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Author Topic: About to be post-treatment!  (Read 7422 times)

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Offline rabbitfluff

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  • Posts: 4
About to be post-treatment!
« on: June 06, 2016, 11:27:56 am »
I am about to take my last dose of Harvoni this evening! I had completely normal blood results and an undetectable viral load at 4 weeks. I've been a bit headachy and tired for the majority of the last 12 weeks, and have had trouble focusing and remembering things. How soon after I finish will I feel normal? Also, I don't have a scheduled appointment with my doctor for another 12 weeks yet, but did any of you get blood tests sooner than that just for peace of mind? I'm thinking of doing them at 4 and 8 weeks post treatment just to feel at peace. How soon after treatment would someone relapse usually? I know that if you make it to the 12 week mark you're pretty much set, but when does Harvoni leave my system and make it possible for anything to come back? I'm super excited by the prospect of being cured, but 4 years ago I went through the interfereon/riba/victrellis treatment of doom and was also undetectable at 4 weeks, then relapsed sometime between end of treatment and 12 weeks post. That was 3 months of bliss followed by a WTF. Any info on your post treatment experience would be wonderful, thanks!

[I was born with HepC, treated at 22 yrs old with triple therapy, and again with Harvoni at 26. AST/ALT went from 77/109 to 15/20 with treatment, all other labs have been normal]

Offline lporterrn

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  • Posts: 1,969
  • LucindaPorterRN
    • LucindaPorterRN
Re: About to be post-treatment!
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2016, 11:36:23 am »
Congratulations! I can't address your first question, since I took ribavirin with my Harvoni, but I've heard that drinking water may help. The drug should be completely out of your system in 11 days.

I recommend waiting for the full 12 weeks for final labs because if you have an interim result that is sketchy, you will have anti-peace of mind. Then you'd have to wait until 12 weeks and if the final one is good, tand if you are like most of us, you may have endured weeks of anxiety for nothing. I like the wait and assume the best approach, but that is just me. Statistics are on your side that you will be cured.
Lucinda Porter, RN
1988 Contracted HCV
1997 Interferon nonresponder
2003 PEG + ribavirin responder-relapser
2013 Cured (Harvoni + ribavirin clinical trial)
https://www.hepmag.com/blogger/lucindakporter

Offline KimInTheForest

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  • Posts: 1,972
  • Believe in yourself
Re: About to be post-treatment!
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2016, 11:38:25 am »
Congrats on finishing treatment, rabbitfluff! You are in all likelihood cured. Harvoni does not have the relapse rate that the earlier treatments did. As for post-treatment testing for peace of mind, I believe if you make SVR4 (i.e., virus-free 4 weeks post-tx), you have a 98% chance of making SVR12, which is the current definition of cured. Others can correct me if I got that number wrong.

best to you!
kim :)
Kim Goldberg (Nanaimo, BC)
1970s: Contracted HCV (genotype 3a)
2015: Cured with Harvoni + ribavirin (12 weeks)
MY STORY: https://pigsquash.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/undetectable-my-hep-c-story/

Offline KimInTheForest

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Re: About to be post-treatment!
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2016, 11:41:18 am »
Lucinda makes an excellent point that if you test early and have a sketchy result, you will have no peace of mind until you go in for the only test that really matters 12 weeks post-tx. It's always a toss up - whether to test early to see how you're doing, or wait for the test that counts.

In my case, I was on a clinical trial so was tested frequently for viral load. So the decision about when to test was made for me.

best,
kim
Kim Goldberg (Nanaimo, BC)
1970s: Contracted HCV (genotype 3a)
2015: Cured with Harvoni + ribavirin (12 weeks)
MY STORY: https://pigsquash.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/undetectable-my-hep-c-story/

 


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