Dell -

I treated the diarrhea with "acidophilus pearls", they're a form of gut
bacteria that helped me keep me more solid.
Sleeping was a problem too.  I used ambien and xanax, switched back and
forth, tried not do to ambien more than two days in a row because it
gave me worse brain fog.
The only thing that worked for the irritability for me was marijuana
baked into brownies.  Once I got the dose right I could be apparently
normal to everyone around me and I wasn't wanting to chew their heads
off.

It is difficult to explain to people who haven't been through it, so
don't worry about rambling here since you've got a crowd that
understands.

Gordo

Tylenol (or its generic equivalent, which I can't spell) for the aches and
pains

upset stomach, insomnia,

Gravol works great to settle your stomach *and* make you drowsy. Also, as
Gordo said, cannabis is fine too.

diarrhea

Sorry that I can't suggest anything here, but that was one side that I
didn't have.

irritability to

For me, the absolute worst part of treatment was the weird mental things
that it did to me. Depression was a biggie, and I took antidepressants
throughout treatment (depression hits almost everyone on treatment; if
you're not taking antidepressants, see your doc a.s.a.p. and "get with the
program" as they say).

It's too bad you can't talk to your wife about this. She needs to know what
the side-effects of these big-gun drugs are, and that you'll be back to
normal after you finish with them. She needs to know that irritability,
depression and riba-rage are merely side-effects and not to take it
personally if you bark at her. As for your daughter, she too needs to know
that daddy is sick and that she needs to help him get better by not being
too demanding of your limited energy (and patience too I'm sure. I've *seen*
three-year-olds, and they're downright horrible little creatures sometimes!)

Anyway, don't beat yourself up, don't feel guilty because you're not doing
as much as you think you should be doing. Hell, don't feel guilty if you're
not doing *anything* right now and until you're through your treatment. The
most important thing (really, the most important thing) is to kill the
hepatitis c virus that's trying to kill you. You focus on looking after
yourself and getting well, and letting the big-gun drugs kick some serious
a.s with your hep c.

Take care, Dell, and keep us posted.

Waterspider

Re: genotype 1  

Group: alt.support.hepatitis-c Date: Sat, Dec 3, 2005, 5:55pm (CST-2)
From: 32860@sbcglobal.net (dell)
Hello,
That's a toughing, I would have to say it's a combination of the leg
pains, headaches, upset stomach, insomnia, diarrhea and irritability to
mention a few! Actually, I think the worst part is how this is affecting
my family. I have a 3 1/2 year old girl, and not being able to attend to
her needs as much as i would like to get a bit much. Sorry....don't mean
to ramble on. It's difficult to express this to my wife..got to go for
now..
thank you,
Dell
///////////
It might help convey your situation to the wife if you took her to a
local group support meeting where she could hear and speak to others in
your's and her's situation.  Perhaps a little MJ might make things a bit
easier, if you can hide it from the little one. :-)
elmo

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

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