Thanks Elmo - we are a tough pair heheeh

Mags

Re: How I feel on Day 6

Group: alt.support.hepatitis-c Date: Wed, Oct 5, 2005, 7:49pm (CDT+1)
From: rock@nospam.com (Rock)
Well this is an experience I must say. I have come to the conclusion
that I will start feeling bad about 1 hour after I take my riba pills.
The dull head ache I can live with. It's my eyes that bother me - I seem
to be extremely sensitive to light. I get home from work and lie in the
dark to rest my eyes. Thinking is interesting as well. I really have to
concentrate on what I am doing or I will forget. I feel fatigued but
keep pushing through it and it is amazing that I can do this. My whole
day exists of keeping preoccupied so I do not succumb to these symptoms.
How are you doing out there Rock??
Mags
Mags, funny you mention that. I have a cold wet
towel on my head as I type this. I just took mine about 1 1/2 hours ago
and I'm get that warm/hot and sweaty feeling and the dull headache that
seems to accompany it. One Tylenol and it seems to last for a few hours
and subsides usually. On the other hand I seem to feel a bit poor about
every other day since two days after my first shot and this seems to
come and go through the day. I'm wondering if this is from the pegasys?
Yesterday was the worst of the two and kind of
felt like mild flu symptoms with achy muscles and joints. Nothing we
can't handle though. I agree keeping occupied is the best way to go. I
haven't missed any work because of it, so that's a plus. Friday is not
far so we will see what kind of effect #2 will have this weekend. My Doc
told me the first month or even the first few shots are usually the
worst. Bring on #2. Mags, hope you have a easier time this weekend. I'm
getting the stack of blankets out just in case : < )
///////////////
No two weeks will be exactly the same, especially when you get further
into the tx. Some weeks will be pretty good and others won't be.  But
all in all, the stuff is doable.  Keep after it, you two!!
elmo

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum

Yes, I will follow with interest all you have the time and/or inclination to
post.  I need to start treatment within the next six months or so.    doogie

Please keep on with the reports. This
will help some of us understand about these matters. Be as descriptive
as you can. And, thank you for your posting. This will be good for
ash-c! Randy

I shot into the skin on the top of my thighs with no redness.  One time
in the belly and I got a big red blotch.  

Ice cream sandwiches (vanilla inside, chocolate outside) were good
mouth-clearers for me.  Also a non-alcohol mouthwash - Biotene was good,
it helps keep your mouth non-dry.  I didn't notice a lot of taste from
the riba, though.

I enjoyed smelling a good red wine even when I couldn't have any.

Your hep nurse is correct. Four injection sites will help moderate any
localized sides from the shots. I tried to go with just left and right belly,
thought I had it knocked, and then around Week 42 developed a skin ulcer in
the middle of my left belly shot zone due to a fully developed
hypersensitivity to the Peg. Doc took one look and said that was it for the
belly shots, so I had to go the rest of the way alternating between left and
right thigh, which I found *way* awkward compared to the belly shots, but
certainly doable. If I had been using all four zones all along, it's likely I
wouldn't have had the ulcer.

As for the senses of taste and smell: mine went into major overdrive, and it
became nearly debilitating. Eventually, I could not be around people wearing
scented products without experiencing high levels of nausea, and there were
all kinds of daily situations that suddenly became challenging because of what
I perceived at the time as overwhelming odor.

If you want to plan for that possible eventuality in advance, go through your
daily routine looking for things that carry significant odor, and consider
finding a scent-free version for each to use while in therapy. Things like
bath soaps, deodorants, hair sprays, skin creams - even dishwasher powder
(there was nothing that made me sicker than being in the kitchen while the
dishwasher was running).

Other than that last one, I was able to find "unscented" versions of
everything I needed - and I avoided everything else as best as possible, or
invoked "kingly" powers to make it go away (eg: my youngest son had to go
without Brute for 12 months, but he and his girlfriend got over it ;-)

Alcohol consumption should be out of the question while on tx, so the wine
issue should be moot for some time to come.

But you're totally right about the water consumption, and you're good to
recognize you really need to consider fresh water to be your constant
companion. I had bottles strategically located in our cars, my office, and all
through the house, so I always had one within reach. And they were sorely
needed when the dehydration was at its peak.

There was a formula that expressed how many *additional* ounces of water (over
and above the "normal amount") that should be consumed while on therapy. Mine
worked out to 110 ounces above the normal amount - so maybe it was a
half-ounce per pound of bodyweight. On top of the 8 to 10 "glasses" of water
we're supposed to drink, that's totals up to a heck of a lot of water each
day.

And it has to be water or some other "clear liquid". Things with bubbles don't
count, soda and the like may actually aggravate dehydration...

Anyway...(geeze, sorry, I got bonged and it always makes me wordy) you're off
to a classic start, with any luck your sides will stay within the typical
scope most have experienced, so there'll always be plenty of help whenever you
have a question.

Cheers

/greyhackles

I am an extremely agreeable person, I will almost always walk away
instead of fighting (what's the point?) but there was one day, about a
month into treatment as I remember, where I started feeling RAGEFUL.  It
was the weirdest thing.  I'd never felt anything like that before.   I
was typing emails and my partner - whose desk in the same room as mine
but the room is l-shaped so he can't see me from where he is - said "Are
you OK?  You're scaring me and I can't even see you."  Just from the
sound of my typing he could tell.

I went downstairs and popped a Xanax.  1/2 hour later I was about to
draw blood from biting my tounge from saying mean, awful things for no
reason at all.  I started arguments with people here.  And then I
discovered that if I smoked some green stuff it went away completely.  
Me and that green stuff stayed friends during treatment.

Maybe other people who worked during treatment can give you hints for
recognizing and controlling the rage when and if it happens.  Like many
of the mental side effects (which are not guaranteed, it's a crapshoot)
there was nothing in my experience to prepare me for it.  At least you
know what causes it.

Keeping busy at a moderate pace seems to be the best way to get through
the day.

G