STL, 

Beauty labs - those 4 week results (no doubt) please everyone!   We all know what they mean. 

Sorry I did not celebrate these good numbers with you sooner - about the time your numbers were returning, I was on my "away". But I did a little happy  dance for you as soon as I saw them. Lovely to have those "numbers" under your belt, isn't it - are you feeling more and more confident now, going forward, seeing how well the magically powerful VEL is?! Wonderful drugs Gilead has created, just for us! An early crashed ALT heralds only good news. All your numbers are just excellent.

BTW - I didn't go into your links re: GGT, but we have discussed GGT's on the site and read about a lot of these other tests before. They are all interesting to learn about. GGT's can just simply be elevated right along with other labs being elevated when one has hepatitis. But as an aside, one thing I learned about GGT's, is that for those with a real problem with drinking, and their liver is already compromized/suffering and the pt and doc are both hoping the pt. can sustain abstaining, GGT's can also be a handy rough guide to show when someone has "fallen off the wagon", as GGT's can rise when alcohol is added as fuel to the liver fire. Just an interesting general tidbit. 

You, in the "down under" and our other commonwealth buddy "mikenan" from Canada, who we have now met on your thread, both are not being offered VL's until EOT+12 weeks - which just goes to show you it is not a country thing, nor a regulatory thing, just those docs deciding not to test, and that can be taken as a positive, that they are positive and confident in the already-proven powerful epclusa and your good predictable (telling) early response to them, as shown and clearly indicated by your good "crashed" 4 weeks labs. You will have the luxury of comparing your pre-treatment VL to your EOT+12 week SVR VL of ZERO! 

Some people cannot be patient enough to wait to know (ahem ,,, that would be me! ) but I was lucky and had frequent bloodletting and VL's done during my trial, because it WAS a trial.

Others with more self-directed treatments paid to get VL's done when they decided they wanted them.

I am a believer in expensive, frequent, repeat testing - (the L'oreal syndrome) - nothing too good for the pt., I was glad to know everyone of my many labs and my VL's,  the feedback gave me comfort and interesting info.

I am still surprised when they do this (no 4 week VL nor an EOT VL') but it IS true, they can base your good response your 4 week and other on-treatment lab results, but still, I (personally) would want a 4 week and an EOT VL -  just me - I am NOT a patient person!

Gee whiz, I am lamenting for you with the insomnia issue - man, I hope you can get more zzzz's than that (somehow)!, a body and mind NEEDS rest and real sleep, complete with REM and recoup/healing time - ummm, are you sposed to have TV in bedroom if one is an insomniac - jes sayin! (ya.ya, I know, I'm a party pooper), and, easy for me to say, someone who can count her lifetime insomnia days prolly on both hands! Just tell me to button it. 

I will just use my strongest levels of telepathic hypnosis on you, over the pond, and simply insist on willing to you "a few extra deep irresistable ZZZ's tonight"! Sleep, lovely sleep I wish for you.   C. 

Hi Mike,

Pleased to meet you. Sounds like you are doing great. I am now 5 1/2 weeks into treatment and everything is going pretty well with me. I have another test like this one at end of treatment. Like you, my tests will not include viral load until October but they were very pleased with the bloods I had taken at 4 weeks. Seems our wonder drug is doing its stuff so that is great for us all. We are so fortunate with our treatment to have the wonderful new DAA's that's for sure. Success rates are so high its just amazing.

Thanks for joining us. Look forward to hearing more

yay mike

Hey Mike,

Glad to hear all of your tests came back good! Normally they are checking your pancreas enzymes when running a Lipase test. We often see fluctuations in various lab values during treatment. If your doc says things are okay, then take note of it for future reference and don’t worry about it. 

