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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Hep C antivirals now PBS listed - your results

Z

zeldaron

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Apr 25, 2016
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I contracted Hep at least in 1987 if not before - found out in 1995 I was positive - my husband died in 2006 of liver failure related to hep c and haemochromatosis. Then found I was genotype 1a so held on for years for the new antivirals as I was reluctant to take the interferon course knowing it was likely ineffective and horrible.
Once harvoni was PBS listed I was onto it - well took 2 weeks because my specialist was out of town. Had my 4 week blood test Hep C NOT DETECTED - amazing an already my LFT's are dropping - not normal but a vast improvement.
How are others with Type 1 travelling?
 
Hepatitis C has a milder treatment these days. Beforehand it was all about interferon and Ribavirin almost everyday for 12-- 18 months.
Nowadays it seems to be a shorter treatment and much more effective.
Indeed, great news.
 
Yes, the new direct acting antivirals are a course of 8 - 12 weeks, stretching to 24 if you have cirrhosis and have previously had unsuccessful treatment. They're said to have far fewer side effects than the old interferon based therapies, but we're still hearing from some people that they had mild side effects. Success rates are up around 95%, although it remains to be seen how that translates to a real world setting in Australia.

It's a really amazing time for people living with hep C.
 
SixBuckets said:
Great news! Well done, you!

Did you have any side effects?
Click to expand...
No side effects from the Harvoni - I still work full time at a very busy job. My only issue was having to drop my proton pump inhibitor for Gastric reflux
I was on Nexium 20mg daily for years and never had indigestion, but you can't take it as it stops the ledipasvir working effectively. So I cut down to Somac 40mg daily a month prior which also worked but found out that's still too much PPI so cut down to Omperazole 20mg daily - which you can take at the same time as Harvoni.
Omperazole isn't really a strong enough PPI for me so a couple of times I have had bad indigestion - worst was 24 hours duration! Still worked through it. I have found that you can take antacids as long as it's 4 or more hours since you took the Harvoni.

I'll be on a 12 week course as I am treatment naive and already had cirrhosis- which still gives a 96 to 99% cure rate.
 
zeldaron said:
I contracted Hep at least in 1987 if not before - found out in 1995 I was positive - my husband died in 2006 of liver failure related to hep c and haemochromatosis. Then found I was genotype 1a so held on for years for the new antivirals as I was reluctant to take the interferon course knowing it was likely ineffective and horrible.
Once harvoni was PBS listed I was onto it - well took 2 weeks because my specialist was out of town. Had my 4 week blood test Hep C NOT DETECTED - amazing an already my LFT's are dropping - not normal but a vast improvement.
How are others with Type 1 travelling?
Click to expand...

That really is fantastic.
 
My mum has just begun the new treatment and she seems to be going very well without any side effects.
She was recently diagnosed and therefore has never been on the older medications etc.
 
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