Hep C Discussion Forum

Alex ask yourself what you'll say, when they say, we are sorry there is nothing else we can do for you, and the choices are no longer available to be made, please finish out your course of Harvoni. I did the Sovaldi-Olysio combo and other than fatigue and joint pain I'm SVR 14 months EOT . After 30 yrs with the virus

The sooner you irradicate the HCV the better your chances of not getting even worse conditions that have no cures.

Good Luck you can do it....think of doing it for others and not you...because everyone has someone that cares about them so fight for them they'll  be proud of you!

Duane

Alex,

Harvoni was approved by the FDA on October 9, 2014.  It is a relatively new drug combination.  Clinical studies were done several years prior to the approval.  The results thusfar have been very good.  I'd been thru 3 prior treatments without success.  No one can say with total certainty if problems will occur years down the road.  We do know that left untreated, hcv has a terrible affect on the liver and leads to numerous other, sometimes very serious health issues.  When I stop in mid-sentence my wife jokingly tells me to focus :)  I did the 24 weeks of Harvoni, you are fortunate to have already started.  Every day is one closer to being rid of the virus.   

Hi Alex,

I went through two interferon protocols and felt like total crap through both of them. The new DAA treatments are difficult for some, but their range of side effects aren't even close in severity . Our rates of success were far less than yours, but we wanted to get better, so we dealt with the grueling side effects in hope we could stop the beast from destroying us from within. Some of us succeeded, many didn't, because a lot of luck was also involved. While luck is always part of the equation, these new DAA's replace luck with proven results. We have members here that didn't get treatment in time and are now dealing with end stage liver disease and hepatic cancer. I don't think they are something that anyone wants to consider. Certainly not now that the rates of success for those completing the new treatments are nearing 100%. Why would you want to risk that? 

There are certainly some people that have failed the new protocols, but to date they are rare. With a success rate of 96-98% (eg), there will be 2-4 people out of 100 that don't succeed the first time. I think those are some mighty good odds, don't you? Instead of the 18 pills per day and 3 injections a week for 28 weeks that I had to take, one pill per day would've been a dream.  We have some that went through years of it, only to fail repeatedly. But they kept trying and succeeded, because it's worth it to get your life back. When you kill this beast, the damage stops and recovery begins. Yes, the liver does begin to regenerate, it takes time, but at least it has the opportunity to do so. If you give up, things go right back to where you began and the disease continues to progress.

I hope you choose to tough it out and continue. I do understand the difficulty that these treatments can bring upon you, but there are ways these issues can be reduced or even eliminated. Discussing it with us and your doctor will make a big difference, but you're going to have to bite the bullet some days and take care of them symptomatically. You will have good days, bad days and just "days" until you reach the end of treatment and that day will come sooner than you think. If you stop now, getting re approved can be difficult. There are a lot of people that would love the opportunity to treat, but can't get that difficult approval to come through. Please consider this decision carefully. 

I'll climb down off my soapbox now and hope I haven't sounded too harshly. This can be a life and death decision for us and I want you to consider your options. Good luck...