Just found this post so thought i would add.  Just finished my 7th week.  Haven't had any side effects and had blood work done after my 4th week.  My Doc only did the Hematology, creatinine, eGFR, bilirubin and ALT test.  They all showed normal range.  ALT was down to 16 from last year test.  He also had me do a Lipase test which came back 2.5 times the norm but told me things were ok.  Don't know if anyone else had this test done.  Well next week i go for the same tests then no tests until end of Oct when i will have been finished the pills for 3 months, that is when i get the Hep C RNA test done.  Hope it works out for everyone on this treatment because it really is a godsend.

Yes I do feel I'm doing pretty good with the water consumption. The glass I keep refilling is quite large so three is over a litre in 3 (prob holds around 400ml) It is now 10.15 am and I am on my 6th glass along with 2 cups of tea and my smoothie. Seem to have quite a thirst this morning. I normally would drink at least 2 litres of water a day....now Ive done that by this time of day to allow me to double up. I like to know Ive hit the half way mark early, while I'm just doing a few chores. I slow down in the afternoon but want to hit the half way mark at least by mid morning if I can, so I have a little leeway in the afternoon/evening if I go out. I manage to hit the 4 litres now easily enough so that is good.

Here’s a friendly guide!  

Absolutely fill a gallon jug with water and make sure you drink all of it between 8 AM or whenever you get up and about 10 PM.

i get the mix of insomnia and energy and fatigue too.... so weird ; but overall not as bad as i worried about. yea, that doey woozy feeling is so weird, i feel like i'm on auto-pilot so much of the time.

we're doing so good with this tho

over here on the westcoast usa they do the first qualitative viral load at 4 weeks. i just did that today so will know in a few days.

funny about the cake, could be cos i'm always talking about it

but it won't be funny if my blood sugar shows up high on this test

are you getting all the water down ok? i'm trying to drink more earlier in the day so i'm not up all nite going pee.

Hi Lamassu,

They don't check that until SVR 12. Its not a test they focus on. They know I have it and the genotype so find the number of bugs running around to be not a factor in treatment. They don't check until they hope we are cured.

I have not suffered fatigue, more the opposite actually. Insomnia although I must admit I have had more nights when I fall asleep quite early this last week. This week I seem to be having only one 3/4 hour sleep(if im lucky) a night in three, which has been good. Most afternoons I do feel a little peculiar with the doey woozy feeling and a terrible afternoon craving for cake. I take my bomb at 7.30 am

SeeTheLight hope you do not experience the fatique I did while on Epclusa. Seems to affect 25% of patients. Do you know what your viral load was before starting treatment, and will you have a four week Hep C RNA PCR (viral load)? Glad your fibrosis score was low very good news. Waiting to hear about your four week labs at this juncture seeing a reduced viral load is more important than liver enzymes. The three months will pass quickly.

cool, thnx tig & STL

Oops I should have looked. Very handy resource thank you Tig

We have a good reference section in our Knowledge thread. Here’s a link...

Lab Values and Definitions

Not a lot only that it is a Liver Enzyme, along with ALT and AST. It is the three figures that they usually  point at when they tell me My Enzymes are elevated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-glutamyltransferase

this is a nice simple one of the different liver function tests

http://www.mydr.com.au/tests-investigations/liver-function-testing

awesome STL 

what is a ggt?, do you know?

Good news here  

Seems my bug bombs are working

My ALT was 72 before treatments now 4 weeks later its 16

My AST was 67 now 23

GGT is 33

Good luck with yours 5.

oh my, what mess you had on your hands with the bleach solution.

enjoy your day of visit and shopping.

i got my lab request via the internet today, so i'll print it out and just go wednesday afternoon.

i didn't want to go but logically it makes sense to have a base lab report after the first month where by all progress can be seen from now till 12 weeks svr.

oh yea, not sure what will be if i move onto a longer treatment with having to go to work.

Onya 5! ...... Lucky you its your last, Ive still got one more to go. You're better than half way through it now. You'll be a "been there done that" while i'm still "work in progress". I keep thinking how wonderful it will be when these yukky woozies are behind us, but guess its not going to be quite that good until the the three month post treatment and hopefully cured.

