Hep C Discussion Forum

Glad you feel a bit better about things. And yes, you (and I, and many other of differing GT's) are very lucky to have epclusa nowadays, it came just in time for use with us GT3's. Fabulous treatment for GT3's, who "used to be" a "harder" GT to cure. No longer, thanks to the likes of epclusa!

I would not use the word "aggressive" per say (exactly) when refering to a GT3, over other GT's, rather, I would say it is true that we used to be known as "harder to cure" (in the past) and that our GT does seem to evidence a higher prediliction to also gaining "fatty livers" as a bonus (steatosis), our GT3 livers "might" become firmer/more fibrotic sometimes faster than other GT's, and sometimes we can progress faster in our fibrosis toward cirrhosis, but not necessarily so. 

Being that you are so young, and I assume, generally in good health otherwise, and that you have likely been diagnosed "early" in your infection, I anticipate you have not been subjected to the ravages of the disease than can occur to older folk who had to carry this infection for many, many decades, or all their lives, often not knowing they even had HCV. The longer you have it, the longer the inflammation in your liver has been there to contribute to the troubles. I am guessing just based on your tender age, your probable early diagnosis, and that you have epclusa on your side - I think things are going to turn out just fine for you.

The water drinking IS very important, you have to put in the effort to get that gal a day of fluid into you every day, without fail, thus frequent peeing. Hard to work when you have the runs, insomnia and frequent peeing! Can you not try to stay home for a while?

Please do try to create a signature line, with your data and test results when you can - it helps for communications.  C.

Greetings and welcome.

The taste change thing was an issue during the peg-interferon days.

http://www.catie.ca/en/practical-guides/hepc-in-depth/treatment/managing-side-effects/taste-changes

Again that was some time back and not associated to DAA's necessarily. How many commonalities between the two regiments would perhaps lie more in the effect of HepC treatment. 

At day 5 of treatment a LOT has already taken place. Reproduction of The Virus has been greatly affected already. The virus itself is very short lived so when the process of replication is interfered with the Viral Load takes a huge plunge. At four weeks it is common to be Undetected and that is simply because the blood draw is done at for weeks. Your liver is already getting a rest.

Keep hydrating. You are clearly removing poisons from your system.

Fellow Texan

JimmyK

Hi Sophie,

I can't offer much more in the way of helpful information, you have received a lot of good advice already. The first few weeks are a period of adjustment to these powerful medications. Many drugs cause a taste altering effect, mine did too and they were light years different. I noticed a terrible metallic flavor with everything. 

Welcome to the forum, you'll find some good information and personalities here. As suggested, drink water like it's not going to be available anymore! The one gallon per day rule applies, be sure you follow the recommended intake. It's an absolute game changer!

Call your doctor and get approval for an anti diarrheal medication. There shouldn't be any limitations, but you must clear all additional medication while you take these DAA's (Direct Acting Antivirals). Take a few days off and hopefully the runs will reduce to a crawl... 

Hi Texas,

Welcome here.

Congrats on getting epclusa.

Sorry you are having these things happen to you and that you are super nervous about it all. Not nice, and you have my sympathy fer sure.

These are not nice things, but none of the things you have listed sound "extremely" dire nor "very" unusual for being on a strong course of an anti-virals, I am NOT saying that indeed all of these things you are experiencing ARE because of the epclusa, but others have experienced various complaints they attributed to epclusa (and/or to many of the other new DAA regimes people have been on as well).

I am not trying to minimize the discomfort I am sure you are feeling, but we have seen before, during the initial period of taking these DAA's (of which you are in midst of, being on epclusa for only 5 days now) IS the time we see people (if they are going to notice things), notice things. The first few weeks people can sense things, experience things and they find many times these things just reduce as you get used to the drug regime you are on and as they progress through the cure. Feeling blah(malaise), tired/fatigued can happen, but many have degrees of this even before they started their treatment! Headaches seem to be the number one common complaint with epclusians (and other Daa's) and this can be vastly improved/and prevented by striving to drink a gal of water per day. Drinking water is essential on these drugs (we are not kidding), if you have not been doing so, do so! Especially if you have been experiencing the runs.

