Hepatitis C is an outcome of viral infections; this condition causes a swelling of your liver. If left untreated, this condition can lead to near-fatal / fatal results. Hepatitis C can be either chronic or acute; you may get it from blood-to-blood contacts. In the milieu, what does harvoni cost and do health insurance programs cover it? It is a vital thing to know more on this front before starting your treatment plan.
Acute form of hepatitis C may not show up in the form of any signs. On the other hand, chronic spells of this viral condition may show up in the form of a few characteristic signs; however, such signs are visible only when the condition turns severe. As per reliable estimates, almost 55 million may have chronic form of hepatitis C all over the globe. Though hepatitis A and B have vaccines, the C form does not have a vaccine to prevent or treat it. If you decide to leave the chronic form untreated, you may soon encounter failure of liver function, growth of cancerous cells in liver, scarring of liver, etc.
Acute and chronic forms of hepatitis C
Of the two distinct forms of hepatitis C, acute version can show up in 4 to 5 months of your exposure to the virus. The signs of an acute episode are painful joints, tiredness, a drop in appetite levels, discoloration of stools and yellowing of skin / eyes or signs of jaundice. The good aspect of acute form is: it may go away in a few weeks’ time and you may not require any separate medical treatment for it.
Chronic form of this viral condition is the most widely experienced condition. The typical symptoms include sudden / inexplicable loss of body weight, inability to remain focused or loss of mental concentration, being unwell or a persistent feeling of sickness and being weary / tired at almost all times. You may also observe itchiness, symptoms of jaundice, sleeping problems, discoloration of urine, dyspepsia, inflammation of feet and legs.
Harvoni – Insurance coverage
9Harvoni is a widely prescribed treatment approach to manage chronic spells of hepatitis C. It is administered onto children, younger adults as well as adults. It is known to have 2 key chemicals namely, sofosbuvir and ledipasvir. As this med is not yet made as a generic, it is only sold as a branded formulation.
The med is available as a pellet or as a tablet. The cost of this treatment depends on various factors such as the type of your insurance plan, which drugstore / pharmacy you are using to procure this med. The makers of harvoni maintain a website; you may visit it to seek added inputs on how best to reduce the cost of treatment.
Harvoni – Other pointers you need to stay aware of
This medication can cause a few side effects and adverse reactions. These include sleeping problems, migraine, painful muscles, abdominal problems such as nausea, respiratory conditions that may show up as coughing, gasping for breath, etc.
A few serious side effects are mental conditions such as being depressed, nursing suicidal thoughts or self-harming instincts, risks of onset of hepatitis B in some users, etc. Above all, harvoni has a boxed warning issued by the food and drug administration (FDA). This is mainly because this end may activate hepatitis B; this can in turn lead to a complete failure of your liver and may result in life-threatening effects. For more inputs on the safe use of harvoni, you are advised to talk to your treating doctor prior to start of your treatment plan. Those who already have hepatic ailments and / or taking drugs to treat such conditions must talk to their caregiving team about it, and share needful details in this regard.
Education: Master’s in Clinical Nutrition from Tufts University. Experience: 6 years of experience as a registered dietitian and freelance writer, creating content on nutritional science and weight management for various health websites.
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