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Pete:I have always thought that drinking green tea was good for your liver. Recently i have been reading conflicting opinions about liver toxicity and green tea.I was first diagnosed with non A-B hepatitis 30 years ago... Green tea has always been a part of my diet staple (2 or 3 cups a day) along with taking supplements such as phytsome milk thistle, quercetin, olive leaf lactoferin, r-lipoic acid, zinc, selenium & NAC.... Currently i am on Harvoni but have been advised by my Dr. to stop taking these supplements because he does not know if they would effect the potency of the drug. My viral load was 18 million and my ALTS's were in the high hundreds. I am geno type 1a stage 1 fibrosis (my fibrosis's have NEVER progressed from stage 1) since being officially diagnosed (13 years ago) with hep-c along with taking the supplements i mentioned. I am a 58 years old Afro Amer male ... After 2 weeks on Harvoni I was tested again and my viral load has dropped to 340 (three hundred forty) my ALT's are now in normal range.I still drink green tea while taking Harvoni. My Harvoni side effects in the 1st 2 weeks were TERRIBLE HEADACHES,neck pain & insomnia these side effects are mild to none except for the INSOMNIA I was on RAT POISION (INF/Riba) in 2002 for 6 monts my final v/l was only 58thousand couldn't take the HELLISH side effects and stopped tx. Lord willing I become SVR in the next 8 weeks I will start taking my supplements again because I believe they kept my fibrosis from progressing.
Wonderful news, Kyle! My DR said there was a chance my liver could regenerate after treatment, and that the steatosis could lessen with diet & exercise. I have NASH, which complicates my condition. Once I'm cured of HCV, I will still have a liver disease. But I'll have gotten rid of one huge drain on my life energy. Thank goodness!
Barb, Good afternoon! Just returned from the doctors office. He explained that what he looks for is an undetectable viral load at the four week mark to gauge treatment success. Based on what appeared to be very encouraging data from my viral load test that I had at the eight day mark, and assuming that I am undetectable when I receive my test results later this week from my visit today, he sees no reason why an eight week treatment is not sufficient. To recap, my viral load dropped significantly to 172 at the eight day mark and should be undetectable now if everything is working: 1/7/2014- 146,562 10/31//2014- 224,994 11/7/2014- 172 I did find out that the viral load test at eight days was an error. I had gone in because of very dark urine which turned out to be only dehydration. The viral load test was mistakenly ordered along with the labs they did want so it is not usual to have results for eight days on Harvoni like I have. We also had a discussion about the Hepascore test that he performed earlier in the year. I did not have and have never had a liver biopsy. Originally, i think I only knew that my score came back very low with no indication of fibrosis. My score was below .25 which indicated that I had a 95% chance of being F0 and a 5% chance of being F1 based on the METAVIR scale below: Fibrosis is scored on the 5 – point METAVIR scale as follows : F0 - no fibrosis F1 - portal fibrosis alone F2 - portal fibrosis with rare septae F3 - portal fibrosis with many septae F4 - cirrhosis For anyone that wants to know more about a Hepascore test, you can read the following document: http://www.questdiagnostics.com/testcenter/testguide.action?dc=TS_LiverFibrosisPnl_HepaScore I will make a new formal post later in the week with the results of todays lab work.
I just spoke with my treatment team liaison. I brought up the survey. She assured me that they rely on hard evidence to make their treatment decisions. My next VL was scheduled at 8 weeks, but she is going to let me take the test at 7 weeks. If I am not undetectable by then, we will consider the options. My personal feeling is if I am still detectable at 7 weeks, throwing more meds at this won't help. I'd simply not be one of the lucky folks. So be it. My next step would be to wait for the next great TX and hope I am able to afford it. Anxious to hear what your DR said. ~ Barb
Kyle- I would do the exact same thing if I was concerned. You deserve the best shot at clearing this virus available. And I may even ask my DR about these vague concerns. From the hard evidence I've read, the SVR rates appear to be about the same for 8 & 12 weeks for those in our group. But this is a new drug. We simply cannot know what the relapse rate will be 3 years from now, or what lingering effects may result from treatment. We have to calculate our best gamble, roll the dice and hope for the best. I'll definitely check back to see what your Doc said. :) thanks again for having this blog.
Barb, I am going to speak with my doctor this afternoon at my follow-up appointment about the treatment duration. I hope that 8 weeks is sufficient but I would gladly take Harvoni for another 30 days if I would have a significantly better chance of maintaining SVR. I will let you know what he says later on today.
Barb, Good morning! I am also happy that I met the criteria for the 8-week treatment plan. I wasn't complaining. :-)
bob
what's the longest time that someone is still UD after taking Harvoni??? Has anybody relapsed???
February 1, 2015