Thanks JoAnneh,

Nice to meet you .

Today's the day i go on the trial. I had a good sleep and the sun's shining, kids are in good spirits so it's a great start to the day.

I will post a new thread in the 'clinical trials' section later on, and share what day 1 was like. This could be the beginning of the end of hep c. Feeling very optimistic but i am also grounded when i think of the poss side effects, thinking a lot now about the food side of things. xx

Hi Luv and Mallani,

Thanks for the warm welcome, and advice . I do feel lucky to have the place on the trial. "2 days to go" (almost looking forward to it lol!) Luv, I've read your posts from your first 12 weeks , and could imagine how you felt after finding out you were on placebo...same could happen to me so i'll try and keep as calm as poss and not let things overwhelm me. This is the site to rant, rave, chat and share i see, which will help me to escape my own head when need be, for that i am grateful!

Thanks to Jill, i now know not to get multi vits with iron, otherwise i may not have known and i think i will get some vit d too as the sun keeps taking his hat off, we had minus 2 temperature in england this mornin, which is unusually cold for the end of april. Hope it's not like last year when it rained for most of the summer, we've just had a double winter. Strange times indeed. Going off on a tangent now!

I'll be catching up with you all very soon, nice to meet ya

Hi Susan,

Welcome to me too. You're lucky to have access to what appears to be an excellent trial. Check with your Trial Co-ordinaror before taking any extra drugs or supplements. As you are in UK, you might benefit from some Vitamin D if your levels are low. We'll be interested to follow your progress. Good luck.

Welcome Susan!

There is a ton of good info on here and lots of wonderful people!

Thanks for your kind wishes jill, i think this site will be a massive help, knowing that there are others from all over the world and all walks of life living with this condition and having been treated/or considering treatment. When i went for my screening, i asked if i might meet the others who are taking part in the trial (eager to meet someone else in the same boat) but was told it would be unlikely as we come in at different times. There are about 7 in Birmingham UK as far as i know. I'm aware that the turquoise trial is the same drugs used for cirrhotic patients, so i'll be following a load of posts!

Although i'm a wee bit nervous, i'm excited about the possibilities. It truly looks like we're on the verge of a breakthrough here. I'll be sure to post a thread in clinical trials section on Tues (the big day) and share my experience over the coming months.

Credit to the site, thanks

Hi and welcome, Susan!   I know what you mean about the weather over here, I live in England too.  It`s great to be getting a bit of sunshine at last! 

The fact that you don`t drink alcohol and lead a healthy, active lifestyle will have helped keep your liver in good shape.  And a lot of us here understand only too well about doing stupid things when we were young and foolish! 

Congrats on getting into the Sapphire trial, you should do well on that.  As you`ve already seen, we have other members doing the same trial, and also the Abbott `Turquoise` trial.  I`m sure they will be happy to share their experiences with you.

As far as vitamins are concerned, the usual advice when on any Hep C treatment is not to take anything apart from a multivitamin, without added iron.  If you want to take anything else it`s best to check with your trial doctor or nurse first.  People are usually advised to avoid taking any herbal supplements.

Feel free to ask any questions, we`re a friendly group!  You`re welcome to start a new thread in the section for Clinical Trials so we can follow your progress.

Best of luck!  ~ Jill

ps - By the way, you`ll find the abbreviations at the top of this section, and there`s a `search` button at the top of the page, in the middle.

Hi Garfield, (is this your cat in the pic? Cool face, like all cats)

thanks for replying. Looks like we're both in a very similar position, which will be really helpful to follow over the next few weeks.

It sucks that you have low vit d levels - i hope the vitamins are balancing them and that the sun comes out in Germany soon!

Anyway, as for preparing, i'll get some multi-vits and dring loads of spring water. Diet wise - i'll do as healthy as possible (loads of green veg etc).

How did you find out that you're not placebo???

Hi Greendream,

                        I assume you readed I started with this trial on april 15th.

I have taken for a long time high dose of vitamin D, my level is to low and a mixture of vitamins from the supermarket - nothing else.

many greetings from a rainy germany

Hi there. A couple of days ago, i found out i've been accepted on the Sapphire Phase III trial. I've been reading posts by people who are currently on this trial to get an idea of what i might expect, and found it really helpful. I want to share my experience and do the same for other people too.

Luckily, my liver has never deteriorated in any way despite having hep c since roughly '97. Pretty amazing considering the mistakes i've made from being young and extremely foolish, but hey ho - i've made it to 40 intact, keep active, teetotal and have 2 beautiful kids age 10 and 8. I love gardening and study horticulture at college, it is a passion of mine, to be in the sunlight (we're actually getting some now here in england yaay) and surrounded by nature.

I'm quite an optimistic person, and feel quite positive about this trial, but i've got to admit, i'm starting to feel a bit nervous about taking the trial drugs and possible side effects (i'll have to learn the abbreviated terminolgy on here).

Can anyone tell me what are the best vitamins/supplements, foods etc i should be stocking up on for this?

Cheers for reading