Epclusa with ribavirin

[Healthiswealth]

Hello! New here, but have been reading everyone's comments on epclusa the past couple weeks. I was diagnosed with hep c and cirrhosis at age 19 and am now 33. I am supposed to start epclusa with ribavirin tomorrow. I was previously on interferon and riba back in 2012 and quit after 12 weeks of feeling like I was on my death bed. I am completely terrified to take ribavirin again. I've expressed my concerns to my dr about taking ribavirin and he says that it was the interferon that made me sick, not the riba. (This is also a new dr for me, not the one I did prior treatment with). I don't agree with him though! Because of my cirrhosis he suggests I need to take it.
Is there anyone here with cirrhosis who is only taking epclusa and if so is it working? Ever since I did treatment back in 2012 it scared me so bad that I quit taking any and all medications except for my nadolol for esophageal varisces and only use natural remedies. I know I can handle the one a day epclusa but am terrified to add the 5 ribavirins per day:(

[Gaj]

Hi,

I can't help directly with your question, however I treated using Interferon with Riba in 2013 and then 24 weeks of Sofosbuvir/Daclatasvir with Riba earlier this year. The second treatment without the interferon was far, far easier with only relatively minor effects that I could attribute to the Riba.
Riba appears to improve response rates for those of us with cirrhosis in some genotypes so I would suggest you consider your doctor's advice to use it and see how you feel when doing so. If you find you are unable to tolerate the Riba then you can discuss stopping it with your doctor further into treatment but until then you will be giving yourself the best chance of clearing the HCV.

[Healthiswealth]

I truly appreciate your reply. I went ahead and started with a lower dose of riba (600mg) to see how I tolerate it. Will do my 1 week bloodwork on Monday to see how it is working. Not sure if it's the riba or epclusa but experiencing some nausea about hour and half after taking the pills. Also have had some pretty bad headaches off and on today. Its definitely been better than the interferon treatment so far though and 12 weeks sounds much more tolerable. Keeping fingers crossed that the headache part of it will get better.

[Gaj]

I found that taking the Riba at the same time as a light meal that contains some fat reduced any nausea I felt. Also try to remain well hydrated by drinking plenty of water which I found helped a lot with the headaches during the first week or two though I did notice I still sometimes had a 'thick' head.