Does Ribavirin cause anemia when used with Sovaldi??

[nan535]

My husband just got approved for Sovaldi + Ribavirin for 24 weeks. We are very excited but he needs to get his hemoglobin up before starting his treatment. We already have the  meds in the house but can not start using them. He had a shot of procrit yesterday - labwork in a week to see if his hemoglobin is up from 8.9 (normal range starts at 13.9). His red blood cell count is 2.94 (normal range starts at  4.5).

I am confused. I had been told that when my husband was on triple treatment and had to stop because of severe anemia that ribavirin was the drug that caused the anemia but I just read in some old literature its the interferon shots that cause the anemia.  So which is it? Or, is it both?

Is anyone who is using Ribavirin now with Sovaldi experiencing anemia?  Just want to know what to look out for.

Thanks
Nan

[nan535]

Gilead just released this press release showing Phase 3 Clinical trial result for Genotype 2 patients in Japan.  This sounds really promising for a successful outcome for you.

http://www.gilead.com/news/press-releases/2014/4/gilead-announces-results-from-phase-3-study-of-sofosbuvir-among-hepatitis-c-patients-in-japan

"In the study, 97 percent (n=148/153) of genotype 2 HCV-infected patients receiving 12 weeks of an all-oral regimen of sofosbuvir plus RBV achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after completing therapy (SVR12). "

That sounds like wonderful odds for success to me.  :-)

Nan

[nan535]

Thanks for sharing your experience on treatment.  So glad you are already getting good results. It is an amazing new drug, isn't it?!

Please keep coming back here as you continue treatment.
Wishing you continued success going forward.

Nan

[dlshockley]

I am in week 3. I have geno Type #2, I am taking 400mg- Sol and 1200mg -Riba, per day. I have had no severe side effects except when I do not drink enough water. My goal is 1 gal per day and a couple of days ago I did not and I started having chills, headaches, and slight nausea. Drank a quart of water and behold they went away. So now if I think I've drank enough water, I drink more.
My pharmacist recommended the excess amount of water, it keeps the medicines in solution and the medicines don't settle in one area. Also eating lots of leafy greens decreases the chance of anemia.
My ALT readings after the first week dropped from pretreatment values of >245 to 61 and my week 2 values dropped to 27. All blood results are trending exactly where my doc and pharm want them to be and so do I. This stuff is amazing.

So I will keep drinking excessive water and eating my leafy greens and I recommend all do the same.

I wish the best to all and I am privledged to be able to share my treatment results with my fellow suffers of this virus.

[heart_in_the_keyes]

Pooh had a good post about the difference between being UND and SVR...check out his posts....it was last week and he responded to me about a question on someone else's post.  It was clarifying too.  .  

[nan535]

Hope you don't mind me jumping in here. The fact that he was undetected at Week 2 is terrific. Being free of the virus before transplant will make a huge difference after transplant.  The immunosuppressant drugs he will take  after transplant to prevent rejection unfortunately allows the recurrent Hep C to be very aggressive in attacking the new liver. It only took a year and a half for my husband to have cirrhosis again of the new liver.
The good news is if he should not achieve SVR before transplant at least there are more treatments in the pipeline that will be available to him after transplant. Wish they had been available to my husband sooner.

Nan

[WifeGG]

Praying for you and your family.   We all have our stories but one thing is for sure that prayers keeps me going.  I also have a husband, married 29 years, 2 children and 5 grandkids, he  has end stage liver, 1b and are the newest treatment, with a  meld scores are 14.  He has been on the treatment for 8 weeks and was undetected week 2.  He still have to worry about getting a new liver,  You've done a great job raising your family, now its time to take care of you, so stay strong and know you will overcome this.