No aches today first time in forever

[virgha828]

I woke up today and felt very different. No aches in my body that i have physically felt for years! Has anyone experienced this? I wonder if my body has gotten rid of the virus. Had labs
 Friday so don't really know yet. I hope this continues!

[Picnic]

Virginia,
Your body is now taking a well deserved rest! Good luck on the labs!

[Cicero]

What type aches? Remember, even if the virus is beaten out, your liver is still damaged so some aches and the old Hep-C annoying feelings (fatigue, slight abdomen pain, feet numbness, etc.) will still occur until the virus is eliminated over time & your live starts t heal & rebuild.

I just recv'd my labs for 4 Weeks on the new drugs, S & O ((Sovaldi & Olysio).   This is my 4th treatment. I have had (1) Interferon & ribavirin, (2) Pegalated interferon & ribavirin, (3) triple therapy, i.e., Telaprevir, pegalated interferon & ribavirin and
now (4) Sovaldi & Olysio. Here are the best readings I have ever had:

- AST 18, ALT 9
- Total bilirubin 0.4
- HCV viral load -  Not Detected.

I am happy to say the least.  I must continue treatment for 8 more weeks (2mths) and then, 12 weeks AFTER I stop treatment we will retest again & if  am still at virus  non-detectable I am considered cured. (as long as I stay that way.)

[Picnic]

Great news for you! May the undetecteds be with you!

[virgha828]

Hi cicero

That is such wonderful news and the ALT AST if prefect!!! I guess you have been through the rough days of treatment. Did you ever clear the virus during any of then? What genotype are you? I too have two more months and my aches have not yet returned 

[virgha828]

Hi Larry

How are you doing?

[Picnic]

Just received an undetected today !!!
Who whooo!

[Cicero]

Thanks,, and great news  to Picnic. These new drugs have us all cheering and thanking. WOW!

To Virgha828, I am  genotype 1b. I was at non-detectable on triple therapy after 12 weeks, as is usual.  I guess you have not heard my story. Here it is:

I was first treated with interferon & ribavirin in 2000. The viral load lessened but stopped reducing at around 200,000 IU/ml. I was treated by Univ. CA as SD Hepatology Dept. Then, in 2002, I was treated at UCSD with pegalated (peg) interferon & ribavirin, same result, except the viral load was reduced a little lower before it stopped. That is, both times I was classed as a "non-responder", i.e., there is no continued positive response to the drugs. The second rule, this virus is alive and cunning. I believe, in its own way, it has a brain, as do all viruses, because they react, adapt, and mutate all to exist, as humans do. In 2012, I was treated again. This time, with Triple -Therapy, i.e., pegalated interferon, ribavirin + Telaprevir, I was treated by a specialist, a Gastro-Endocrinologist. Initially, treatment went well. At 12 weeks, my viral load was non-detectable. I continued on the triple therapy for 12 more weeks, for a total of 24 weeks or 6mths, with my viral load remaining non-detectable. The protocol for the triple therapy, for a person who is a non-responder, is to continue treatment, but only with the pegalated interferon, ribavirin (no Telaprevir) for 24 additional weeks. I didn't know that then, and my "doctor told me I should stop treatment. My blood reading were OK, no anemia (a common side effect or Telaprevir) or other side effects, I told him about my prior two treatments, but he took me off the meds! Can you believe it? He treated me as if I was a "treatment naïve patient", i.e. a person who has never been treated, instead of a non-responder! Of course, at the six-month testing point my virus had returned and I did not achieve "sustained virological response” or "SVR".

After I tested positive at the 6mth post treatment point I returned to his office and we had a showdown. I made him show me in my records to confirm that I had previously told him about my two non-responder episodes, and I showed him in the instructions that came with the drug that a non, or null-responder such as myself was to continue on 2/3rds of the triple therapy treatment for an additional 24 weeks. First, he tried to say I was wrong, and then he gave up and apologized. I should have sued him, but . . .

[virgha828]

Yay Larry!!!!! Im very happy for you. We are all going to beat this!

[Picnic]

 I am so happy to hear from you Virginia! We are going to beat this forever!

[virgha828]

Hi Cevero

It sounds like you spent allot of time treating.  Im praying that the treatment we are all on now will be the"one" that will Cure all of us!  I know docs are only human but they better darn know more than us.  I am a 2 and in the 20+ years i didnt want to treat with interferon. My doc also said to wait because this day was coming and physically i was able to wait.  So this is my first attempt  .

Good luck to you !!

[Cicero]

Sounds like you put a lot of reasoned thought in your treatment decisions. We all have to do that. I will I had put more thought into my 3rd treatment (on Triple Therapy of pegalated interferon, ribavirin + Telaprevir) and maybe I could have prevented my doctor from stopping my treatment at 24 weeks as if I was a 'treatment naïve' instead of treating e as the two-time non-responder I was (and that he had in my records that I was. Of course, as my story says, I fired him with Gusto.

I like you could have waited on treatment, but I wanted to get this dragon out of my body because it nibbles away at your liver's capacity. Also, even though my prior 3 treatments did not work I believe they weakened my virus, even if it did morph certain immunities from drugs. I say this because prior to my first treatment, 20 years ago, when I think I had had the virus for 6 years, my viral load was 1.5 million. Since then it has never reached over 800,000. Also, I have no, not a tough of cirrhosis and my liver damage is the same stage as when I was first treated in 2000. My current doc can't empirically explain this, but seems to agree with me that the cause is a weakened virus.