Fear of Harvoni Side Effects
One of the issues that comes up a lot in my correspondence and in my Facebook group is the issue of the side effects from hepatitis C treatment. Often people are reluctant to start using Harvoni or some other hepatitis C medication because they are concerned about the possible side effects during treatment.
Usually, this concern arises from “over-Googling” the subject.
Through an interesting coincidence I, yesterday, received two separate emails on this subject.
One was from a lady who was reluctant to start treatment because she was worried about the side effects of hepatitis C treatment and the other email was from a woman who had purchased generic Harvoni but had decided not to use it because she was worried about side effects.
From: #####
Sent: Saturday, 15 February 2020 6:00 PM
To: gregjefferys@outlook.com
Subject: hep c treatment
Greg,
Hello and thank you for your service. I was dx with hep C in ’94. Have not had any illicit substances since ’86 and have zero fibrosis.
I was exposed to a strong dose of pesticide several years ago and had an immediate onset of pain and lethargy, which never fully left. Certain food continue to trigger pain, esp in the lower regions of my body.
That being said, I am now contemplating treatment having learned of Mavyret and the low incidence of negative side effects.
Do you have any information on this and also the difference between side effect of Mavyret and Epclusa? Epclusa appears to have more concerning side effects. Given a long term history of depression I have found all medication to be contraindicated, until hearing of Mavyret.
Your knowledge or resources is greatly appreciated in advance.
Thank you
REPLY
Hi ####
Thanks for your email and for explaining your situation.
Side effects is an interesting topic that I have studied for a while.
Most people get very few, or zero, side effects from any of the DAA treatment.
In my experience Mavyret and Epclusa seem to be about the same. Of all the current crop of hep C treatments I would say the one with the least side effects is Sofosbuvir + Daclatasvir (Sovaldi + Daklinza). But you should join my Facebook hep C group and talk about it there. You will find hundreds of people who have recently done treatment with all the various medications.
For the record Sofosbuvir + Daclatasvir has a higher cure rate than Mavyret by about 3%.
Best wishes
Greg
Harvoni Side Effects in the Real World
And below is the email from the lady who purchased generic Harvoni and decided not to use it after Googling Harvoni side effects. She wrote to me to tell me she had decided not to use the generic Harvoni and was offering it to me as a donation to anyone who wanted it.
I was very concerned about her decision and had a long talk with her about the importance of getting rid of hepatitis C and the fact that Harvoni’s side effects were often minimal and sometimes zero. After some talking, she agreed to do her treatment and wrote to me after receiving her SVR 12 results.
From: #####
Sent: Sunday, 16 February 2020 2:49 AM
To: greg jefferys <gregjefferys@outlook.com>
Subject: Re: Generic Harvoni
Hi Greg,
I want to express my appreciation to you.
I received my SVR 12 test results, which came back as not detected, and they said I’m cured.
Thank you for being there for me to get the Harvoni at affordable price.
Thank you for caring and standing against a greedy system, and taking the steps to do something to help many others….with integrity as a strong core value.
In my personal experience, I especially thank you Greg for challenging me to reconsider the decision i had made to not use the Harvoni that I had received from you (when I let you know I wanted to donate it, instead of use it myself).
I pray The Creator of life and beauty blesses you immensely!!
#######
Greg’s blog is reprinted with permission, and the views are entirely his.
