A plug

You know, now that I have officially attained SVR and am essentially cured, I can do my obligatory Big Pharma plug.

To wit: I have seen people on Hep C boards who have had a serious adverse reaction to incivek, had to discontinue treatment and are now quite understandably pissed off. But their anger goes overboard. They say things like "incivek should have been black-boxed from the beginning" and even "it should never have been allowed on the market".

I can respond to that in a rude and a polite manner.

Rudely, and simply: bullshit.

Politely, and with consideration for them: a medicine is black-boxed if there are deaths associated with it, and there have been none until several months ago. I also suspect that the deaths in question resulted from people continuing treatment even in the presence of some horrid adverse reactions. It sucks: ultimately, nobody is to blame for the side-effects; we are all victims of genetic lottery. I feel sorry for those who had to discontinue treatment, but why would they want to deny it to others? It has worked for many, including myself, after all. Spite? Jealousy? Blech.

So yes, I am officially plugging incivek here. Yes, it is a dangerous drug with nasty side-effects. yes, you may be unlucky and have a nasty adverse reaction (I will probably have the scars from medication rashes on my elbows for the rest of my life--and that was a "mild" reaction)--in which case, stop the treatment immediately! And yes, you may be unlucky and have a strain of virus that is resistant to it. But 4 out of 5 chances, on average, are better than none.

Stop holding your breath.

If I told you you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? I am no longer infected!

Yes, the final results are back and the damn things are apparently gone from my body. Some damage to the liver has been done, of course, both by the virus, and, I suspect, by the treatment, so i can no longer drink like I used to. But then again, a handle of bourbon a day is not really recommended for anyone!

Would you like to come to my place....bouncy bouncy? One drink cover.

It's beginning to...

I waited for a few days after my cidery Saturday to go and have blood drawn for the last batch. So far, everything except for the viral counts (the most important one) is back and is normal. Of special importance are liver enzymes: perfectly fine. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday or so to find out the final results. I will hold my breath and sit in the corner, building up blood pressure and popping capillaries. On second thought, I'll have a drink of dry cider.

Interferon problems

I certainly hope I won't have to do this. My final tests are next week; everyone pls to hold their breath. I certainly am.
Chronic hepatitis C: Interferon may be harmful in re-treatment

Whew

I guess I am glad my treatment is over and that my rashes did not get to a systemic stage...My therapy has killed several people recently: Fatal Rash from Hep C drug Incivek.

3 months

My 3 month blood results are in. All is good! Liver enzymes have settled into a lower part of the reference range (in fact, alkaline phosphotase is a couple of points below that, perhaps indicating that I need more zinc in my diet). Everything else is normal, with the exception of platelets, which are still low, but have climbed 15 points or so in the last month and a half. Hurray! One more test left, in January, to check for the presence of the virus.

Of course, I still get tension and aches in the general liver region, but I suspect I am going to have to learn to live with that...and my libido is still largely broken. Otherwise, energy levels are climbing, cognitive function is increasing, irritability levels at idiots are dropping!

An update

So, while they were performing the little surgery on me last Friday, I had my blood-work done. Finally--something new to report!

Essentially, I am recovering quite well: my H+H are still a little bit low, but not bad. My platelets are low, but above pre-treatment levels already. The best news are my liver enzymes. Initially, they were high, but not horribly so. Once the treatment had started, they went down to almost normal--reflecting the fact that the virus causing them to elevate was rapidly going extinct in my body. Later, they climbed up a bit, due to side-effects of my medications. Now they have dropped again: my AST is perfectly normal, my ALT is about 8 points above reference: not bad at all, and indicating that my liver function is approaching normal. All good and promising. The next test is in November.

In other news, I have been officially cleared to drink some alcohol. No fifths of whiskey, of course, but reasonable amounts (defined as 2-3 drinks a day) are perfectly fine. Basically, I am human again.