Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Main Forums => On Hepatitis C Treatment => Topic started by: Cherylb01 on November 17, 2015, 10:59:53 am
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Hi All:
I am 14 weeks into 24 week Harvoni treatment. My viral load went from 330,000 to 12. I was hoping for undetectable. (I know, I'm ungrateful.)
Are there any other retreats out there who sent so far into treatment with similar results and wound up cured?
I'm looking for some hope..feeling very unsettled!
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. . . Are there any other retreats out there who sent so far into treatment with similar results and wound up cured?
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Cheryl, yes, there are, although I can't remember their monikers off the top of my head. With the new meds, there are forum members who even were still detected at the end of treatment but who went on to achieve a cure.
One of our moderators, Lucinda Porter, RN, posted a Q&A article that explains this. Here's the relevant excerpt:
Q: I just finished HCV treatment, but my viral load was detectable at week 8 and 12. Does this mean my chances of being cured are low?
A: No. In the old days, back when treatment was long and used interferon, there were clear milestones that helped us know what our chances were of permanently clearing hepatitis C. Now with new direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), things have changed. Research by the NIH Clinical Center showed that low levels of HCV RNA at the end of treatment are not predictive of treatment response among patients with hepatitis C virus treated with interferon-free regimens. (Clinical Infectious Diseases, March 2, 2015) Harvoni was used in this study, but the trend is likely to apply to all treatments using HCV DAAs.
and here's the link to the entire article: http://www.hepmag.com/articles/hepatitis_c_questions_2502_27873.shtml
-hope this helps you feel settled. I don't think your disappointment makes you ungrateful, just human.
Gnatty
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Thanks Gnatty. I am trying so hard to be optimistic, but as a realist I find that difficult. 10 more treatment weeks to go and then waiting another 12 after EOT to find out if "cured"...just feels like a lifetime!
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Cheryl,
I understand your feelings, it is not ungrateful, we or only human.
Wish you the best to deal with your disappointment.
There is so less rest virus, that will disappear, but takes more time and that is hard at this moment
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Hi All:
I am 14 weeks into 24 week Harvoni treatment. My viral load went from 330,000 to 12. I was hoping for undetectable. (I know, I'm ungrateful.)
Are there any other retreats out there who sent so far into treatment with similar results and wound up cured?
I'm looking for some hope..feeling very unsettled!
Hi Cheryl,
This happened to me. Im not a 'retreat', but I was given 8 wks of Harvoni. At EOT, I was Detected 29.. Even at 7.5 wks post treatment, I was still detected but heading in the right direction at <LLOQ(12). Finally, at 11 wks post treatment, I hit UND SVR, as well as at 24 wks post treatment UND SVR.
Its not at all unusual with Harvoni to be low level detected near EOT or even after, and still resolve by the 12 wk post treatment SVR marker.
Best of luck to you!
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Thanks for the encouragement Dragonslayer! Just what I needed to hear!
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Cheryl, you will be fine. Have faith & patience.
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Thanks Chino. More blood work tomorrow. 16 weeks...
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16 Week labs say the following:
"Test Information:
Note: . The quantifiable range of this ass
ay is 12 to 100,000,000 IU/mL for genot
ypes 1-6 and the limit of detection of the
assay is 12 IU/mL.
See Note completed 12/03/2015
Hepatitis C Quantitation
Note: HCV RNA detected
<12 IU/mL completed 12/03/2015
HCV log10
Note: Unable to calculate result since no
n-numeric result obtained for component
test.
TNP
log10_IU/mL
completed 12/03/2015"
Can anyone translate for me? Still detectable but <12? If that is the case, this seems to be as low as I'm gonna get!
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Hi Cheryl. I think you will reach undetectable at some point. Some people take longer than others, but nearly everyone on Harvoni does get to "undetectable" eventually - either during or post-treatment. A result like yours ("HCV RNA detected <12 IU m/L") is standard for all of us at some point during treatment.
kim :)
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Has anyone experienced pain in the region of their liver while on Harvoni? I'm mid way through week 18 & I feel like I'm severely bruised..very uncomfortable!
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yes yes every day before and now on Harvoni. Feels like the area is swollen. Pain spreads to the lower back too. Its a dull pinching pain