Cutting Valcyte 450 pills in half

[PearlGirl26]

I'm about to start tapering done off Valcyte, but am very worried about withdrawal symptoms. I had to take a few weeks off about 6 months ago and it was terrible. I only did 3 days of 450 and then went cold turkey.

My question is, has anyone cut the pulls in half and gone slower, say down to 675? The patient insert says not to cut the pills in half. I'm assuming this is because they don't want to expose others to the drug I've only seen one other thread mention this here with one person's response. Hoping for more from people who have done this. Thanks!

 

[Butydoc]

I'm about to start tapering done off Valcyte, but am very worried about withdrawal symptoms. I had to take a few weeks off about 6 months ago and it was terrible. I only did 3 days of 450 and then went cold turkey.

My question is, has anyone cut the pulls in half and gone slower, say down to 675? The patient insert says not to cut the pills in half. I'm assuming this is because they don't want to expose others to the drug I've only seen one other thread mention this here with one person's response. Hoping for more from people who have done this. Thanks!

Hi PearlGirl26,

I started my Valcyte at 225mg which meant I had to cut the tablet in half. No problems at all. My CFS doc, Dr. Jose Montoya, actually recommended I start this way. He is a professor of infectious disease at Stanford. I stopped my Valcyte after 1 1/2 years cold turkey without any withdrawal symptoms or worsening of my CFS symptoms.

Why do you believe that you must taper your dose?

Best,
Gary

 

[PearlGirl26]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I mentioned in my post I had gone off it 6 months ago for a few weeks and it was terrible. Maybe it will be better this time. Frankly, it's been awful the entire time. I'm hoping maybe just lowering the dose will be enough to cut down on some of the side effects.

 

[RUkiddingME]

Hi there, I also was told to stop cold turkey and I never noticed any difference but everyone is different. I was off the drug only 2.5 months and I had to go through the same process all over again when I restarted with weeks 7-13 being really bad before feeling better. My entire experience is documented here http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?entries/valcyte-2014-round-2-week-9.1651/. Good luck!!

 

[heapsreal]

i cant see a reason to taper off antivirals, although many stop valcyte and go onto valterx or famvir to keep the viruses down that the good work valcyte has done.

 

[Butydoc]

i cant see a reason to taper off antivirals, although many stop valcyte and go onto valterx or famvir to keep the viruses down that the good work valcyte has done.

Hi Heapsreal,

I mostly agree with you that stopping Valcyte shouldn't cause a withdrawal reaction since as an antiviral it works by inhibiting replication of viruses. There is the possibility that in some individuals it acts as an supressor of microglial cells and by stopping this drug abruptly might cause a rebound or increase in microglial activation.

Best,
Gary

 

[heapsreal]

Hi Heapsreal,

I mostly agree with you that stopping Valcyte shouldn't cause a withdrawal reaction since as an antiviral it works by inhibiting replication of viruses. There is the possibility that in some individuals it acts as an supressor of microglial cells and by stopping this drug abruptly might cause a rebound or increase in microglial activation.

Best,
Gary

Could be, just havent seen it with people on this board i guess. SOme people relapse, maybe that could be a sign that one needs to taper off.

One thing i wonder about with the microglial theory, is that if the reduce inflammation quite quickly as in say a few days to a week or so, people should feel alot better when they start but this doesnt seem to happen.

I guess we just dont know. I guessing that testing microglial is only in the research setting?