Hep C Discussion Forum

Thanks to everyone, yes, no blister pack today for me, finished yesterday , took blood today, will see the doctor on the 30th, but I'm cool with it being in God's for the time being. 

Now, Im wondering how long for this drug to leave my system? Anyone know what the half life is with Zepatier?

Can't wait to have my body back again, the edge, the aggression that only gets quieted with a good gym work out...... I am not swallowing the stuff well.... your 60 years of age, you should feel like this....NO, refuse to acknowledge my age, not will I ever. I know, I am what I am. But for 6 months no working out, and I'm dying to start again.

LOL, John

So. Now we breathe. Big clean fresh breaths. The witch is dead! The bloodworm is bringing your trophy!

I'm so delighted for you, John!  Done. Wow! I'll never forget our twinship. Twins in Arms. Twins in terror, tears and now, triumph! You rock, bro! Because of you and your open heart (and a few other angelic understanders here) I was never alone in the fight. Down but never out. Thanks for sharing your amazing self. Truly goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. 

For life, 

Christine

 

 

Congratulations, John! I'm thrilled you completed the journey relatively unscathed, but none of us made it without a few bruises and the help of our family here.

I'm confident, the benefit of destroying this unwelcome visitor will spread widely throughout your life. Your health and happiness will prosper, I'm sure of it!

I'll be anxious for the lab results, but I already know what they'll be!! Confidence and joy is the plan for the future....

Hey John,

Tomorrow's the BIG DAY! Time to get your things together, your train is pulling into the Zepatier Station....  WOOHOO!!!

Dear Jimmy, John, Wendy, Canuck and Tig,

I'm so grateful for each of you and the wisdom shared. I feel absolutely surrounded by a warm blanket of safety and understanding with you. Only now am I fully grasping what a number this B of a disease and even the treatment for it has done on my head as well as my body! I've been insane before but this was a new species of crazy I really appreciated your thoughts on survivor's guilt. I'm pondering my purpose. Frankly, not being able to work much has forced me to redefine what I have to offer this world. I'm a mom, grandma and friend to many and I hope that becomes enough. Having a rough time with that. 

My rheumatoid symptoms were making me feel sick all over and the pain was driving me mad. I just couldn't escape it. Nights were the worst and sleep deprivation for those twelve weeks just wigged me out. I was disoriented and struggling with the simplest tasks. I thought I was really dying. Actually ditched my life so I wouldn't burden the people I love with my deterioration. Went back into the closet I suppose. It's the only solution I could think of. 

The good news just this week is that I have been able to sleep! It requires 200-300 mg of neurontin, 30 mg of restoril and one Vicodin but it's working. I'm getting 6-7 hours a night since finishing the Zepatier! A testament to the potential side effects of that monster killer beautiful drug. 

My final labs were good liver-wise. AST and ALT remained nearly the same as my 4 week values. I'm hoping to get repeat rheumatoid and cryoglobulin labs in September with my next rheumatology visit and am hoping for improvement. My hepatologist would like me to me go to a tertiary clinic like Mayo or U of M. My joint pain is steadily worsening. My hip is starting to feel like my knee and I'm fearful about further limiting of mobility. It's such an invisible disease (like Hep) that it's hard to explain that I'm not slacking, I'm just slacked! My Ortho doctor gave me a handicap parking tag. This is a good thing since it allows me to make short trips out and have enough energy to slog into appointments or meet friends. Tomorrow I'm going to go sit with my girlfriend Anne at the hospital while she gets her first radiation treatment for breast cancer. It will be a big venture. Hey! There's some purpose! If I was working full time I wouldn't be available for her. 

I'm convinced by my prior experiences in life that a higher power has everything under control and his (or her) timing is perfect. My only job is acceptance and trust. I'd like this job to come easier for me. When I quit fighting, which is my fall back MO, I find some peace. I have so much to be grateful for. 

Right now I'm grateful for each of you. Praying you each some peace by name. 

Christine

 

hey girl so happy to hear the news and just downright thrilled to see you back here. We were worried! I am sorry about your friend and hope that things work out for her. 

For whatever reason we get to be the chosen ones. Its a God thing. And while it is sad that others do not get it, I have learned after many years to accept that. 

But lets celebrate you today!

wendy

Glad yer back girl.

Congrats on your EOT und!  You've zapped it!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXpghsEL7w8

How do all your other labs look? How's the knee? What did you mean exactly, that you got really sick?

Sorry to hear about your friend.

That sounded like a good idea, the retreat.  C.

 

Christine, yehhhhh, welcome back to life! Yes, I missed you as well as the other friends we have acquired on our journey here in Zep land.

I will wrote more too, just real busy right now.

