Hello all You Wonderful People ___

So sorry I've not participated for quite some time.  Wish I hadn't
missed it because so much support and good info is published here.
I feel I've not given back enough.

I was taken off the treatment a couple of weeks early as the docs
realized they had almost killed me and I had slipped into a manic
state.  In the end, for me, the pain became quite real.

As both my primary care physician and my specialist said, basically,
"48 weeks is not a magic number -- what counts is that we can't see
any Hep RNA in your body.  That's the magic number."

The pain was so awful hydrocodone would not touch it, even in a
dangerously massive dose.  I sometimes could not hold back the
screaming.

I did come up with a technique to control/tolerate the pain.  See the
following article I wrote located here:

(http://www.moonarbor.net/aardvark/opinions/pain.html

Your milage may vary with this, but I've located some corroborating
data.

[EXCERPT]
Toward the end of my immunotherapy I spent many hours in excruciating
pain. Unfortunately the pain was not mind-numbing so I was in full,
acute awareness of it. Even sissies can endure a little pain. One
sprains an ankle or stubs a toe or grabs that Pyrex dish (which when
purring along at 400 degrees looks exactly like a Pyrex dish at room
temp) out of the oven bare handed. But heck, that pain goes away
quickly enough.

Chronic, unremitting pain is different. It just will not be nice and
go away.

In response to this pain I visited daily I stumbled upon two useful
techniques.
[END EXCERPT]

The insanity drove my wife away.  Thankfully she's returned home now.

For a while I felt I would not recommend the treatment to anyone.  But
after a very few weeks and a blood test which showed me "cured" I've
come 180 degrees on that.  If you have Hep-C and a specialist tells
you that you should treat it I can only say suck it up and do it.

I am currently writing a "user's guide" for those undergoing the
Peg/CoPeg treatment.  I've tentatively titled it "Surviving Treatment
for Hepatitis C".  In my research I've found that a choice NOT to
treat is very likely a life-shortening and/or fatal mistake.

Today I was researching alcohol use by those HCV-positive and ended up
producing this interesting little chart:

http://www.moonarbor.net/hcv/cirrhosisandalcohol.htm

I got relief from the side-effects quickly -- about six weeks for so.
I'll have my six-month viral count taken in May.  I'm keeping my
fingers crossed.

I'll try to find time to check in here more often.  So many of you
were very helpful to me, especially when I was considering stopping
the treatment about half-way through.  Thanks.

Hank