Hey its jessy. How is everyone doing? Our posts started are old so I figured we could start a new one. I am waiting on my 12 wk blood work and viral load to come back. So far so good. I think I am just way too used to it now. Not sure what I will do when I feel normal again. lol. Good luck to all. Charmed I have not heard from you in a while....hope all is well....when you get a chance let us know how you are.

Hey its jessy. How is everyone doing? Our posts started are old so I figured we could start a new one. I am waiting on my 12 wk blood work and viral load to come back. So far so good. I think I am just way too used to it now. Not sure what I will do when I feel normal again. lol. Good luck to all. Charmed I have not heard from you in a while....hope all is well....when you get a chance let us know how you are.

Hi,
So, how are your results?

I'm feeling extremely tired and sore but as I've said before, it could have been worse
-(I love it-the #1 side effect from your lifesaving medication is suicide!)
and I have no viral load-
I'm catching up on a lot of TV-
> than 1/2 way there-I'm happy! Lucky week #13 begins Monday-my wbc came up to 2.9 with the Neupogen :dizzy:

Good for you. I am doing good. I am used to it by now like I said. I am tired and have to have anti depressants while on this stuff. I am waiting on my blood work to get back. I will check tomorrow first thing in the morning. It was my wk 12 blood work. So you were still undetectable at wk 12 I take it? Good for you.

Good for you. I am doing good. I am used to it by now like I said. I am tired and have to have anti depressants while on this stuff. I am waiting on my blood work to get back. I will check tomorrow first thing in the morning. It was my wk 12 blood work. So you were still undetectable at wk 12 I take it? Good for you.

mine was undetectable at 4 weeks-and continuing to be so. My problem now is the low wbc-SOOOO tired!!!:dizzy:

Sorry. Good for you though. Are you taking any anti depressants? Do you have any body aches? Mine are bad. The anti depressants were a life saver. wow...I should be in a commercial.

Hi Jess,

since you asked for updates, I'll report that I am two months out of my 24 week tx. I had such a difficult time, or I am such a crybaby, that i only made 23 weeks. the doc agreed that i could skip the last shot since i was flat on my back in hospital with pneumonia (almost certainly related to the low white blood cell count--watch out for that!)
my viral count is undetectable and has been since the third or fourth week of tx (i forget which--hope I forget it all soon) and i have every hope of remaining so for life, although i know this is far from guaranteed.
i HOPE i stay virus-free, cause I know I would never go through interferon tx again. nope, nope, nope.
whew, that stuff is a mess. the longer i am off it, the more i realize how ill i was made by it. I made it, though, so I don't complain too much--not at all anymore, in fact, although some side effects linger long--because I know some folks had it even worse, and mostly cause I got so tired of hearing myself whine.
it stinks, leave it at that. but it is temporary, either six or twelve months. not such a long sentence, even if it is--for some--hard time.

best to you, and all here. we rilllly have to stress prevention. nobody should have to make this choice. it IS a preventable disease now that we know more.

hope everyone's ride is a smooth one......

peace


sean

Hi Jess,

since you asked for updates, I'll report that I am two months out of my 24 week tx. I had such a difficult time, or I am such a crybaby, that i only made 23 weeks. the doc agreed that i could skip the last shot since i was flat on my back in hospital with pneumonia (almost certainly related to the low white blood cell count--watch out for that!)
my viral count is undetectable and has been since the third or fourth week of tx (i forget which--hope I forget it all soon) and i have every hope of remaining so for life, although i know this is far from guaranteed.
i HOPE i stay virus-free, cause I know I would never go through interferon tx again. nope, nope, nope.
whew, that stuff is a mess. the longer i am off it, the more i realize how ill i was made by it. I made it, though, so I don't complain too much--not at all anymore, in fact, although some side effects linger long--because I know some folks had it even worse, and mostly cause I got so tired of hearing myself whine.
it stinks, leave it at that. but it is temporary, either six or twelve months. not such a long sentence, even if it is--for some--hard time.

best to you, and all here. we rilllly have to stress prevention. nobody should have to make this choice. it IS a preventable disease now that we know more.

hope everyone's ride is a smooth one......

peace


sean

How long after you quit the meds did it take for you to start feeling a little better? Just wondering? What if any sides lingered on for a while? I just took my last pill yesterday morning and decided to quit after talking to the doctor. This had been planned just had not nailed down an actual day. Anyway....I know it has only been twenty four hours but when will I feel a little better? I am so used to feeling however it is that I do feel that I don't remember how I felt before this honestly. It is weird.

