Riba reduction

[Krissy]

So I am at 14 of 24 weeks on Sovaldi and Ribavirin for gen 3. I have been rolling along  with minimal side effects but lately I have taken a  turn. My hemoglobin went from 14 to 10.6 last week after holding steady around 12. I have been a lot more tired,  still have terrible insomnia.  Lately I have been getting sudden waves of nausea with a feeling of flushing,  mostly in my face.  My arms  developed bumps all over but they only itch slightly.
I see my liver doc today for a follow up and I'm wondering if i should ask  her to reduce tbe Ribavirin.  I hate to risk having the  treatment be less successful though.  I was undetectable at 4 weeks.
Any thoughts before i see the doc this afternoon?  I appreciate y'all.
Krissy

[rainbowray]

Hi Krissy,
I read that when the dose is reduced, the Hemoglobin always recovers. Don't know where your doctor determines at what point you have to take care of the drop. The nausea is most likely a symptom of anemia and the flushing. A shot to raise the blood levels is an option too if your doctor does not like to reduce the treatment.
Asking does no harm.
I also read that Ribavirin has a 12 day half life, so it does not leave the system very quickly. It accumulates in the blood, so reducing the dose , (in my opinion is not that risky of hurting results) The sovaldi is doing most of the work anyway.
I am also on the same combo, so I read what Ribavirin does, all they know is it enhances the results a little, they are not sure how it affects the virus??

[jma0590]

I had my riba reduced for a week two weeks ago the symptoms didn't seem to get any better. my blood levels went from 13 to 11.3 then another test in two weeks it dropped again to 9.2. that's when they did the reduction .I had blood work done on Tuesday . I'll see what happens just going into week 7.

[lporterrn]

Hi Krissy,
New studies suggest that ribavirin dose reduction this far along are unlikely to significantly reduce your chances at a cure, BUT, we don't really have good data on GT 3. Better to be safe though, since low hemoglobin is nothing to fool around with.
Two ideas that you may already be doing, but I'll mention for other:
1) Take ribavirin with a small amount of high fat food - this will improve metabolism - I took it with full fat yogurt or peanut butter.
2) Take PM ribavirin dose early. I took my AM dose at 8 and my PM at 4 or 5 - this made it slightly easier to sleep. However, honestly the only thing that worked for insomnia was the atarax I took for my rash.