Hep C Discussion Forum

Hi Sunny D,

I'm glad to meet you here, but I am so sorry for the sides you are having.

You may be a newbie to the forum, but you are not a newbie to treatment!

It is unfortunate, your first two attempts with the old regimes had sides, but that you are now also experiencing sides with this round.

I heard a story in 2015, from my hep specialist's facility, about a relapse pt. they had once, same as you, a GT 1a. Pt. had failed multiple goes (and I recall at least one of those goes included int/riba), they finally got him cured on the very same regime as you, sof/sim/riba. The pt. was quite an active advocate for getting people to treatment and so his story was "out there". Needless to say, everyone was pleased with his very good response to this effective regime. 

The regime works, and if it is any consolation, this will be your last treatment and the last time you will have sides to deal with. You are already (almost) 25% of the way through!! Hang on, do your best to find ANY relief from the sides by availing yourself on the doc for specific advice/specific treatment (ANY helpful remedies he may be able to give you to assist you) or suggestions he can offer to help lessen some of these sides. As Tig spoke of, and as you probably know, keeping yourself FLOODED with water dilutes the sides quite a bit - very important. And he is right about doing everything you can to protect your skin from ANY aggravation. I implore you to keep in close consult with your doc to see if he can give you anything to assist in combating the sides. We will hope your skin issues may calm, more than they are now, becoming less uncomfortable, when we find the right things to combat it with. (BE SURE to be drinking LOTS of water firstly).

When your skin is upset and complaining, avoid adding ANY fuel to the fire, wear soft cotton, keep bathing to the minimum, cool/tepid/luke-warmish water only, avoid soaps, avoid hot water, try washing less often for min. hygeine only, do not aggravate your skin ANY further with frequent bathing, try not to dry out/strip your own natural skin oils, very gentle not-frequent bathing, only as necessary. You might even try some brief oatmeal tub soaks instead of a regular bath or shower, and washing your hands with big pinches of oatmeal instead of soap. Most people would not be allergic (or react) to a little gentle oatmeal, and some have found a patting wash with wet oatmeal way less aggravating to irritated skin than soaps, and more easily tolerated by upset skin. Big handfuls of softened-up regular rolled oats (by throwing them into a tubful of hot water in advance) for a bath I have found is good, just let the oatmeal steep in the hot tub water, when the tub water has cooled to lukewarm/tepid, then get in for a bath, or, for a problem area, say your arms are irritated, try wet softened or cooked oatmeal applied to a problem area as a wet "washcloth bag" of soothing skin poultice, just be sure to rinse bits/residue remaining on your skin off a little bit after a bath, and pat dry gently. You can experiment with different regular sized rolled oats and/or finer ground oatmeal, pre-cooked, pre-wetted, or dry and just wetted as you are washing with water. It IS messy stuff in the tub or sink, but I have done it and found it a soothing rx to the skin, I found it gentle enough for my face. Keep a strainer in the bathroom to collect some of the oatmeal before you pull the plug, it can clog up your drains! Careful with shampooing your hair too, minimize washing your scalp too much and pick something extremely gentle (likely baby stuff). Be wary of skin creams too, unless very inert, or are actually scripts from your doc or recommended by your doc. He might actually be able to rx you some different things to try, oral or topical, to aid in relieving your skin discomfort.

I have the same curiosities as Tig as far as your past treatment timelines, RAS/RAV testing, and, whether you are in North America? I cannot recall, off hand, anyone here recently being on sof/sim/riba. But I could well be wrong about that.

The triplet I did was brand new, but I too had a NS3/4A included in my triplet like you - except mine was "vox" and yours is simi - I have a feeling all the NS3/4A's can be a little hard on the system to take - but as a "generality", I really don't know this, for a fact. But, I have heard similar about simi, that it holds side potential, and, we all know some people do have a tough time with riba. Yet others on similar regimes to one another can have such different experiences with sides, some don't feel a thing or it is very mild for them, and the next person on the very same thing suffers sides! I hope some of your sides will lessen/become more tolerable.

Please keep us posted.  C.