Sorry. Good for you though. Are you taking any anti depressants? Do you have any body aches? Mine are bad. The anti depressants were a life saver. wow...I should be in a commercial.

I'm not depressed-per se-I'd say it's more like a claustrophobic feeling-I'm hoping for a swift end to the tx at this point as I really feel like $%&^#!!!
yes, I have lots of body pain too but have med for that.

How long after you quit the meds did it take for you to start feeling a little better? Just wondering? What if any sides lingered on for a while? I just took my last pill yesterday morning and decided to quit after talking to the doctor. This had been planned just had not nailed down an actual day. Anyway....I know it has only been twenty four hours but when will I feel a little better? I am so used to feeling however it is that I do feel that I don't remember how I felt before this honestly. It is weird.


Hi Jess,

i ended tx when pneumonia sent me to the hospital--i was one week shy of the 24 prescribed in my case. pneumonia has its own recovery period that is variously estimated at four to six weeks. that is now more than two months ago.

I am back at work full time, (I am self-employed or I would have been fired long ago), and now get around, shop, exercise and otherwise behave almost like a normal person. But I still, in this third month since tx, do not have the strength nor energy i had before. maybe I can lift about 60 percent of what i used to. maybe i can jog for five minutes, rather than the 15 or more i would call 'normal' light, warmup.

mentally, my mood is definitely better (no longer being nauseous all day has done wonders for my mood--no kidding here) and i can remember things sometimes now, like phone numbers, again (half the time, anyway).
so, i am almost like a functioning human being, but not yet where i want to be.
It must be different for everyone, as everything seems to be with this virus and this medicine. my case wasn't so fun, but i'm here to talk about it, so how bad could it be?

best to you.


sean

Good luck to you. Medication is amazing and what it can do to you. Especially this stuff.

I'm not depressed-per se-I'd say it's more like a claustrophobic feeling-I'm hoping for a swift end to the tx at this point as I really feel like $%&^#!!!
yes, I have lots of body pain too but have med for that.

Have you tried any anti depressants? I hated the way they made me feel in the beginning. But eventually I gave them a real good try and made it through the first few days of feeling weird and they did wonders for me. I was not really depressed but just emotionally all over and very grouchy and could cry or get mad at the drop of a hat. They made me so much happier. Now I am tapering myself off the pain meds from the pain I had. I am not liking that. I am not the type to take nay meds or even asprin most of the time. I am ready to be done with all of this but might stay on the anti depressant for a while.

Have you tried any anti depressants? I hated the way they made me feel in the beginning. But eventually I gave them a real good try and made it through the first few days of feeling weird and they did wonders for me. I was not really depressed but just emotionally all over and very grouchy and could cry or get mad at the drop of a hat. They made me so much happier. Now I am tapering myself off the pain meds from the pain I had. I am not liking that. I am not the type to take nay meds or even asprin most of the time. I am ready to be done with all of this but might stay on the anti depressant for a while.

Hi again,

i'm not sure i made the right choice avoiding anti-depressants. i was a grouch for SURE. my wife really had a lot to bear during those periods. not fair to her, really. if i ever did this again, god forbid, i might reverse that choice and try the anti-d route.
what you are describing, eyesworld, does sound kind of like depression--it doesn't just mean sitting in the dark wanting to cry. so anti-depressants might be worth looking into.

BUT, the friends and relatives of mine who've used them also report some issues worth weighing in the balance--addiction, weight fluctuations, and so on. so each has to make his or her own choice.
as to pain, i don't like to suffer needlessly and definitely took pain meds frequently. i had headaches, body aches, diarrhea, sleeplessness, and lots of stuff that pain meds helped with. i had a long period of constant (moderate) headache. that ended, but then i would have one or two day attacks of what i guess is migraine--whatever you call it, it is not to be believed. so i was grateful for the pain meds.
i have felt no need for them since, once i got two or three weeks out of tx. so, that's my story on that stuff.

sean

That is cool. I am one week off the tx and feeling a little better. I gave away my pain meds and kept a few xanax and took my last one today. My body does not hurt as much but I don't feel normal again. I think partly because I am still taking the pills. Tomorrow there will be no more of that. I am sick of taking all this crap and not feeling normal and with it and I already feel better body wise from not having treatments for a week already. I just have had to work a lot this week and know that I felt a bit fluish when I did not take the pain meds because I have taken them for three months. But thank god for them and the anti depressants. Good luck you guys. Did you feel slugish when you stopped taking pain meds? If so for how long and what were you taking and how frequently if you don't mind me asking?