Hey Giggles,

Congrats on your early 4 week UND and those nice drops in your LFT's. So, you are about half-way home in your 12 weeks of Epclusa and things are looking just excellent! Really nice you are feeling OK aside from some minor headaches you experienced. Are you feeling more confident now, now that you have had these good lab results and are not feeling too bad?

Thanks for answering all my queries, good to know how they arrived at your F3, no fibroscan but that aside from bloods you have also had a CT and an ultrasound. Sounds as though they have been thorough with you, in every way. Hep A and B got covered, all boxes were ticked, and that your doc managed to get Epclusa for you - I (personally) think that Epclusa was an excellent choice for you. Nice your doc plans to do that many sets of labs, the 8 week one and EOT one will be coming up quite quickly now! Nice they already have the one year labs planned for you, and that you get the EOT+24 week one as well at the EOT+12 week one. Indeed, as lamassu notes, it seems your doc is thorough - that's good and nice.  

Lovely drops in your ALT and AST, and with your early UND - there's no looking back now - Epclusa is a wonderful drug - just ask me and STL and lamassu, all of us cured with SOF/VEL (with extra VOX for me), thanks to Gilead!

Thanks so much for keeping us updated with your good news. C.

Good on you, Giggles! Those are terrific labs.  I'm glad to hear your side effects are tolerable and few.

12 years is long time to be concerned, knowing you had this virus. Look at you now.  I was naive and did even know I had HVC until I was up for a cure.  Lucky me. 

Thanks for stopping by and letting us know how it's going.  We all learn a lot by these first hand results.  Such information helps others in the future, too.

Keep in touch, Gigs.  We're right here.

Congrats Giggles -- cute name!! Happy for you

Glad to hear you are doing so well. Keep up the good work Cheryl. Epclusa works (I got a lovely  SVR12 today so am over the moon I was given the opportunity to take this wonderful DAA and now look forward to a Hep Free life.) In no time at all you will be joining me.

Undetected !!!! such a great word, YEAH

Are you working while on treatment or juggling other things that make life challenging? 

My Dr. did bloods at all those same intervals too. Right now waiting on my 3 month post treatment test.  Before you know it you will be done with the second bottle! Down the hatch with the magic beans!

Blessings, Iris

yay giggles!! ,, keep up the good work

Hi Giggles,

Welcome to the forum and it is great to read that you are responding fast to Epclusa that is excellent news. I did also but had really severe fatigue from the drug glad you are not having the side effects I did on Epclusa. Best wishes and the 12 weeks will be over before you know it. Sounds like your doctor is very thorough that is what I like to hear. Don't forget to drink that gallon of water a day!

Hello. Between ultrasound, ct scan and bloodwork is how they derived that I was at Stage 3 fibrosis. I wasn't offered harvoni and so went with what they were offering, didn't think about the choices, I just want to be cured.  

I have already had the Hep A and B shots and yes they checked those also and all was good there.

And yes, I did my 4 week bloodwork 2 weeks ago and my viral load was undetectable and both my AST and ALT have dropped down to 24 and 25. I go in for week 8 here in another couple weeks and then another bloodwork at 12 weeks. My doctor says he will do more bloodwork at 3 months after treatments, 6 months and a year to make sure the virus is completely gone.

So far doing great on the Epclusa, only side effects I get is minor headaches. And yes, I am making sure to drink lots of water.

Thank you all for your support. It is nice to have others that are going through the same thing as I am. 

Ya, Good sig line Giggles.

So, you mentioned you are "stage 3" fibrosis, I am wondering by what method(s) they used, to come up with that fibrosis "stage 3" (or in other words, an Fscore of F3)?? Do you know if your fibrosis level was determined by blood testing alone, or, have you had a fibroscan done as well?

Being that you are a GT1 (with the sub-type "a" or "b" being debated by them apparently over the years) but regardless, you are a GT1, so I was wondering if the doc had ever discussed trying to get Harvoni for you versus the Epclusa you got. I am glad you got Epclusa -  it is potent and  "panogenic" covering many GT's, Harvoni of course also being excellent for GT1's - but i was just wondering if the end decision for Epclusa had more to do with insurance or ... what? We have so often seen GT1's who end up getting Harvoni over Epclusa.  

Did you have an abdominal U/S done during your work-up sometime pre-treatment? Did they check your hep A/B immunity status?

Do you happen to know how many blood draws they have planned for you during your 12 week treatment, and how many of those will include a viral load?

