Harvoni and STATINS

[Mr. Bob]

My Liver Doctor recently said research show that people on statins   "do better"  while on Hep C drugs.  I remember reading an article  a while back about this.   Has any one heard or this  or are they on statins while treating  and had your doctor mentioned anything.

Robert 

GT1
63 yrs.
prior  combo treatment failure 2000
Harvoni 12 weeks 
on week 7
4 weeks undetected <15

[svalles1130]

I am on week 8 of 12 week treatment and just received the last supply of harvoni last thursday.  In the package of harvoni was an information sheet about side effects and what caught my eye was that it mentioned that blood pressure medication, namely metroprolol could cause unusually low blood pressure when mixed with harvoni.  Well, during this past two weeks of treatment I began to notice that my blood pressure was consistantly in the low 50's to mid 60's while my normal range has always been in the mid 70's. 

I also made note of the fact that my levels of fatigue were very severe cause after I took harvoni (at noon), I was absolutely useless until the next morning, but it took my a couple of hours in the morning to recoup.

Called my doctor who advised me to skip harvoni for ONE day, otherwise the medication might not work if I skipped more that one day. Note that some fatalities have been reported by the pharmaceutical of people taking high blood pressure medication and harvoni.

I am writing to ask if anybody out there has had severe fatigue,and weakness while combining HBP medication and harvoni, and if they skipped taking harvoni, for how long did they skip, and if the treatment was successful anyway. 

I would appreciate anyone taking the time to respone to this blog and inform me about this matter, since I fear that the final 4 weeks left on my treatment could severely impact my health condition, i.e., permanent damage to my heart and lungs.  Thank you.

[ponygirl]

Harvoni is only known to have very negative interactions with the one BP medication that you mentions but my doc said that they are closely monitoring anyone taking BP or Arrhythmia medications. I do not take meads of HBP or my previously infrequent  arrhythmia. My BP went from  117/70 to 150/80 the first week (with some spikes). and pulse rate of 95 for no external reason.  At week 6 it dropped to 130/80 with pulse of 80 (was 70 pre-Harvoni).

[sabre]

I take Diovan (Valsartan), 160 mg a day for HBP. It was doubled after I began taking Harvoni because my BP spiked into the 175/94 range. I have not had any ill effects taking the BP meds while on Harvoni and I'm two weeks away from completing a 12 week course. Also, I didn't read anything about HBP meds being contraindicated for Harvoni. Maybe they revised the document after I began treatment.

My BP is still not good 150/85 range, but I have kidney problems that may be a contributing factor. I was hoping, and still am, that my kidneys may come around eventually if I get to SVR. Also, I'm hoping that the Harvoni is the cause of my BP currently being elevated and once I come off treatment, that it settles down...wishful thinking...

[ponygirl]

The only warning is for anti arrhythmia med amiodarone. But my gastro stated that Gilead will be looking at the blood pressure issues because there have been multiple reports of the high BP issue that are being reported.

[grateful908]

Hi All... I take Losartan 50mg. for my blood pressure, It hovers around 150/90. Not so bad but high nonetheless. So, tell me. What is a reading that is absolutely life threatening?? I'm going to take my 8 day blood test on Monday, so I will be talking to my Dr. about this. I can start to go to CVS, they have a blood pressure machine that I can go to use. When is the best time to take my readings?? I take the Harvoni at 10:00pm and my Simvastatin & Losartan at 10:00am... Any insights into this would be much appreciated.