Harvoni Treatment - Two Weeks In

It has been a little over two weeks since I started taking Harvoni for the treatment of Hep C and I feel pretty good! I do have a little bit of all of the side effects (Fatigue, Headache, Nausea, Diarrhea, & Insomnia), but they only occur if I overdo anything. For instance if I eat a lot of processed food, I get diarrhea and nausea and if I sleep or rest to much during the day I get insomnia. Headaches come with to much stress! So my advice to anyone taking this treatment is to eat well, (little to no processed food with high fructose corn syrup or high glycemic indexes), exercise, drink plenty of water (64oz per day), and try really hard to eliminate stress from your life.

Easier said than done though...I know! Just having this nasty virus is stressful and the thought of the treatment not working and the consequences of it not working are even more stressful! The treatment time is relatively short and just having a little faith does wonders though! I try to not obsess on what used to be and think about how wonderful my life is going to be. I eat well and exercise every day. I also mark each day off on a calendar which reminds me that I have gotten that much farther into becoming virus free!

Til' the next time...be good and have faith!

Harvoni & Me - Treatment

Hi there! On Wednesday, October 29th, I started the new antiviral drug for treatment of Hepatitis C, type 1, Harvoni, and I have to say I have little to no side effects from the drug! I take the pill...yes...1 pill, 1 time per day, with my Nexium (for acid reflux) together, with water, on a fasted stomach, first thing in the morning, and then go about my day. I already have more energy and really look forward to becoming virus free!

I was amazed when my doctor said I didn't need to come back to get blood tests for another month and then again when my 12 weeks of treatment were done. She said the virus should be undetected in a month and should not reappear again! Hooray!!!

This is definitely history being made! For those of you that don't know my history with Hep C you can read about it in one of my previous posts or to give you a brief summary; I went through 9 months of treatment with Interferon, Ribavirin, & Incivek (3 months). I was virus free in 3 months and 1 week and continued treatment for another 6 months because my detection levels were not undetectable at 3 months. I had a very adverse reaction to Incivek, a bad rash, but continued the drug for 3 months as prescribed. At 9 months my white blood count went to dangerous levels and my doctor lowered my Interferon dose to help bring it back up. At this point the nasty virus came back and my treatment was discontinued. Needless to say, I was devastated! It took 6 months to get the drugs out of my system before I could start another treatment. I hoped and prayed that, in that time, a new and improved drug would come out because it was pretty obvious that the treatment I tried was not working for me.

It was a year before I was ready to try treatment again and during this time the virus had taken over my system and I was going down fast. I knew it was imperative that I start treatment soon or I was going to die from the Hep C virus. I was and am very nervous about the effectiveness of this medicine due to my past experience, but I have to say I now feel great about it and am very hopeful about my future because of this new Hepatitis C, type 1, antiviral drug, Harvoni! I really look forward to the upcoming holidays!