Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Main Forums => I Just Tested Positive for Hepatitis C => Topic started by: Linux on January 03, 2016, 09:02:46 am
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Greetings,
Just found out I've got HCV GT 2b with a viral load of just under 10 million.
Apparently I've had this for over 40 years. No symptoms that I can really put my finger on, I have felt some fatigue the last few years and insomnia, I just thought it was due to getting older ... now I'm not so sure.
I've got a great PCP that was on the ball, she picked up on this while giving me some routine blood work that indicated elevated ALT/AST.
Mid December I saw the ID (Infectious Disease) Doc, she ordered a Fibrosure Test that showed my liver is stage F3/A1. That's one of those Bad News/ Good News things, I do have advanced fibrosis but that means that my insurance should cover the meds. My ID Doc is subscribing Sovaldi + Riba for 12 weeks.
Right now I'm in limbo, waiting on approval and if all goes well (as expected) I should hear from a pharmacy within a month and a half saying they are sending me the meds. I'm on Medicaid so they take a while but in my state, I think there is no real problem getting the meds as long as I'm stage F3 or F4.
I quit drinking as soon as I found out, quit smoking about a year ago, I already avoid as much salt and fructose as possible (try to just not eat processed food but it's difficult not eating some like frozen vegies and some canned goods like fruits and vegies once and a while). I started baking my own bread and have been drinking lots of fresh lemon juice, pasturized orange juice and diet cranberry juice and lots of water (fortunately we have great water here, I live in the boonies).
Been trying to get in my exercise (it's 24F outside right now so I'm shooting for 3 hours per week until I start Tx). I may back off on that during Tx but will play it by ear.
I got my first two of 3 part Hep A&B combo immunization shots so far, my ID Doc didn't think it necessary but my PCP did. I got them for free at the health dept. so I went ahead and got them.
That about covers it for now, I hope I don't have any problems getting approval, ID Doc says she doesn't think there will be any problem, I'll believe it when the meds arrive.
Wishing you all well,
Linux
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Welcome, Linux. There are a lot of people on these forums (myself included) who had HCV for 40+ years and are now cured. You've done your homework, and you're doing many kind things for your liver and the rest of your body. You're right that whether you need to cut back on exercise during Tx is something you can play by ear. If there are stairs where you live, on days when it's not easy to exercise outside, you can always trot up and down those stairs umpteen times.
Now you're in the first of many holding patterns: the wait for approval, for meds, for lab results during Tx, for that big-time result 12 weeks after the end of treatment. There are plenty of people here to commiserate with, and some of the ones on Riba have particularly marvelous senses of humor.
Best of luck to you.
Gnatty
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Thanks for the nice welcome Gnatty,
I look forward to seeing you around and meeting others.
I feel fortunate to live in an era where there is now a cure for HCV that is so much more tolerable than in years past. My hat's off to those pioneers that had to rough it through several treatments at 6 months each and still some were not cured.
May there be a SVR for many this year!
Congrats on your 12 week SVR may your 24th be as sweet.
Be Well,
Linux
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Welcome to the forums, Linux! Ditto to all that Gnatty said.
Sounds like you are on your way to getting treated and cured. It will be a great 2016 for you!
I too had HCV for more than 40 years, and was cured a few months ago with 12 weeks of Harvoni+ribavirin. So fantastic that a REAL cure has finally been developed, and without the toxicity of earlier treatments.
Feel free to ask questions and/or report your side effects as you go along.
Happy New Year!
kim :)
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Thank You Kim, I'm sure I will have questions along the way or at least need to share thoughts and experience with others as I move through the various steps ahead.
No doubt, waiting and uncertainty will be a large part of this, I have a supporting loved one, great PCP and very experienced specialist with an open channel of communication so that should all help a great deal.
Thanks for the welcome,
Linux
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cat HCV >> /dev/null
Welcome Linux! The new treatments are a bit like using dd on a windows drive that has a viral infection. The results are about the same as doing a good ol' "dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sd*" on a drive that you want get rid of a serious windows infection.
As others have stated the hard part is not so much the treatment any longer the hard part is waiting for the test results.
Cheers
Eric
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The new treatments are a bit like using dd on a windows drive that has a viral infection. The results are about the same as doing a good ol' "dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sd*" on a drive that you want get rid of a serious windows infection.
But Mugwump, the other hard part is, waiting for the rest of the world to take up the 'free and open source' philosophy than Linux and colleagues has been crusading for decades now - and transfer that philosophy/practice to HCV treatments globally
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He he ... love the analogy, I dd'd my windoz partition long ago but just found out about this nasty, insidious bad code virus that's been hiding away for over 40 years. Good thing the doc did a 'clamscan -r /' or I'd be none the wiser till I hit the later stages of F4 (thanks doc).
I agree, a free and open source cure for HCV would be a most wonderful thing but there's too much greed in the corporate world to tolerate any of that.
It's good to see Tx becoming more main stream around the globe, not all but many are now getting rid of the dragon. I believe this will be a good year in those regards, next better we can hope.
Some good news re: Sovaldi/velpatasvir, pan-genotypic (http://www.healio.com/hepatology/hepatitis-c/news/online/%7B0823000c-953b-436d-865b-35b66e3e207d%7D/fda-grants-priority-review-of-sovaldivelpatasvir-for-all-hcv-genotypes) Tx. GT3 folks will be especially glad to see this combo, some with Riba, no doubt.
Yes, waiting is the tough part now, and lots of it for a while I'm afraid ... but I WILL be kickin' this dragon's ass, of that you can be sure.
Best to all (Be Well),
Linux