Side effects after Epclusa?

[Becca333]

I just finished Epclusa a couple days ago. Now I am more tired than usual and my stomach is bloated and slightly extended. Someone please tell me this is normal and goes away. I been virus free since 4th week. Hoping to stay virus free.

[Lynn K]

Really sounds unrelated maybe stress?

[Mugwump]

Anytime that the liver changes levels of function, in this situation to a more normal level, the entire digestive system also needs to adjust. As my specialist explained when I complained about the tooting like a cow eating too much green grass after undergoing Harvoni treatment. It was a funny situation I felt like Adolf Hitler as the poor doc opened the windows behind his desk!


If you have otherwise completely normal blood work and ultrasound results I would not worry too much about digestive issues post treatment unless the situation gets worse.


I found that eating a more liver friendly diet with less fats, cheese and meat protein really helped post treatment.  Instead of french fried potatoes I changed over to oven roasted spuds and vegies in light olive oil and reduced my meat portions to no more than 6 oz and made sure that I did not consume much more than 6 oz of animal protein from all sources daily. It helped. No more Texas sized T bones for this camper! The really funny part is that Hitler was a vegetarian, go figure.

[Nina Mae]

Hi Becca et al,

I finished Epclusa/Ribavirin on May 23rd.  My EOT and SVR 12 are both undetected (yay).

I can't say that I had any GI side effects related to Epclusa.  I am, however, experiencing some muscle and joint pain most recently so I'm unsure if it would be a long term side effect or completely unrelated altogether.

As Mugwump suggested, a liver friendly diet will definitely help.  I'm a pescatarian so I eat eggs three times a week; baked salmon (3 portions a week); legumes, beans, quinoa, fresh and raw veggies; fruits. Try and cut back in processed food and fatty food.  Cut back on sodium which should help the bloated feeling; drink loads of water and as much coffee as you can tolerate. 

Good going and congrats!