Its funny how some days are good and some not so good. I don't feel I am doing anything different. I would think if I was having side effects it would be constant rather than good day bad day scenario. Hopefully today will be good, I'm off to a neighbouring town for a bit of shopping and visiting a friend. Have to get some more wormers for my little one. Yes she was very concerned for me when I fell over. She couldnt stay off me so I could get my wet, bleachy clothes off - because when I went down so did the mop bucket. Hohum.... Dear little thing, she was so worried about her mumma.

Hope you are having a good day.

hi STL

i cracked my new bottle too.yay for us

our docs make us wait till they send us the lab request via the internet or snail mail, wish they did the way you guys do. i even have to see him at 6 weeks so they can look at me and collect the $45., 

i'm so glad you have your doggy there, and how much she loved on you after you fell, wondering what's happening to mom.

and great that you could get outside together for an easy walk into the no trip zones.

i figure we are getting laid out from both ends... the bugbombs doing their job ,so those ingredients cos some side effests,....... but also our immune system is working overtime now that they have a chance to beat the lil' varmits. our meds give the immune system a chance to win the fight instead of the varmits always winning..... yay for the immune system team, and that consumes a lot of our body's energy. 

i too missed you while you were recovering from your trip; i figured you were resting. i post something just to blog it down for myself later and for anyone needing to read someone's journey.

happy 2nd bottle.....

Sorry Canuck, I didn't realise I was MIA, I was still reading, just didn't really have anything to report lol.

Yes cracked the new bottle earlier this morn, going well, apart from these random things that hit, nothing to lay me out, apart from falling, which I guess is just one of those unfortunate things. Wasn't like I passed out or anything, I'm just a clumsy clux. Tell you what when I finally got myself up and back inside the dog was very pleased, she knew something was wrong but couldn't see me through the door, just hear my ouches so she just licked/loved me to death when i got in. Haven't taken her for a walk since. The sun is out at mo so think I will do a small one, just no creeks or uneven ground at mo since I can easily go ouch again if I move it wrong. Don't know if shell go for my slower, more careful pace this morn but at least it will be something....lol. I could use a bit out outdoors too.

Well how would you be 5! So I'm not the only idjut who can fall down over nothing. We must both try harder. Glad you were OK. Saturday I could barely get off the bed, very tricky situation when you are drinking so much and the beds at one end of the house and the toilet at the other. I think I jinxed myself actually. My new bedroom teli is a smart, my first one so I couldn't resist Friday finally signing up for netflix, had been resisting, but Friday I did it, set it up on the teli, gave myself a little chuckle as I walked out hanging for my Friday night testrun. (goes to show what an interesting life I lead these days - ROFL) Prob an hour or two later I have a fall. Omen or what.

Not sure what you mean about order your labs. Guess you mean the paperwork. Clearly different here. When my nurse gave me my pack, the  bloodtest forms with dates they wanted them done (end of week four, EOT end of week twelve, then 12 weeks after EOT for the big SVR) one were in it along with my script.

Hey STL,

Yes, good to hear from you. We fret when folk go stealth, heehee, or at least we go a bit lonely. Good info and update and re-iterate on your thread here BTW, you are a clear conveyor of info - a pleasure to read.

(911!) Why is everyone falling down at the same tme! I'll say you two May 1 ladies are lucky to be picking yourselves up off the floor, not in pieces. Everybody, please try to stay upright!, no 2 or 3 point landings, unless you can aim it for a bed. Nice your nails got harder! I don't know why ... but i am also glad your bones are hard (apparently) heehee. I think you should be relieved from mop duty for now. 

I was and got VERY doe-headed during treatment (but I was that way before tretamentas well) - just worse on, it was a relief when treatment was over, and it slowly subsided, a big chunk of it subsided one night and kind took me by pleasant surprize. They say within hours and days of stopping the drugs, the blood drug levels dissapate quickly, any lingering residual should be gone from your body in days or weeks - but keep flushing with lots of water even after EOT. But, I am getting ahead of myself here - I still hope you and the drugs are going to start to get along better, any day now, that can and DOES happen. Congrats on cracking open bottle number 2 tomorrow! 

