Delayed or postponed treatment for HepC.

[MyLiver4Life]

While on treatment combination of Peg-interon Redipen/Copegus, can it be stopped for one week due to travel and then resume on return home? Reason for question, my husband needs to make a trip away from home and he needs to be strong enough to drive 1700 miles round trip. He becomes fatigued and nausea sets in soon after injection, and continues off and on until his next injection. Also, if he postpones his injection for one week, can he also stop the Copegus oral dosage then resume both at the same time?
Any advise would be mush appreciated.

[MyLiver4Life]

Just an update, My husband made his trip, took his shot & meds and had a few sx an the return trip.
He is home now and trying to rest up from the long drive.

[MyLiver4Life]

Thank you for all the input. My husband is going on the road, with meds in tow (he will take his shot as scheduled). Hopefully this will be a good week and he will have less sx.

Tx has been a terror for him and we cannot wait until the next 9 weeks are over. He has experienced a horrible rash on his legs that was infected, that his gastro doc and cardio doc would not even discuss treating. He even wound up in the hospital overnight with no help from anyone. He fired both the gastro and cardio docs and went to a GP who prescribed anitbiotic and cream. He saw results within a day after suffering for about two months or longer.

For those who are finished with tx, how long does it take to get over the sx?

[merlino]

My gastro appt is the 15th. I am going a little crazy! I am reading all kind of articles, stories etc. etc. I have to stop and give it a rest. The past 2 weeks this is all I do. Instead of educating myself I am making myself a nervous wreck. Have been short at work and home with everyone. When I read about symptoms I start imagining I feel them. Guess it all comes with the territory.

[cuteus]

if you do treat, please try to keep your physical activity as close to normal as possible. wasting away muscles will not help when recovery from tx comes. After my anemia was controlled with Procrit, I was able to continue my two exercise classes at the Y. Do try and stay somewhat fit. Many members have continued their activities while on tx; swimming, skiing, etc. Play it by ear, but even if it only means some stretching and small wts lifting, anything is better than nothing.
I completed a Summer run series caried out during my first months on tx, was not able to do it the next yr, but continued my Y classes. Find your 'groove' and try to keep it. Anemia will be a big factor in keeping you plastered to the couch. I hope you have a dr that will intervene. I told mine that there was cardiac disease hx in my family and my chest pains needed to be addressed. I got the Procrit when hgb reached 10.2.
I hope you don't have to rush to treat, but it is ultimately your choice, even with mild liver damage.

[merlino]

Thanks - I did just assume everyone's problems were associated with tx. Other than this I have always been healthy. Had a kidney stone years ago and thats about it. I have always tried to live healthy. I exercise a few times a week and have for basically most of my adult years, take vitamins and try to eat right though I do love my carbs. From what I have read exercise will eventually be a thing of the past once I start tx. Right now the only differencein how I feel is fatigue. No matter how much rest I get I am always tired.

[cuteus]

whatever you decide, make sure you have an extensive physical workup that includes vision, endocrinology(get an antithyroid antibody test to make sure hep c is not doing a number on your thyroid already), cardiac, rheumatology, and neurology exams among other things. You want to catch any underlying conditions if you are going to treat. Adverse events seem to happen within the first 6 months of tx, according to some studies I read, so you will probably know early on how tx is affecting you. Unfortunately in these forums, when folks speak about post tx conditions, a good number of them do not mention if they had anything and to what extent prior to tx, so you might get an impression that there is a lot of post tx problems. It is not to say that there are not some, but it might seem like a lot more if things are presented without all the details. I have read many talking about post tx conditions that after pressing for answers they turned out to be present before tx also. It is difficult to assess the validity of statements read online in forums and there is hardly any medical literature addressing post tx QOL. I would ask my dr about his/her experience with his/her patients, my PA stated that many of their patients had 0 side effects, I could not believe that one, based on what I had read here.
Research everything yourself. It is time consuming, but will benefit your health to do so.

[FlGuy]

Dr. Ira Jacobson, Professor of Clinical Medicine and a physician at the New York-Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.  He's a well-known hepatologist.  I think he's involved is studies and is a pubished guy

[merlino]

I have been seeing a Dr. Jacobson's name here and there. Can you tell me anything about him?

[merlino]

yes, thats one of the reasons her support is so important to me. She can relate to my fears.I hear what your saying about my issues when I tx however, I know I can never let them know. Will have to admit to something just not sure what.

[Alady1620]

Personally, I would not miss a shot.  I suggest that he fly.  It's pricey but you can't put a price on your life.

[NYgirl]

I really wouldn't advise stopping - if you think about it the virus has the PERFECT chance to start up again while there are no meds to kill it.

I know all of our lives are affected big time but maybe you can schedule flights so he can sleep and work on making the travel plans the best you can to accomodate him.

I mean like if he has to drive see about a Greyhound or something that is expensed to the company and he can rest rest rest.

I really would NOT stop...I get worried when I'm an hour late on Friday night to tell you the truth as paranoid as that sounds...I don't want to give it ONE reason to start coming back in this world.  That way no matter what happens at the end...I will have known I did my part and nothing else could have been done.