 

John

JohnAnton1 wrote:

---

Thank you, my dynamic Trio here, for your strength, hope and certainly your experience. I draw my bloodworm on the 11th of Aug. and read the results on the 16th, of course I will be fine, he didn't carry me this far to be dropped on my head.

Yes, I will continue to give back, after all maybe that is my only purpose here in life is to give back!

John 

---

 "Bloodworm"? All this time I've been chasing a Dragon around!  

Let us know when you get your results my friend. I know you're ready to do the happy dance and I'm polishing my shoes for the occasion!!

Hey John,

Coming round that last corner now! So close, you can almost taste it eh. Funny isn't it, the time feels SO long, and yet parts are short, in weird ways! Time warp. But, you were so right, about taking care of business, a while back you were speaking about turning pages and wiping this virus out, finally. Out of your body and life for good, the erasure so long in the coming. PRIOR WAS a LONG time, so, how can this 12 weeks possibly seem so long - there IS something very weird with this time warp thing we all seem to have! Must be the drugs! A difficult trip, so to speak.

You have already won - you may have felt beat up along the way, but believe me, you have won! So good you had such thorough early training for this event. On the mat and up again. Just a couple more reps.

I am so glad the way things worked out for you, life circumstances that brought you to this day and age of these drugs which could cure you, and the events and circumstances which allowed your insurance to finally get you approved for treatment. Fortuitous.

Dragged through the rosebushes backward, but cured. Lucky you are. 

I think that's an excellent idea, asking for the full monty of bloods, for everything, it will help make you feel more assurred about everything. Times like these can unnerve one. 

When you finsh, then you can begin to recover from everything you have gone through. Work away at regaining your strength, stamina. It will all come, I know it will, as you have let us see glimpses of your determination and dedicated steadfastness. 

More than a few of us have felt depleted near the finish line - you will recover quick!  C.

Good morning, John! It's always good to hear from you. Hard to believe you only have 10 pills left. Wow, how cool is that? I'm happy for you Brother, you've really done well throughout this entire process.

I'm glad you accepted my hounding recommendations on water intake. I can't encourage people enough when it comes to proper hydration. It's vital to a smoother treatment experience. You're not through yet, so keep drinking that water!!! Those aches and pains will start to let up shortly, but it's important to keep movin' and groovin' til the end of treatment. 

I just sent Christine another message in hope we'll hear back. She finished last week, so I hope she checks in sometime. We need to do some celebrating with all of our Zeppers!

Let us know when you have some results on your next labs. I believe the party is just getting started!! 

PS: DRINK!

TIG, Thanks for your words of encouragement and the best directions you ever gave, water my friend. Yeh, I know, hope Christine has crossed over to the new Hep- free side as well.

Yep, I miss that Sunshine humor she generated.

Yes, I am running the last mile here, and so grateful.

Hope all is well with you my friends.

 

John 

Jimmy, the best to you my friend. It's people like you that gave me the hope to do this treatment, and my belief in God that it would work.

In 3 days, I have one more blister pak left to take, I can wait to get back to feeling normal, whatever normal is and get back to working out in a gym. I'm 60 now, and never felt my age, looked my age, until I started treatment.... hope the energy comes back. I've been told it will.

I wonder where everyone else went on this thread. I hope and pray all is well with every one.

John

Hey ducky,

Where are you? 

Only 3 more sleeps? EOT on July 24?

Are you excited, exhausted, feeling good or better?

Hope you check in pretty soon, we're missing you 'round here.

BTW - had a relative who was an Olympian class swimmer, even as an oldie now, she is VERY active, competitive, still winning "ancient-class" competitions. She developed a Baker's cyst, it was very bad and completely disrupted life as she knew it (it took some time, not only to get it properly diagnosed, but for it to resolve), eventually it resolved with little intervention. Good news is, she is back to swimming and cycling and hiking like her old self. Just like us HCV cured folk, getting back to our new normals!

Home-made chocolate malts!!!! mmm, sounds like just the thing to top off a nice EOT bbq celebration.  C.

Good morning. It must really suck not being able to sleep. I have had no problem in that department of treatment with Zepatier, none, zero. I have set sort of a regimented pattern to get a good nights sleep. I go to bed the same time, most of the time every night and awake the same time everyday , wether I am working or not.... I sleep 8 hours a day, and this works for me. I also, shut off my mind when i hit the pillow, just blank, after all I lay down to sleep, not think...

 

Where or where is Christine been? Hope everybody is well and getting better.

John

Interesting sleep aid Wendy. Good to know about. It has the melatonin I am familiar with, and HTP-5, which is another component I have seen (I've seen those two particular ingredients coming together, marketed in one formula, before - but hadn't seen this particular combination of ingredients in yours). No magnesium in yours. Does is work most of the time for you? How much do you take, and can you, or does it ever help to increase it when particularly sleepless?  C.

