Ribavirin and alcohol
Common Questions and Answers about Ribavirin and alcohol
rebetol
Hi. I just found this site and it looks great. My husband has HCV and CKD. His neph says the kidney problem is caused by the HCV, but last year he had one of his kidneys removed because of cancer. So I wonder. My real concern is that R. won't be able to take the HCV meds because I often read that it's very bad for the kidneys, and he's only got one that's in bad shape. Found the HCV accidentally and we think he's had it for over 30 years.
These findings, which were published in the June issue of Gastroenterology, suggest that heavy coffee consumption is an independent predictor of improved virologic response to peginterferon and ribavirin treatment in patients with HCV infection."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3264892/
http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/hep_c/news/2011/0621_2011_a.html
http://www.natap.org/2010/AASLD/AASLD_26.htm
http://hepatitiscresearchandnewsupdates.blogspot.
I had not had a drink in years and never abused alcohol or was accused of ever abusing alcohol, yet it seemed like every time I saw my hepatologist he confirmed that I was still not drinking. I do think that there is concern (other than adding stress to your liver) that drinking could affect adherence to treatment. There is a difference between a drink once a month and a drink or more every day.
During treatment with ribavirin and sovaldi, I couldn't imagine adding alcohol to the mix.
I am 5 weeks into Sovaldi/Ribavirin treatment and all is going very well. I have been undetected since week two and I feel fine. I am cross country skiing in the Vermont mountains 3-4 times a week and feel good, maybe a little off but then I have been skiing quite a bit lately. I was out yesterday with a bunch of guys 10-20 years younger than me and I was the one waiting at the top of the climbs. The nurse practitioner at the hepatology department said I should exercise all I want.
thankyou for that web site i'm going to look into it they tell me when you buy products make sure theres no alchol in it i've noticed that they have cetearyl alcohol i wonder if that matters ,when they say no alcohol they really mean it d o you mind me asking you did you lose hair that could be noticed.your the 2nd person i've spoken too on this forum i just learning how helpful it is.
This board represents a very very small percentage of women who have taken ribavirin and decided to become pregnant after treatment. I can't recall one person to date. Researching studies about the drug and the manufacturers information will certainly give you the most accurate statistics. I see no reason why they would advise women to wait 6 months unless there was hard core data to back it up.
Ribavirin therapy is contraindicated in women who are pregnant and in the male partners of women who are pregnant. Female patients receiving ribavirin and the partners of male patients receiving ribavirin must avoid pregnancy, using at least two reliable forms of contraception, during treatment and for 6 months after completion of treatment.
in hamsters, ribavirin was associated with defects of the limbs, eyes, and brain; in rats, defects of the brain and eyes predominated -- but these were experiments exposing bone marrow cells. Because of its frequent association with adverse effects on pregnancy in animal experiments, the marketing approval of ribavirin specified that it be avoided in women or girls who are pregnant or may become pregnant within four weeks after exposure to the drug.
HCV, steatosis, alcohol use, drug toxicity and other factors associated with oxidative liver damage can interact and have an additive or “multi-hit” effect, which helps explain why people with chronic viral hepatitis are more susceptible to liver damage due to heavy alcohol use or hepatotoxic medications – and why experts recommended that people with chronic hepatitis C drink little or no alcohol and exercise extra caution when using drugs that could potentially harm the liver.
The consequences of a subset of patients with chronic HCV infection are cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment of HCV with interferon alfa (IFN-) and ribavirin is associated with a sustained response rate of less than 50%. These limited therapeutic efficacies and the absence of an effective HCV vaccine underscore the importance of research on factors that enhance HCV infection and compromise IFN--based therapy.
The absorption was slowed (Tmax was doubled) and the AUC0-192h and Cmax increased by 42% and 66%, respectively, when Ribavirin tablets were taken with a high-fat meal compared with fasting conditions [see Dosage and Administration (2.1) and Patient Counseling Information (17)].
http://www.drugs.com/pro/ribavirin.
If you do have liver cirrhosis that is why you can never drink alcohol and will need to have blood testing and abdominal ultrasounds every 6 months and at a minimum see your liver specialist every year to monitor for early signs of HCC (heptocellular carcinoma aka liver cancer) as we with cirrhosis are at increased risk for HCC although with cure of hep c our risk of HCC is greatly reduced.
Recommended
