New Epclusa Patient and to Forum

[Av8tor737]

Hello All,

I've been reading progress reports, and thought I'd chime in.  I just passed the 5 week mark. After having a VL in the 4 million range, after 4 weeks my AST/ALT are 12 and Hep C Virus UNDETECTABLE!!!  Lipid panels and all other functions returned in range and normal. 

I've experienced a few symptoms others have, fatigue, muscle and back aches, but they are infrequent and random.  Nothing I can't power through with exercise and a few Advil.  And as another poster on the forum said, drink plenty of water. It makes a huge difference.

No serious side effects for me, so if you're about to start, do not be afraid!!  It is relatively trouble free.

Apologies for lack of test numbers, I'll figure out how to post and try and come back soon.  Good luck and God bless you all!

[Lynn K]

Hi Aviator and welcome

If you look at your profile we are using the signature area to post our data.

Glad to hear your treatment is going well

Blue skies and tail winds
Lynn

[Av8tor737]

Thanks Lynn, you must dabble in the sky yourself then?

I'll work on your suggection over the next few days.

[Lynn K]

Yes you could say that

About 1040 TT, CFI, and ERJ175 wanna be

[Av8tor737]

PM me.

[Av8tor737]

Week Six Update

Well I seem to be different from most.  In that, when first taking the Epclusa I had zero side effects for the first four weeks.  Others have said different.  Recently (the past two weeks) i have been having bouts of severe fatigue and some minor check and back pains.  My cardiologist says everything looks fine so we'll leave it to the drug then.  Some minor tenderness inside around my liver area now and again. Also, I seem to have mild depression come on now and again.  I have noticed my symptoms are more pronounced in the first six hours after taking my dose, tapering off to feeling better by late afternoon and evening.  I have been sleeping well, although I seem to awaken early a.m. (5 ish) and cannot get back to sleep.  I find myself dwelling on the fatigue and tell myself to keep powering through, only six more weeks to go.  Anyone else want to share Epclusa side effects?

[rk]

Hi Av8tor737, the first two weeks I had some brain fog or a lack of holding my thought process. Since then nothing to note, my thought process seems normal or if its altered its a new normal. Its been a relatively smooth ride at 8 weeks.

[elias]

I'm almost finished week 6. Side effect is drastic worsening of pre-existing insomnia
Probably combination of psychological elements and effects of the medication.

I notice that night before any appointment with doctor, I get almost no sleep at all.

I'm probably going there tomorrow to pick up my third and last bottle of Epclusa. So not really a medical appointment I so much hope I dont have sleepless night tonight  and tomorrow ill be so out of it , i wont know how to even get back home

I'm quite achy all over if I  havent slept enough. When I do get adequate sleep, id say my side effects are minimal

[Philadelphia]

I sleep badly the night before a doctor's appointment and I'm on no drugs at all! I put mine down to rampant anxiety. lol

[elias]

Same here. Just worse now after the trauma with leaning bout Hep C and that I have it.Had it since bout 12 and didn't even know

[rk]

Elias, I have sleep problems as well & it can be very frustrating. I did a fair amount of reading and found some helpful tips. I'll not go into here and I do not remember all that I read. I will say if you google insomnia issues you should find tips that are very helpful. I also read a book and I started doing better especially falling asleep. Now usually I go to sleep no problem. If I wake and go to bathroom usually I go back to sleep. If I wake an hour or so from my normal time I may not go back to sleep. Being consistent & keep the same routine really helps. That plus other tips you'll read should help. Now sleep may be a problem on occasion but it use to be a big problem. Just like curing this disease, take control, do not let it control you. I am sure you know life can be quite miserable when something controls you. I wish you luck, Rod

[Mugwump]

My memories of treatment with Harvoni were essentially the same. I was on 24 weeks. After the first 8 or so many of us felt like super beings with liver functions returning to normal levels. However after about 14 weeks the reality of having what seems to be a full house renovation of the liver cells sets in. It was like going to the dentist for root canal essentially the slight pains in the hepatic region became more pronounced and scared the crap out of me!

At the same time I was lucky enough to catch a bout of the flu that was missed in that years vaccine. Talk about a double whammy of feeling like dog shiet!!!

Well it took many months to overcome the shake up and for my liver to rebuild. It took almost a year for my bilirubin levels to settle down. But then again I have cirrhosis and perhaps had a much greater level of damage to heal than some on treatment.

So yes I can say that the final stages of removing HCV can be a rough ride! No doubt it is the system flushing dead liver cells and the liver slowly compensating and rebuilding that causes this effect.

It might very well be that some people have a more active level of infected cells that need to be replaced even though they have less evident levels cirrhosis, so perhaps all of a sudden you can feel worse because there is much more toxic by products to be passed by your system than what you have ever experienced.

I will tell you the as cirrhosis progresses to a level where it is almost decompensated you become used to feeling like you got run over by a truck so the sudden sickness caused by treatment was nothing compared to what I felt like before treatment. But those who are less cirrhotic might be in for more of a rough time than what they are accustomed to.

I see no reason why the new DAA should be any different in how it effects us.

All the best to those on the new drug, let us all hope that it is the answer for those who failed Harvoni for what ever reasons.

Cheers
Eric

[Philadelphia]

My dr keeps telling me how sick I was, how I was stepping off the precipice towards liver failure, how I had begun to decompensate, how dire it was. He didn't tell me any of that during treatment, just the sliding towards decompensation part. In many ways I'm glad he didn't as it would have panicked me.

My last test results showed a drop or stability in everything except bilirubin, which bumped from 16 to 19, but as it has been incredibly high (152) and I started treatment with it being double the maximum norm, I'm prepared for it to wiggle round a bit. It, my platelets and INR are the only things out of range.

I am alwYs amazed that I managed to get so much done when I was so sick, but I did and kept working full time. I have no idea how I managed it.

So yeah, some of us gave a tougher road to recovery and we walk it at a different pace. And that's okay.

[roosevelts]

hang in there!

[roosevelts]

take care

[roosevelts]

hey all,

i'm just getting the hang of how to post. at first it looked to me like I was responding to the wrong people so I changed what I said so as not to be weird or inappropriate. now I think I get that I am just adding to the thread. hope so! I started epclusa on 12/31. no side effects so far. hope it stays that way!

[Mw2324]

Welcome!

[roosevelts]

thanks!