Otherwise I'd eat myself alive with guilt.

[honey11]

Everyone here is great solid advice.  If your husband stopped for 1 week,,,,he is back to square 1,,,starting over.  Even if he decided to stop and make the drive,,,,he is still not going to feel instantly wonderful.  Takes awhile for the meds to work out of your system anyways.  Keep him focused to finish to the end.  Best Wishes!

[jmjm530]

myliver said:If he postponed the shot, but not the Copegus, would that have adverse afects?
-------------------------------
Some might argue that skipping a shot at that point in treatment would potentially have more adverse effects than skipping the ribavirin. The reality is no one knows exactly what difference it would make but it's a very (I'll repeat)VERY big gamble.

[friole]

Greetings from my liver to your liver.  With a screenname like that, this must be a mighty important trip to even think about endangering the changes of success.   To my knowledge there haven't been any studies on this, but logically, it would increase the chance of not clearing.  THere have been some great suggestions for alternate travel means. I hope you can work something out like that.  Could you go along to help drive?  It is a hard decision, but I personally would not jeapordize my chance at SVR.

[Fisheress]

I just did a  lil over a 1000 mile round trip w/no help driving.  Took my shot w/me and managed to work thru it all.  Spread myself really thin while visting my family and even thought about delaying my trip home 1 day ( no rest at all).  Glad I went ahead and got the drive back done as scheduled as I am so happy to be home, been resting a week now LOL!.  Stopping and stretching really helped, of course don't forget the water, that will make for alot of stopping too.  I took a case of Ozarka water bottles w/me and finished them up before I got home.

It's a lil hard but can be done (won't do it again!).  Encourage your husband to not miss a dose, not worth it.  And if the drive HAS TO BE DONE, If wimpy me can do it, he can.

Good luck,
Fisheress

[FlGuy]

I'm glad to hear that you have a 'real person' support in addition to your more ethereal group here. As you go on, possibly tx'ing, it's going to get increasingly difficult to keep it from others.  You've got a lot of competing factors to get resolved.  I hope your pal Funky can help you out along the way.  We're always here too.  p.s. is Funky a HCV person too?

[can-do-man]

Funkasaurus? I think that was on the flintstones:)

[merlino]

Couldn't post any additional comments on trial thread. Thanks to all for being so supportive. Flguy-funkasaurus is a friend. We share the same Doc's.  She is the only person in my world who knows (now I have all of you) about this. She is lucky enough to have a great family  and husband who stand by her at all times. She helps me cope, as reading all your comments do.It just made me sad to think because my aunt had cancer she received such wonderful care, hearing how this disease(and others) is viewed by my family I would be an outcast.This is how they are and always have been. So, here I am.

[Fisheress]

Oh and one more thing that REALLY helps on a long drive like that is to change the position of your seat ALOT.  Move forward closer to the steering wheel, then move back some, recline seat up for awhile sitting straight up, (looks funny)then recline back a lil.  Just change up alot.  

Well that is my suggestions from experience.  Again good luck to him.

Fish

[cuteus]

good suggestion from Rocker above, or could he share the driving with someone? a carpool group? NuRide is one such group that works a bit different than other carpooling groups. It is not a good idea to stop all meds for more than a day, if need be. If the shot is due before he begins the first leg of the trip, perhaps someone else can do the driving? If the shot is due once he gets where he is going,  can he rest before returning? Bottom line is, not a good thing to stop tx for that long. The only people I know that stopped did so because of medical emergencies. Even after completion of tx and extension of  same, they unfortunately relapsed.
I hope you find other options.

[jmjm530]

Let me put it a little stronger. Medical necessity aside -- skipping a shot at week 15 is a very bad idea. Skipping a week of ribavirin makes it even worse. The only exception I could think of is if your husband is a geno 2 or 3, with low pre-treatment viral load, no significant fibrosis, and was non-detectible at week 4 using a very sensitive viral load test.  

Keep in mind that many folks relapse within a week or so of stopping the treatment drugs, and in a sense that is exactly what your husband would be doing. And these are people who have in many cases taken the full course of drugs.

Hopefully you will find an alternate solution to the business trip that will allow your husband to stay on these drugs. BTW as someone new here you should be aware that there are no doctor here, but I'd be surprised if your doctor says otherwise.

-- Jim

[amirtracy]

Hi. My doc told me that if i missed more than a week i would have to start all over again. I think you should definently ask his doctor. best of luck to both of you.

[amommy]

Hi there,
I am sorry that your husband is in this predicament.  It is so frustrating how much treatment affects our "normal" life.  
I really think it would be best to discuss this with his doctor.  Most of what I have read suggests it isn't a good idea to take a break in treatment.  Maybe the doctor can suggest an alternative such as breaking the dose up.  Unfortunately, nothing is ever cut and dry with this disease and treatment.  Good luck in figuring all of this out.

[Karay]

Hmmmm, I know I'd try and do everything possible to stay on the meds - did you talk w/your doctor??