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Hepatitis C Main Forums => On Hepatitis C Treatment => Topic started by: coastal girl on September 02, 2015, 12:13:35 pm

Title: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: coastal girl on September 02, 2015, 12:13:35 pm
Hello everyone,  I've been viewing your posts for a few months now to get a feel for what the real side effects may be.  I am confident I can do this with a positive attitude thanks to all of you!!!  I am starting treatment today.  I'm hesitant to take my first pill!  The Doc says I need to pick a time and stick to it..the pharmacist says I can change times but do it slowly over a few days in 3 hour intervals.                     My other concern is...If I have an appointment and have to leave the house a couple hours before dosing do I really have to take the whole bottle with me, I'm a rule follower, makes me nervous to carry around a ridiculously expensive and life saving  bottle of pills with me.
So the question is..day or night to start..(probably up to me, right) and can I just take with me the dose for the day or 2 in a secure air tight container.  Gosh that sounds like a ridiculous question but with serious meds like this I want to make no mistakes!!!!  Thanks for your input :)
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: KimInTheForest on September 02, 2015, 12:19:46 pm
Hi Coastal Girl. Welcome to the forums and to the Harvoni journey! You are on your way to being cured. :)

I have seen split opinion here on the day/night question with Harvoni. Some of us (me for example) found Harvoni to be very energizing. It would have kept me awake at night, whereas I benefitted from the 6 hour boost it gave me each day after I took it each morning at 9:00 am. Other people found the reverse - that it made them tired and lethargic. So it was useful for them to take it at night.

As for being away from home at pill-taking time, I would definitely take 1 or 2 pills with you in an airtight/watertight pill container. Don't take the whole bottle with you if you just need access to 1 or 2 pills. Who wants to worry about losing or damaging a $30,000 pill bottle?

Good luck! I hope it goes smoothly for you. And keep us posted on your progress. :)

best,
kim
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: Lou66 on September 02, 2015, 01:50:12 pm
For my personal experience is better in the morning, if you have a little problem with Morfeo, because before one week, when i had bad side effects, the body accustom to new guest, and i have boost of energy in the morning.
I take my pill at 6 am.
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: Michael0543 on September 02, 2015, 11:29:17 pm
I take it everyday at 7:00 A.M. on an empty stomach with a lot of water to get it out of the way before my day starts. It has worked out great so far with no side effects. I take day 10 of 84 in the morning.
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: coastal girl on September 03, 2015, 05:59:18 pm
I took my first pill today!  Boy am I happy I decided to take it in the morning, I feel like I took some speed of some sort.  Hope that calms down just a wee bit, I am a high energy person already...My poor husband :)  I am so grateful for this treatment and have very positive thoughts flowing thru my mind with a few aggressive ones telling the Harvoni to go ahead and kick that viruses a......:)  1 down 83 to go!!!!
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: Lynn K on September 03, 2015, 06:10:31 pm
When I started on bottle #2 I saved bottle #1 for transport so I would not have to carry around $30,000.00 plus of meds but still carry in original container. Just a thought.
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: sugarfree on September 09, 2015, 08:23:27 pm
  I was told  to pick my time and stick with it.  I  set an alarm for 9 am.  I took it faithfully.  I am now non detectable!!  I have no idea if that is why but it worked.  Good luck and hope all goes well
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: annajustanna on September 09, 2015, 08:58:55 pm
I started at around 5 PM but brought this down to 900 am in 4 days at about 2 hr increments. I much prefer it in AM. I took it early today though because I saw MD and it is a 2 hr ride.
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: lin44 on September 09, 2015, 10:43:09 pm
I just started on the 8th and decided in the morning. 
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: coastal girl on September 15, 2015, 12:56:28 am
I picked the morning to take my pill,  I'm happy I did because I have been side effect free except for increased energy...very speedy about 2 hours after dosing and then energetic all day.  No loss of appetite or headaches, nausea...I feel blessed !!  I do realize this could change any day but I am keeping positive thoughts and I don't let any small aches and pains get to me...I'm 55 and I work with heavy weight in my business so I'm used to aches and pains at a moderate level.
Before starting tx I had a problem with my eyes which ended up being caused from a blocked carotid artery for which I had to have surgery.  I was so glad that it happened before Tx because I so would have blamed it on my choice to try Harvoni!!!  I have resisted Tx for years because of the sides that came with it.  I changed my diet and supplemented which kept me feeling pretty good for years..I still supplement even during Tx, I want to keep my body strong!! 
For those of you who are suffering through this I feel for you and hope the sides fade away...I feel a little guilty for posting that I do not have bad sides but I think it is important for all the people who are considering treatment to know that not all suffer and go ahead and jump on the train...wishing everybody SVR!!!
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: annajustanna on September 15, 2015, 08:29:40 am
thanks coastal girl!! I too have been relatively side free with exception of headaches. This is very tolerable. I am 55 too and also have the aches and pains from my work and life at this age. I too feel blessed that it was also relatively easy to get approved. I just really want to achieve SVR and stay there because my only fear is resistance if I don't. I was only approved for 12 weeks and MD is saying maybe thinking about extending it. I am afraid if I cant because insurance wont pay then I will have to stop and possibly achieve SVR only to relapse in month. This is what happened last time. I achieved SVR and stopped to soon - at 5 month of treatment with interferon and riba - uuuggghh
now fear is resistance to this new antivirals that stop the replication process
Title: Re: Starting Harvoni-day or night?
Post by: Hep Forum Moderators on November 24, 2015, 11:13:03 am
Robert Gish, MD of the medical consulting firm Robert G. Gish Consultants LLC (http://www.robertgish.com/) replied via Twitter....

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