my own General Practitioner said similar to me when I told him I was going the generic DAA route through GP2U.

    I think getting DAA’s in America is not as simple as it is here, but from what I have read in the forum it is doable, and there is lots of advice here how to manage this.

    Hep C ain’t anybody’s friend and take it from me, life is that much better without it.

    Best wishes

    Jeff

    in reply to: Genotype 3’s info, updates corner #27716
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hi Balance,

    I had to retreat adding Ribavirin to Sof/Dac after relapsing the first time. Liver is a bit scarred and Sof/Dac on its own was not enough.

    Second time appears to have worked a treat.

    I used Ribavirin many years ago with Interferon and had all sorts of side affects, mainly emotional ones.

    This time with DAA’s not so bad, but I noticed that Ribavirin and me are not good friends.

    Two ways I managed through it was knowing the treatment would work and the second, if Ribavirin was getting me down, I just cut back (one pill, not the prescribed 2) for a day which seems to have made me feel better, then full dose again.

    This seems to have kept a therapeutic amount in my system without tipping me right over the edge.

    Been enjoying SVR since then. You soon will too.

    Jeff

    in reply to: Expert Opinions On Retreatment #27574
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Thanks for this information. In the course of reading it, I stumbled with the term “originator DAA’s” so I googled the term and come across the following article relating to South Africa:

    http://medicine-access.pointofcarejournals.com/article/68da34d5-fa78-4e9a-a40b-95d9d7f566df

    All the words and terms are there: affordable, generic, Gilead, patents, and an already burdened health care, system.

    From the abstract:

    In time, access to lower prices for some originator DAA therapies has materialized; however, to many, this still may be out of reach. Generic medicines for hepatitis C do work and are effective and affordable. If we are going to achieve the objective of the elimination of viral hepatitis, generic medicines will need to form part of the solution.

    It took me back to thinking about the many issues that had been discussed on this forum over the years.

    Yours all,

    Jeff

    in reply to: Can someone prove to me that this website is legit… #27527
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hello Tracey,

    the best indications are possibly the profile information in people’s posts.

    I used GP2U (Dr Freeman) and got meds through prescription from there. Check the last line of my profile as to the eventual outcome.

    I can understand why people are suspicious, but I have been with this forum for years and have spoke on the telephone with two of the posters, as well as personal messages…

    All the best,

    Jeff

    in reply to: Expert Opinions On Retreatment #27526
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    Hello all,

    I needed to be retreated quite a while back and am now virus free to date.

    Need LFT’s done again in June and as I am still fit fighting fit so I expect my liver is okay virus wise.

    Been lucky with liver scans to date as well.

    I was looking through the list of sub categories in this topic and all the posts are months and years old.

    Just wondering if treatment had got to the stage where treatment failures are now uncommon.

    Maybe ‘retreaters’ like me have gone the way of the Dodo? If so, well and good.

    Jeff

    in reply to: Quote of the day #27421
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat
    Hazel wrote:

    ”A human being should be able to: change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, co-operate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects” RobertHeinlein

    One for all the world’s overworked and undervalued General Practitioners?

    J.

    in reply to: Alcohol #27403
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    A mate sees the same liver specialist as I do. He has cirrhosis like I do.

    He never had Hep C but USED to drink a lot more then even I thought – a hidden bottle of Rum here and there at home, usually in the garage where his missus did not venture.

    I was told to give it away completely, slowed down years ago, and now only have a schooner of light every few weeks/months to remember times and taste past.

    Got over missing it after a while. Given the social circles l mix in, not finding out I had Hep C may have me ending up with cirrhosis through the booze like my mate. Strange world.

    “A lot of what you like in moderation” comes to mind.

    “F_ck Hep C” also comes to mind, and for anyone listening on the side: “get treated”.

    Yours

    Jeff

    in reply to: Gaj #27382
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    I met Gaj via a few personal message’s, emails and a telephone call before I started the re-treatment that cured me of Hep C.

    Minus the detail – Gaj’s suggestion to double check re-treatment with Dr Freeman I think helped me along my way.

    Over the time I have been virus free I have drifted away from this forum and only drop in every now and then to re-affirm a new found belief in the better side of humanity.

    Not much more I can think of to say, the DAA’s cured my disease and much of what Gaj had to say in this forum cured my spirit.

    Many thanks. Your kindness stays with me and in that way you will never be missed.

    Jeff

    in reply to: New Harvoni Commercial in USA #27271
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    • Guardian Angel
    • ★★★★★
    @sabrecat

    HI Greedfighter,

    I did see some adds a year back in an American magazine (Popular Science? Mechanics?) and one featured an African American man silently contemplating treatment. Reminded me of adds or years ago in the same magazine for cars. That is focussing on prestige/sporty-ness/the self made man …… in other words those who could pay.

    Hope this bloke (am I gullible to think he is not real) snapped out of his stupor and got treated. I suspect he was worried about paying for the stuff without selling the house and cat. Maybe he was thinking about generics?

    If so, I like American adds.

    Jeff

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 258 total)