Oh, that IS quite a picture Obs (of you not sleeping)! Me too, discovered manesium, but for my facial tics mostly (talk about looking funny!)

That's right, insomnia is not fun.

I am experimenting (on my partner) with 10 mg of melatonin every night, for months now, and we will continue it, as after a couple weeks of it, we found it WAS helping, a little.

We are going to have to dream up a good cure for Jmiff's sleeplessness in zepland.

Man, look at that gigantic crash in your ALT/AST's! Nice.  C.

 

Hey Josh,

Can you call your doctor for something to help you sleep? It's important to get your rest while on treatment. If you're already a sufferer, then something like Benadryl may not help and I'm sure you would've explored that by now. BUT, you need to get some rest! Whatever you try, other than nutrition based ideas, check with the doc first. Some medications don't mix with the treatment drugs. It's easy to determine, if you need some direction, let us know. 

 

 

Canuck, my AST was 46 and ALT was 96 back in April now both are in the lower 20s . The only real complaint i have with Zepatier is the insomnia . It is making an insomniac more insomniatic ðð.

Congrats to both John and Josh. Been praying that twin girlie is doing ok and just resting and taking care of herself. 

Hey Jmiff79,

Big congrats on your first UND!! 4 weeks into your Zep and it has sure worked for you! Great your VL has crashed, and that your ALT/AST are within normal limits - what were your ALT/AST numbers pre-treatment? Let us know how you have been feeling on ZEP - that feedback is always good.

As Tig mentioned we have not had a "TON" of zeppers here, but some. A couple zeppers first appeared (briefly, quite a while ago) I can't find their handles right now for some reason, (maybe they were in trials?) they posted for a bit and have since moved on, I expect all went well.

Currently, aside from MyMallards, and JohnAnton1 here, we also have Rick (also hailing from Chicago), and Meow76, all currently on ZEP. A couple others (earlier) that we have not heard back from for a while - Silverecho (Canada, I believe), and mr tambourine man (UK). There were a couple others as well (I believe), further back? - but their names are not coming to mind if so.   

Thank you so much for letting us know about your good news thus far, please do tell us more.  C. 

 

We're around John, and me, well, I'm always around, lol! I've sent a message or two to Christine and she's MIA. I don't know what's happened there, but I hope she's doing well and checks in soon. Her EOT is coming up soon! Come On Duck, inquiring minds need to know...

Down to your last pack huh? Wow, that went pretty fast from my vantage point! I like your doctor's positive attitude, it's a completely accurate assessment of your future. These are uberly effective treatments and your lab results are proof of that. Optimism is the right train of thought!

 

Josh, welcome to the forum. The reason we don't have a lot of Zepatier conversation is because there haven't been many Zeppers yet. We are now starting to see increased use of it. I think the only reason it hasn't been as popular as it should be, is because Harvoni and now Epclusa from Gilead have had market share. The first one to cross the finish line, in this case, Gilead and their successful DAA roll out, got the most attention and initially, the lions share of prescriptions. That's changing, and we're seeing wider use of equally effective and often less expensive drugs. These drug manufacturers know exactly what they're doing...

Congratulations on your first undetected viral load, it will stay that way. Your enzymes are the first to drop from the sky, as you have witnessed. They will also stay that way. These new treatments are incredibly rapid acting in nature. They disrupt the virus ability to replicate and allow things to start the healing process. Your AST and ALT results are proof of that. It's nice to know that you're well on your way to a healthier future with a happier liver!

Where are all the Zeppers at ? I am new here but have not seen much being posted about Zepatier . I just got some good news a few days ago from my gastro dr. ALT AST are within normal ranges . Viral load went from 2 million to undetected within 4 weeks . Im hoping these number stay this way .

Christine, cookies....ah I can't wait to gain my full energy level back so I can hit the gym again. Started practicing Judo as a young child, around the age of 8, fought until I was 18, got off the mat for 4 years from a severe beating from a 6'5" 250lbs German man, he beat me so bad it was time to rest a little, that man remains in my heart today with love. Gerhart Jude! At 22 back on the mat again for 2 more years to begin a sabbatical that took me off the mat until the age of 30, back on the mat until I was 36, another sabbatical leave of absence.... for year or so, never returned( but the way of life remains in my heart forever),wish I could fight again, but the days of glory have been replaced by becoming somewhat of a gym rat, lifting.... stopped in December, and can't wait to get rid of this belly.... haha,  no cookies for me.

Yes, halfway mark, seems like forever, seems like just yesterday. 

Not sure if I should share my personal contact information here, of private message, yes I'd love to associate the name with the faces as well. I live right next to NYC, on Boulevard East, I can throw a stone and hit the city if I was a ball player, real close. Someday, I hope our paths do cross, but one thing for sure is, I will remember my crew for a long time to come, and the help and comfort that was extended to me.

 

John