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Author Topic: Looking for Hope...What changed for you once you were cured?  (Read 7281 times)

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Offline trisha1234

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  • Posts: 5
I want to hear what happened when you kicked this thing out of your system. How do you feel now? ...I need some hope to keep on feeling brave as I move into my first treatment

Offline lporterrn

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  • LucindaPorterRN
    • LucindaPorterRN
Re: Looking for Hope...What changed for you once you were cured?
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2017, 04:51:41 pm »
Many things changed, but by far the most thing that changed most wasn't something I had even thought about before I did treatment. I did it for my health and my future. But the freedom I feel because I can't infect anyone else is the best part. Like a giant boulder was removed.
Lucinda Porter, RN
1988 Contracted HCV
1997 Interferon nonresponder
2003 PEG + ribavirin responder-relapser
2013 Cured (Harvoni + ribavirin clinical trial)
https://www.hepmag.com/blogger/lucindakporter

Offline trisha1234

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Re: Looking for Hope...What changed for you once you were cured?
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2017, 06:53:58 pm »
Thanks for your reply :) Yes it is that "boulder" I want gone also

Offline gnatcatcher

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  • Posts: 1,372
Re: Looking for Hope...What changed for you once you were cured?
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2017, 08:06:24 pm »
Hi, Trisha --

It's coming up on 2 years since my first undetected result. I actually enjoyed taking Harvoni because I was one of many people to whom it gave lots of extra energy. After decades of having low energy, that was quite a gift.

Tests show that my liver is much better now: enzymes down from way high to normal, fibrosis level down from F4 (cirrhosis) to borderline F2-F3. I was already a senior citizen when I started treatment, so there's no offsetting increased age, but being cured has kept my health from worsening quickly (which it had started to do before I got treated and cured).

Here's wishing you an easy journey (which is what most people experience with the current treatments).

Gnatty
9/29/71 transfusions
HCV genotype 1a
7/09/15-9/30/15 Harvoni

Before treatment:
Viral Load 9,490,582
FibroScan 19.5 kPa [F4]
ALT 262
AST 217
ALP 183

Most recent:
VL still UNDETECTED (SVR 102)
FibroScan 7.6 kPa [F1-2]
ALT 15
AST 20
ALP 85

Offline Lynn K

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  • Posts: 4,543
  • Get tested, get treated, get cured, fight Hep c!
Re: Looking for Hope...What changed for you once you were cured?
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2017, 12:52:04 am »
Well I never really felt physically bad but my platelet count has risen from 85 to 110 still below normal but improved. My platelet count is low because I have cirrhosis.

Now I can at least have the hope to live a normal life span and not die from liver disease.

I got a cut a work the other day and no longer feel like a walking virus for the first time in 28 years since I knew I was infected. What a great feeling that was.
Genotype 1a
1978 contracted, 1990 Dx
1995 Intron A failed
2001 Interferon Riba null response
2003 Pegintron Riba trial med null response
2008 F4 Cirrhosis Bx
2014 12 week Sov/Oly relapse
10/14 fibroscan 27 PLT 96
2014 24 weeks Harvoni 15 weeks Riba
5/4/15 EOT not detected, ALT 21, AST 20
4 week post not detected, ALT 26, AST 28
12 week post NOT DETECTED (07/27/15)
ALT 29, AST 27 PLT 92
24 week post NOT DETECTED! (10/19/15)
44 weeks (3/11/16)  fibroscan 33, PLT 111, HCV NOT DETECTED!
I AM FREE!

Offline Philadelphia

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  • It only looks like I know what I'm doing
Re: Looking for Hope...What changed for you once you were cured?
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2017, 07:22:03 am »
I didn't feel like I was going to die before I hit 60. That was a big one for me.
CURED SVR24  Class of 2015
Wk 12 post EOT 30.11.15: ALT 14 AST 22 GGT 22 VL UND
Week 19 07.08.15: ALT 17 AST 23 GGT 25
Week 12 18.06.15: ALT 21 AST 23 GGT 28
Week 8 25.05.15: ALT 23 AST 27 GGT 30 VL UND
Week 4 20.04.14: ALT 30 AST 36 VL 40
Treatment start 23.03.15: ALT 137 AST 185 VL 342,600
Cirrhosis Child-Pugh A, Genotype 1a - Viekira Pak + riba 24 weeks
Total failure interferon/ribavirin/boceprovir Mar 2013
https://www.hepmag.com/blogger/grace-campbell

Offline KimInTheForest

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  • Believe in yourself
Re: Looking for Hope...What changed for you once you were cured?
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2017, 01:48:56 pm »
Like Lucinda, I too felt a big boulder had been lifted. And I wasn't expecting that. I  had never realized how much 'weight' I had been carrying for so many years, living with this - and keeping it secret for my own health and happiness. (I outed myself quite publicly after being cured, so I could do some public education work on the issue.)

The other noticeable effect for me (and it began after first week of treatment, when nearly all of virus had been eradicated) was a big improvement in mental clarity.

Good luck with your treatment! :)

kim
Kim Goldberg (Nanaimo, BC)
1970s: Contracted HCV (genotype 3a)
2015: Cured with Harvoni + ribavirin (12 weeks)
MY STORY: https://pigsquash.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/undetectable-my-hep-c-story/

 


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