Welcome Lisa,

Very sorry to hear about your mom. It will  be a joy to her to see  well I am sure. 

I too am a 1A and I do not think I went to the bathroom more than normal while on Harvoni and yes I was drinking my water. I am one that put lemon, lime, cucumber in it to enable me to drink more. Recently did pineapple too. The side effects are not bad, nothing like some of the other treatments and the older ones that many of us tried years ago and were not successful in. 

My insurance company made me due a full drug and alcohol panel before they would approve the meds as well as the specialty pharmacy called every month with questions. I have been sober quite some time so that was not an issue for me. I due not show intolerance of people that drink socially but I do agree with all here that you should refrain while on treatment. Give your body and the medicine a chance to do its thing. You deserve this.

If you are able to, do some light exercise, yoga or go for walks and that will help the achiness and anxiety. 

Take care of U!
wendy

Hi Lisa,

funny how raw fear can change behaviour. 

I  always laughed at tee totalleRs - especially ones who would go on and on about the evils of alcohol. I loved drinking - it made me laugh, relax and see things in perspective. 

That all changed last year when I got the news that unless my Hep c could be cured and I gave up alcohol, I would be dead quite quickly. I have children and grandchildren I adore and am also a scaredy cat so it wasn't much of a choice. 

Now I read the posts before mine and instead of thinking get real you bunch of kill joys, I'm just going to have to join in because sooner or later you'll have to make the same choice as me. Most of us choose life over any alternative, including drinking, and now you get the chance to make that choice while your liver is "only" F3. 

I hope you can see the choices a bit earlier than I did.

Good Luck,

Syd

Hi Lisa.
 In January 2014, after years of Hep C and drinking alcohol, I was hospitalized for painful decompensated cirrhosis related complications and told I would die soon if I didn't quit drinking, I quit. It wasn't easy and I needed help but I wanted to live so I did. Hepatitis C is like a fire in our livers and drinking alcohol is like pouring gasoline on the fire. Regardless of whether or not drinking alcohol will affect Harvoni, it will continue to destroy your sick liver. Considering my cirrhosis, HCV and HIV, I urgently needed treatment at that time but I could not get HCV treatment approved until I stayed sober for six months in order to prove I could, and that alcohol would not be involved while I was being treated. There were multiple reasons for that.
 I have a long history of anxiety and depression but I've found that there are better ways to cope with the challenges and painful downs of life than numbing them with alcohol. Treating with Harvoni will not be a big problem for you provided you stay adequately hydrated and take reasonable care of your body while on treatment. But alcohol is a problem and will continue to be until your liver recovers from all the trauma it has been through and that will take a good bit of time. Be good to yourself and choose to live.
 I'm very sorry to hear about your mother. I lost mine to cancer in 1994. Her biggest wish was to see me get sober but she never did. I hope she can see me now, if so I'm sure she's happy.
 Welcome to the forum. We have a very helpful and supportive group here and we all have each others best interest at heart. We're glad you are here now too. Let us know what's going on with you.

Hi Lisa,

I want to provide one more article that directly addresses the use of Harvoni and Alcohol when dealing with Hep C. As has been mentioned, these medications dehydrate you and alcohol increases that fluid loss. You may notice some increase in bathroom trips, but it won't be as much as you might think. Your body will have increased demands for the extra water you'll be consuming. It often evens out. One thing to remember, if you're having to use the restroom more often and have a light yellow color to your urine, you'll know you're hydrating properly. Add fruit infusion to your water to flavor it up!

HCV and Alcohol 

Greetings Lisa,

I am on day 30 since start of treatment. I am one of the hard cases and I have 138 days remaining. 24 weeks of Harvoni.

My wife is on day 71 since SOT and has 13 days remaining. Please take this therefore as the voice of present day ongoing experience. This treatment plan is a piece of cake. Very tolerable but the hydration factor these folks have mentioned is the difference between that piece of cake and a less than easy ride.

That said, the comments regarding Alcohol not interacting with Harvoni need a bit of a fine point on that pencil.