Can't wait to hear results of your 4 weeks bloods, it will help you feel better about your sore banged up bits, great you found and posted some of your old labs, it will be good to see the improvements from those. Oh the excitement, waiting for those first 4 week results! 

Hope your knee, feet, ankles will get over that fall OK. C.  

stl, so good to hear from you after your vacation.

i fell down too, went to sit on the rolling chair and it kept going behind me

i managed to land square on my behind and lifted my arms for balance so didn't really get hurt , my hip ached the next day but heating pad and magnets calmed it down.

so that was odd that we both fell under the influence of the DAA's.

so we can concentrate ourselves to stay on all 2's now .

cool that they ordered your tests already, i still await that lab order for me.

we are doing so well

So far side effects haven"t been too bad, I am pleased to report. Most I can't really be sure are the result of my "Bug Bombs" as I think of them. - These bugs have been running rampant me for close to 40 years so it will take some pretty potent bombs to get rid of them I realise, so am aware I might have a little discomfort.

Most things I have had before such as feeling a  bit achey in general, a bit headachey, feeling a little nauseous, bit of constipated etc. The one I am confident is related is this funny feeling in my head. I feel a bit dohy, a bit headachey, sometimes front of head sometimes back and sometimes i feel like there is pressure round my head particularly my ears. Sometimes it feels as if something is running around my head doing circle work around my eyes and ears. I see it as by bugs trying trying to escape the bombing they are subjected to, and like to tell them - you can run  but you can't hide! Have had a few not too great days, but since I no longer work it really is a minor inconvenience. I just have to keep my eyes on the prize. I have hopes that when I have beaten this thing a lot of other things re my health will hopefully improve.

Friday and Saturday were not great for me. I fell over emptying the mop bucket Friday morning, pulled something in back of knee and hurt both feet and ankles a little, shook me up a bit because with the state of my bones I usually break something so falls aint good. This time I knew it wasnt broke anyway- thank goodness....lol. Felt shaky and sick but think more from the scare in falling than the treatment. Anyway while I laid about all weekend I did notice something amazing! My fingernails are hard! My nails are always quite soft and split and rip very easily. Never grow because they just bend and rip off. I learnt many years ago that I don't absorb calcium and now they are rock hard. I have to wonder if the Epclusa may be doing this. I wonder if anyone has noticed anything like this. Maybe the virus was causing it. Just never considered that one! Anyway interesting me thinks!

Hi all, thought it about time I started my own thread rather than hijacking 5's all the time, so here goes. lol

I have had the virus since early 80's although I didn't know it as I was diagnosed with hep b at the time. I thought I had ridded myself of that but about 20 years later learnt that I was hep c pos and had never had hep b at all. At the time there was nothing much going treatment wise so was just advised to eat healthy and not drink much and that was that.

Last year when as usual my liver enzymes were up a bit in a blood test, and I told the locum i was hep c pos he told me about the new treatments and suggested I get referred. My referral was sent in and I got a letter informing me I was on the waiting list.  Well my name came up in late Feb and after seeing the specialist, having bloods taken fibroscan and ultrasound throughout March I was placed on Epclusa for 12 weeks beginning May 1. I was not given my results and didn't think to ask at time. Silly me! An old result I have from last year and 3 years previously list

2014 GGT 24 2017 GGT 86 (-50)

2014 AST 68 2017 ALT 46 (-41)

2014 ALT 51 2017 ALT 36 (-41)

so doesnt look too bad considering how long I've been carrying this around.

The latest tests provided my gen type as 3A, and I was told I don't have Cirrhosis. I do hope to access my results when I speak with them next.

Anyway back to the present. Today was day 28, so I finished my first bottle of Epclusa this morning and had my 4 week bloods so here I sit waiting to hear how successful the treatment is! Here's hoping.