Hey Dragon Slayer, thanks for your input. Its so crazy how treatment is different for everyone.  I see you take three pills Im assuming you take one of each of the three medications you mentioned?

I am taking 7 pills for this treatment, and also 5 pills for my HIV as well as other pills for thyroid disease , inflammation and vitamin D- total 16 pills a day.
I have always struggled with swallowing pills, specially large ones. Ugh. So all these pills are driving me nuts. 

what I have been doing is taking my thyroid pills, the vitamin D, one of my hiv pills and one of the inflammation pills first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. ( thyroid has to be taken on empty stomach)  Then I wait an hour and take 3 of the ribavirin and the Sovaldi together with breakfast, because I was told to take the ribavirin with food. 

Than in the evening I take the other 3 ribavirin with a snack, and about an hour or two later, I take my other 4 HIV pills and my second pill for inflammation. 

Seems to be the only way to do it. 

With that said, I seem to be a bit better with the nausea and cramping, I have noticed, For a couple days Im having some heaviness in my chest and some palpitations. Waiting on the Dr to get back to me. 

How long are you on treatment for?  

Thanks again for the comments. 

Hang in there also and good luck too..

Hi Dee, 

I am about 18 days in front of you and I had same type of issues. 

I was not a big water drinker but now drink around 100 ounces of water a day and no more headaches l

I had some stomach issues as well but I spread out the pills.  I was taking all three (Sovaldi, Olysio and Riba) at same time in morning with food and felt sluggish and crampy.

Now I take Olysio  in morning with food, hour later Riba and hour later Sovaldi, no more sluggish feelinig or stomach issues.

Good luck and stay strong.....

Hi Larry, that is great news..I am truly happy for you. Sounds like it is all going as planned.  I am now on day 8 and so far so good. The only issues I have had was day two, I had stomach cramping and than day 3 and 4 head aches a bit. Feeling a bit tired , more so than usually and the sleep thing, yeah i can relate, and just like you, that has been an issue pre treatment for a while now, since I too have been out of work.

I think I have a chest cold, as it hurts when i cough or swallow in the middle of my chest. ( not my throat) but I will call dr tomorrow, just to let them know. Im sure its nothing though.

I appreciate your input and I too anticipate being cured at the end of the 12 weeks. 

Thanks so much 

Dee. 

Hi Dee!

I just completed my 6th week of treatment last Saturday of Sovaldi  & Ribavirin. I haven't had any issues to speak of but my skin is beginning to get dry and itchy perhaps because of the ribavirin or could be due to this severe dry arctic deep freeze that has engulfed the midwest. It isn't too bad and I have been using skin lotion the past week to manage. The only other issue that I have encountered is some restless and sleepless nights but I have always been prone for this and could be more due to being currently unemployed than this treatment. Since I am not working, I suspect I just have too much energy. My doctor gave me a prescription for ambien to help me sleep but I try not to take it until I really need it as I don't want to become dependent upon it.

My first lab after one month of treatment has me at >42 which is down from a viral load of 1.6 million. I am due for another lab in a few days and expect I will be <20 which is undetectable and the desired goal.

I have hep c gen 2b which is the most responsive to treatment. I expect to be completely cured in about 6 more weeks.

Best wishes!

Hello again Dee,

I've included links to some of the threads we have on the forum. Sovaldi and "anything" outside of trial experiments is brand new. So information is just developing. You will be one of our first, (I like to call you Pioneers) and your input and documentation on these pages will be important for so many to follow. So please as you go through treatment, will you share your experiences, side effects, anything that comes to mind? You can add those remarks in a new thread in the "On Treatment" sections or add to an existing one there. As I said, the one's below are some of our newest. You can use our Search function at the top and just enter any term, word or phrase and something always pops up and will lead you to more information. Search Google for Sofosbuvir trials and you'll get information there as well. Good luck!

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t55929462/started-new-treatment-today-with-sovaldi-sofosbuvir-and-riba/

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t56139280/combo-drug-prescription-of-sovaldi-and-olysio-with-ribavirin/

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t56273157/beginning-treatment-in-1-week-sovaldiribainterferon/

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t56297993/sofosbuvir-plus-simeprevir-undetectable/

Tig

Thank you. I appreciate the welcome from you both. Do you know if there is a topic for people on these two medication treatments? I'd be interested to see how others are experiencing it as well.  I know it just got approved in December ? But I'm hoping someone else is on them too.  Thanks again for the support.    

Hi Dee,

I'd like to welcome you to the forum too. Sounds like you've had more than your share of health issues, unexpected and unknown at that. I'm glad that you've taken control and are planning to get them resolved. The new anti virals are very promising, particularly the combo you've chosen. Good luck and let us know if we can provide you with any assistance. We're here to support you any way we can.

Best,  Tig

Welcome to the forum, Dee, and congratulations on starting treatment today!

Thanks for sharing your story with us.  You`ve really been through a rough time over the last 16 years or so and I`m sorry to hear about your co-infection.  You`ve had more than your fair share of shocks and it must be such a relief to be starting treatment at last, and with this Sovaldi/Ribavirin combo. 

You`ll find there are a group of new members who are also on treatment with Sovaldi or about to start, and it`s good to have you on board with us.  Do keep us posted, we`ll be very interested in following your progress.

Wishing you all the best of luck! 

Hi everyone. I am Dee. I am a 50 year old wife and mother. 

I was diagnosed with Hep C in 1998 when i did pre op blood work for cancer surgery.
It was concluded at that time, that I had been infected with the virus back in 1985 during two blood transfusion given during delivery of my son. 
I was later diagnosed with HIV in 2000 a lovely parting gift from my then husband. 

In November 2012 I went into the hospital for a laparoscopic gall bladder removal and awoke to being told that not only did they fail to remove my gall bladder, but that I also have Cirrhosis.

Needless to say, I was devastated and angry because I had been trying for years to have treatment to avoid developing cirrhosis ,which its deterioration is multiplied in those who are co-infected. 

This brings me to where I am at today. 

Today I started Treatment with Sovaldi and Ribavirin.