So, you must be about week 4?, will you be going for a 4 week blood draw soon - when? 

BTW - you noted a high iron load - me too, and my AFP was about like yours pre-treatment - my iron and AFP numbers all decreased/normalized (all by themselves) after cure.

I hope you are feeling OK! Drink lots of water.  C. 

Hi Giggles (teehee)

Your liver enzymes have bounced around like mine did for a while before they decided to test me for HCV in June of 2017. You can read my stats in signature. Glad you found this forum. Its a good one. Lots of knowledge here. Like Tig said, drink lots of water during treatment.

Hey there Giggles! Love your user name, I bet you have a great laugh It's good to laugh, because this freaking virus has caused many people many tears. 

Glad to hear you are on the train to wellness, choo choo!!! Excellent!

Have you been having any side effects? I had a bit of a rough go in the beginning, but it was still doable, certainly nothing like the old treatments.

Blessings, Iris

Hello Giggles,

You did a marvelous job of setting up your signature line. That helps us understand where you started and where you’re going! You’re headed for success, that I know to be true. It’s rough at times, but trust me, ridding yourself of this destructive force we call the Dragon, will allow you to reap the rewards of better health. With better health, comes happiness! 

Are you keeping up with the needed water intake? Don’t forget to stay adequately hydrated. It’s one of the most important parts of this equation. 3-4 liters of water everyday!

If you have any questions regarding bloodwork, it’s interpretation or anything, just ask.

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome, I have updated signature per your instructions and thank you for your assistance. 
Although I was diagnosed 12 years ago, I am still learning all the things to look at concerning blood work. Rough road to haul, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Welcome Giggles,

I've only been here a couple of weeks myself.If you're looking for great info and lots of encouragement while on your journey,you've come to the right place.

Welcome Giggles.  

You picked a good place for insight.  There's good support, information, and understanding to be found here.  It's hard for people who haven't been through this to get it.  Lucky them.  Here you can spill everything and get bgood information and good friends.  I never had cyber friends before, but I sure am grateful that these folks were here when I went through treatment.

It may get bumpy.  It may not. The main thing is that you will bet better, and then you will get better some more.

Let us know how you are.

Cheddy

Welcome giggles,

Congrats on getting going with treatment. Drink lottsa water and let us know how its all going.

Hi Giggles,

Welcome here from me too. If you have any burning questions, fire away - we will all try to help in whatever ways we can. If you want to share more of your info/lab details that would be good too. Hx and signature lines are always helpful and good starting points. I'm glad you are on treatment and have started to feel better already!  C.

welcome giggles. i took the harvon,i and had undetected at 4 weeks, i kept taking it of course and now i am feeling better than before treatment.

i'm so glad you found our forum and hope to see you posting

Hi Cheryl,

A Big welcome to the forum Cheryl. Lovely you have joined us. 3 weeks in - hope your journey is going well so far. I took my last Epclusa 10 weeks ago tomorrow, so 2 weeks to go for my SVR 12 testing. Look forward to hearing more from you.

Hi Cheryl,

Welcome to the forum! We are always thrilled to meet a new member and Warrior. You are taking one of the best treatment drugs available. These are providing us with the best rates of success we’ve ever had before. 

Now that we’ve had the pleasure of your introduction, can you tell me what treatment you’re on and for how long? I looked at your bio and didn’t see it. If you want, we recommend setting up your signature line to include all that pertinent information. Include your genotype, 1A if that’s what they determined, your treatment drug, length of treatment, start date and maybe your pretreatment labs, viral load and ALT/AST. You can see what some of us have added and go from there, if you want to. It does help us respond to your posts, when we have some history. There’s a link pin mine that helps explain it, if you need help setting it up.

If you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to ask. We have tons of good info and some great friends! So glad you’re here 

Hi Giggles,,,that makes me smile! I completed Harvoni treatment a year ago and feel as if I have my life back. I didn't realize what a toll the HCV had taken on me over the years. The gurus on the board will respond with pertinent info for you...and I'm hear to say welcome! Be sure to drink lots of water during your treatment. 

Welcome, you are in the right place!!

polo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi9Pkyg501I

Hello. I got diagnosed 12 years ago and am finally getting treatment. On my 3rd week and starting to feel better. I ran across this forum and wanted to join to have some insight from others going through the same thing I am. I am at stage 3, advanced fibrosis and am a genotype 1A or 1B (was 1B when first diagnosed but now they are saying 1A, so who knows). Thank you for letting me join the forum.