Tracking my efforts to beat Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), aka CFIDS, aka CFS

Tracking my efforts to beat Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), aka CFIDS, aka CFS

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Starting Epivir today

Back in September, after my last appointment with Dr. C, I wrote about his plan to try two new antivirals to see if they improved my condition in combination with Equilibrant.  The first was Amantadine and, if that didn't work, the second was Epivir.  (That post is linked here.)

I tried the Amantadine for about a month in September and I developed some neuro symtoms during that month which I suspected might have been caused by the Amantadine.  So I stopped.  The neuro symptoms have mostly disappeared since.  Dr. C also said I could stop taking the Amantadine if I didn't see any improvement after a month, which I didn't.

Around the time I stopped taking Amandatine, just as I was about to transition to the next drug, Epivir, I suddenly entered a two and a half month period where my symptoms improved.  Things were going so well that I didn't want to do anything that might possibly interfere with my progress.  So I postponed starting the Epivir experiment.

Unfortunately, that 2.5 month period of improvement ended last Sunday and hasn't shown any signs of returning.  I wouldn't say that I've regressed back to where I was prior to October, but I've lost much of my progress.

So now I'm going to try Epivir.  Unfortunately, I recently received a notice from my insurance company saying that Epivir is a "specialty" drug (whatever that means) and I have to obtain it from one of their approved specialty pharmacies.  So now there's one more hoop the insurance company makes me jump through.  When will they stop?

I'll update in a month or so and let you know whether the Epivir works.  Thanks for reading.

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