Bob, you are doubtlessly referring to discussion broken off from this
thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.hepatitis-c/browse_thread/thread/e038
67cebf5ad1e8
It might be easier to continue the discussion if it were located in
just that thread, but here we are now so here goes:

What I meant by doing the best you can to *prepare* for treatment is
just that -- prepare yourself and your situation as much as you can now
so that you won't need to later. Study up on what you can expect. Go
forward hoping for the best while preparing for trouble. Find out what
those before you have done to better adapt to treatment. Be proactive
-- get setup as much as you can now, before treatment starts, so you
will be able to adapt better and suffer the least possible disruption
to your affairs when one or the other side effects kick in -- which
will probably happen.

Although people are correct to say it's quite uncertain how you will
respond to tx, in my opinion it's likely you will feel tired and more
so as the weeks go by. It is likely you will develop hemolytic anemia
and related fatigue. It's likely you feel flu-like symptoms now and
then, probably nothing too bad, but like clockwork, especially the day
or two or three after you do an interferron injection. You might do
well to arrange for a four day work-week, if you can, in order to be
able to stay home for three days after the shot.

It's also not unlikely that you will develop some mental disorders;
nothing terribly profound, but enough to be taken serioulsy whether you
want to or not. I summarize my own experience in this regard as
follows: "Diminished mental acuity and altered emotional stability."

Complaints of irritability are common among hep-C patients when under
the influence of Tx. Also, complaints of depression are not terribly
uncommon -- although both symptoms may part of what clinicians call
clinical depression. Many patients are treated successfully for such
mental side effects with antidepressants, and some *prepare* for
treatment by getting dialed in to an optimal prescription prior to
beginning treatment. Thus one way to prepare is to discuss these issues
with your care provider.

Get ready to occasionally be a little cranky, or maybe a lot more than
a little cranky, after treatment starts. Get ready to be really picky
about how you bathe, in case you get itchy skin. Get ready for the need
to drink a lot of water -- even if you don't want to. You can prepare
now by learning to keep a jub of water within reach all the time, and
drinking frequently.

Ask questions, here in ash-c and elsewhere. Get answers. Get ready.
Treatment will probably bear down on you, but I think if you are
already well adjusted to your job, even though it presents intermittent
strenous activity, you have a good chance at being able to keep doing
what you are doing through your 24 weeks (or maybe only 12 weeks) of
treatment for your diagnosed HCV geno-2a.
-bg