I was on epcusa and an additional drug in a trial, so I cannot compare directly to you being on epclusa alone - but, everyone IS dif., some feel absolutely nothing on epclusa, others think they have sides from the drugs, for others it is a toss up if other completely seperate issues come into play coincidentally at the same time they are on treatment, or, whether they have draggged some pre-existing things along with them into tretament just to plague and confound us.

Sorry for the runs, extremely not wanted and very inconvenient to say the least, it IS listed as a "possible side" for epclusa, but really, i have not seen it here with many of our epclusians as being a frequently outstanding item, most people reported mild transient GI things, if they did occur - the most common complaint were headaches or blah.

Insomnia is another I have not seen many complain of while on epclusa.

I had a couple weeks of upper GI "gut burgling" episodes after each pill, tht would last for a couple hours after each dose - just odd, not nausea and not distressful, just odd. I had a hx of constipation, so, I actually got a little hopeful when I had some minor softer/looser stools about 2 weeks into my treatment, but that did not last, AT ALL! I was back to my usual bowel routine in no time, but I did learn a valuable lesson (while trying to make sure I increased my water intake to a gal per day) while on these drugs, i learned the water was VERY beneficial in many ways, not only is it very important to do so for the treatment (flushing your body and kidneys and carrying away the metabolized drugs, preventing sides and headaches), but it also had the added benefit in helping to keep my bowels working more freely, and in your case, it is all the more important to replace any excess fluids you are losing with loose stools. Do NOT allow yourself to become dehydrated.

I did experience some taste "distortion", (dysgeusia) for a short period when I was on epclusa, maybe a matter of days, and I think that was in the first week or so. It did not last. Dysgeusia I have experienced before though, a couple times! (unluckily, in a very marked way), once when I was very ill with hep B and another time for no known reason (but on epclusa I had nothing but a fleeting mild spell of dysgeusia). My earlier episodes were very profound and longer-lasting than what people can normally experience, say, when you have dysgeusia with a bad bout of flu. I am guessing your dysgeusia will be fleeting and will pass. 

I really wish you did not have to work (a lot, as you say, or AT ALL) while you are having the runs and feeling stressed. Is there not some way you could stay closer to home for the first while, until you are feeling better and more confident about things??

I am guessing, you are going through an adjustment period, that these things WILL dissipate and lessen in a fairly short time. I have no idea if you have ever had a hx of bowel issues/conditions before, so it hard to guess whether it's you, a coincidental bug, or the drugs. Regardless of cause, I am hopeful it will stop soon. No fevers, no excrutiating abdominal pain?? Right??

When is your next doc appointment?, I would be relaying these experiences to him and his nurse, for his advice, if you are not seeing him soon - do not let the diarrhea continue too much longer without someone assessing what you should do for it.

Soft, bland diet, easy to digest meals, rice and applesauce, low fat and meat, no junk food, small regular meals, lots of fluids.

Would be nice if you did not have to work during this initial stressful period. Stress/expending much energy, only makes everything worse when you got things going on that you have no choice but to deal with. The insomnia and diarrhea alone are not condusive to work - rest and being at home with as much comfort as possible, would perhaps be very helpful.

I don't know what kind of work you do, but can you not call in some markers and get some time off work for a bit?

Fire away for questions, or to fill in details.

You could try to write up a signature line, which spells out: your genotype (GT), some of your liver function blood tests (ALT/AST), your viral load (VL) what your (Fscore) is (usually determined from having a fibroscan done, or other blood tests), whether you have had an abdominal ultrasound done (U/S), and what kind of condition your liver is in. How long ago you were diagnoses (Dx), and how long you might have had hepc. Start of treatment (SOT) date and end of treatment date (EOT), how many weeks of epclusa you will be on. These are helpful basic bits of info that will assist our conversations. 

Fire away for questions, or to fill in details. We will all try to help as much as we are able.  C.