Starting Out
While you are taking medication to treat hepatitis C, be sure to let your provider know if you start any other new medications to make sure there are no interactions between the medications. Let your provider know if you have any problems or side effects.
Use this handout to track your progress throughout your treatment.
Take your
Medication
Your medication may come in a 3-pill blister pack. Take your prescribed dose of medication at the same time each day. Do not stop taking the medication unless your provider asks you to. The most frequent cause of treatment failure is missing doses or not taking them at the same time each day.
Change Out
Care Items
Two to four weeks after you start taking your medication is a good time to change out your toothbrush, razor, and nail clippers. By this time most, if not all, of the virus will be gone from your blood. You want to make sure you do not get the virus back in your system with your personal hygiene items that may have infected blood on them.
After you change out your personal hygiene items, it is a good time to remind yourself to call the pharmacy for your refill. You will need to call 10-14 days before you run out of your first bottle (or box) of medication to get the refill in time to make sure you do not miss any doses.
Final Labs
Once you complete your medication, you will need to wait for 12 weeks to return to your provider to get one final lab. You must wait that long because we need to be sure the virus stays away even after the medication is no longer in your system. This lab will let you know if the virus is gone from your blood. If it is gone from your blood, then you are cured. This lab is called a 'sustained viral response' or SVR.