A person NOT on treatment that drinks alcohol is at risk of dehydration. Taking Harvoni and other DAA's requires more than normal hydration in order to reduce side affects.

If you are drinking alcohol, while on treatment, you can forget thinking that 4 liters of Water will be sufficient to ward off side affects.

I won't tell you how bad it is for the liver of a F3 fibrosis patient.

I won't tell you how bad it is for any person with HCV.

I will tell you that if you think you can drink alcohol while on treatment, and are concerned with side affects like your opening post appears to demonstrate, then you need to honestly think again.

I know it sounds like I am coming on strong with this but it is only because I care greatly for all of my brothers and sisters here and you happen to be one of them now.

I want the connection between the absolute need to properly hydrate and the fact that alcohol dehydrates to really sink in. I want you to have as easy a ride on this treatment as me and my wife are having so please step away from the bottle, put it down and stand up and prepare to whoop this Dragon called Hep C with every thing that makes Lisa, YOU.

You definitely can make it an easy ride, concentrate on class and care for and respect your Mom if you make the right decision here.

Welcome to the Family Lisa, we will help where we can and I am hoping some day soon you are in the position to assist some new person who comes in here looking for a bit of care. That is something we here have a lot of!

Warm Regards

JimmyK

Thank You both for your quick responses. I will try to cut out the alcohol! 3-4 liters of water a day? Is that about a gallon? Never been a water drinker, no wonder I'm reading about insomnia & fatigue, I'll be up day and night eliminating the water, LOL!

• Hello Wino Girl, As one who enjoyed her beer at the end of the day, I was not wild about abstaining, but it just makes too much sense not to abstain.  Our body has been in a daily struggle with HCV, and no matter how good our immune system is, HCV wins a little bit more each day.  My understanding is drinking doesn't stop the Harvoni from working, but you're still compromising your liver on a daily basis. The liver is very forgiving.  It will heal-but it needs help to do that. I don't see the Harvoni stopping you from doing anything you would normally do.  Most folks have either no side effects or mild ones - easily tolerated.  Good luck!  You've got a community of caring souls here. Anna

Hi Lisa,

Welcome to the forum! Don't sweat the Harvoni treatment or side effects, it's an easy ride and far shorter than ever before. You'll do fine.

If I may say so, your doctor is simply wrong about the use of alcohol, especially during treatment. Matter of fact, many insurance companies run drug and alcohol tests before approving treatment. You see, alcohol is like fuel to the HCV virus. It aggravates it and can cause much quicker damage, namely fibrosis. You already have a fatty liver, stage 3 (F3) and that is one step before cirrhosis is established. I'm sorry and don't want to frighten you, but you should absolutely give up the alcohol, now. Give the Harvoni every opportunity to do it's job. Stop the virus before it and the alcohol can do anymore damage.

I'm sorry to hear your Mom is ill, that's difficult and beyond stressful. You've got a full plate and everything, including class, is going to add to the demands. Don't try to destress by drinking your way through it. Seek advice and counseling if needed.

Tell us a little about yourself. Have you ever treated before? With 7.6 million viral load, I assume you are on the 12 week protocol. The best advice I can give is to treat yourself right, eat a balanced diet and drink no less than 3-4 liters of water daily. Water is the best defense against the fatigue and headaches that accompany these new drug regimens. I'm serious! 3-4 liters every single day. You should also get a pill box to assure you take your meds every day and at the same time. Set an alarm to remind yourself and a reminder if you ignore the first alarm. 

There will be others along to welcome you to the group. Lots of friendly, knowledgeable folks here and we've all been where you are, some more than once. Don't be afraid to ask questions! Good luck... 

 Struggling with the thought of quitting drinking. The Doctor said drinking won't effect my Harvoni treatment? I use my alcohol to help with stress and arthritis in my neck, while my Mother has terminal cancer. My Harvoni should be in this week, and I am supposed to be going back to school for a job training program during this 3 month treatment. I suffer from some anxiety, achy bones, etc. Will I be able to make it through treatment  with 8 hours of class a day? Any advice is welcomed! How bad will it be? Type 1A, VL 7,688,060, ALT 97, and AST 101.