Double dose of ribavirin

I'm on week 32 of triple with Victrellis. This weekend I took my ribavirin 600mg twice in a 30 minute period.  I admit this is not the first time I have done this.   But this time I feel like I have a lead over coat on and every joint in body hurts, stomach cramps..just feel like awful.  I skipped my next dose and have reduced 2 subsequent doses to 400 mg each.  Any comments?

[Advocate1955]

I would suggest calling your doctor this morning and asking what the best thing would be.  Drink lots of water until then?
Advocate1955

[beyondmwd]

You must be OK.  Your still posting.  God bless you....I can't imagine how bad that was.  WATER IS RIGHT.  Yes, call your Dr.  And do not......do not do that again.  You need to figure out a system.  A full proof system......and stick to it.  Maybe someone else could help you dose check?  God Bless you.   Poor thing.  I really know that was bad.  Take good care.  Beyondmwd

[pooh55811]

I would call your doctor as soon as possible today and discuss this with him/her. Even if you are okay now, he/she should know in case he/she wants to change something or monitor something (lab, etc.).

If you have done this before (or even once), you must be on the generic 200 mg tabs which come in a bottle. I think that scenario is prone to error.

I orginally was on the Riba pak which comes in 600mg tabs. There is one "pak" for each week. The doses are lined up in two rows and in individual plastic bubbles. Each dose is labeled with am or pm. At the beginning of the week I labeled each am and pm with the day of the week so I would not get mixed up. It is pretty difficult to accidentally take too many pills with this arrangement. I had those paks for 4 months. Then the insurance co. decided they wanted to save money so now I am on the 200mg tabs that come in a bottle (and I don't like them). The first day I took them I could not remember how many I took for the am dose (my first does with the 200mg tabs). I had to dump out all of the pills and count them, all 168 of them. Right after that I put them in my seven day pill organizer which has am and a pm marked on the container and also has the day of the week on it. I fill the 7 day pill organizer each Sunday am and I am set for the week. I have made no errors since then.

I would suggest getting a weekly pill organizer because I think it will be very helpful in helping you avoid errors in dosage.

[ptz]

thanks you guys.  I have called my doctor and I'm waiting for him to call me back.  I have been drinking lots of water.  Sometimes this stuff makes my mind mush and forget stuff in a matter of minutes.  I have 4 weeks to go. I think i"ll need a brain transplant..  

[Proactive]

I believe during the FDA approval process for ribavirin testimony submitted found no adverse events in a patient who took 50-200mg pills.

[orphanedhawk]

Get a pill organizer. Its the only way I can remember if I took my pills.
They're cheap.

[Grandmajane420]

I use the alarms on my cell phone to remind me to take my pills and shots. and having a pill organizer is very helpful as well.

[Advocate1955]

My husband has a pill organizer with 4 compartments per day and I bought him a cell phone with a specific pill reminder function. Works great except when he sleeps through the reminder.
Advocate1955

[brianmo]

Pill.com has a wonderful little box to hold pills with an alarm that rings whenever you set it for. It's great.

[ptz]

thanks again everybody..I'm OK and I will get a pill box...If i can remember why I went to the pharmacy.

[flcyclist]

There's no way I could remember what I took without the pill box.  I can't tell you how many times I've gone back to double check to make sure that dose was taken and I'm only on SOC.  It makes it so much easier to keep track of things.  

[suezeeque]

I also relied heavily on my pill organizer.  I filled it up every Sunday.  

Write "pill organizer" on you hand right now!  ;)

[hcvJames]

The last go around I had problems remembering to take the pills. You have problems remembering you already took them! Now I'm finding with Incivek I need two alarms. One for food prep, and one for the dose itself. Apparently my mind wanders off all by itself leaving me alone until a loud noise snaps us back together. Life's crazy. Or me. Or both. IDK but if it were a competition one of us is winning big. :)

[his3707]

oops! Been there done that   yuk!   Yes, as hard as i try to rely on myself,,,,  Im not very reliable.  gotta fill up the pill organizer!!  

[Revalation]

Get the organizer!!!
Dollar store solution...

I can't tell you how many time I've had to dump pills and count.
As a back up you could keep a diary or desk calendar too.

I  have also used the alarm on my phone.
Bless you and keep driking that H2O.

Reva

[blondie717]

You’ll live through it :o). The suggestions of pill boxes, cell phone alarms etc are all excellent ideas.

I was prescribed 2000 mg/day riba daily for 96 weeks through my last treatment. There were a couple of times I screwed up, taking the morning dose of 1000 mg (five 200 mg tablets) twice for a total of 3000 mg day. I don‘t recall any subjective ill effects, although I wouldn’t recommend repeating this if at all possible :o). I discussed this with my hepatologist and he wasn’t overly concerned about my safety. He did look at me a bit strangely though, hehehe :o)!

Good luck with your outcome, and take care-

--Bill

[willbb]

oh dear....

[Idyllic]

I have done that twice with my Riba as well. Then one time I ate the fatty food and went into the kitchen about 20 minutes later and there were the two Incivek, sitting on the counter. Those are the only three errors I have made. I think it takes a while to develop a routine dosing schedule that you can handle while incorporating into to an existing medication/supplement regimen.

My kit came with an actually really cool looking pill case. I am going to fill it after I post.

[can-do-man]

Oops...........

[Bill1954]

Well, bite me :o)!

[willbb]

Hair Dye?...Ha ha !!!

[can-do-man]

Good to see you bill, sounds like your doing ok...:)

[Proactive]

Who's doing OK?

[Anne1717]

Hijack and I am not to blame this time.  Hi !!!!

[Proactive]

Hello Anne(lol), doing any ice skating on that pond yet? What a warm Winter!

[Anne1717]

you betcha!!! I don't think it is quite safe but the skating is sooooo good.  How about you? We have been lucky eh?

[Proactive]

I'm use to skating on thin ice(g), so loving the warmer than normal weather--but can't wait until Spring!
I decided when the amount of metal in my hips exceeded the amount used to make an ice skate, I'd have to give it up...:*)

[Anne1717]

That's a lot of metal - ugh.  Well I don't think we are going to SKATE through a winter with minimal bad weather.  Something bad will happen in April I bet

Glad you are well

[orphanedhawk]

Its so easy to tell the truth because then you don't have to re-remember things.

[nygirl7]

It's ok Bill is just wearing one of my many tx days wigs...I'm sure no surgery was involved :o

[libzo2]

That's what I call a bunch of good spirited coconuts.  so funny!

[starshine1ca]

I did the same thing until I finally bought a pill organizer and have never again forgotten. They are a godsend!   :-)

[Interfurgen]

pill organizer , I even mess that up. Sitting there having coffee look over and for got to take last nights meds. I thought that you just start from there. not double up.When i restart they are giving me some one to call are make sure i am on time with the meds.i will forget.

[nygirl7]

Someone will call you that many times a day for months? Wow I never heard of that before and I thought I had great insurance.

Welcome to the medical side interfurgen!