could some of you share what the experience was like your first few treatments

[headshop]

Could some of you please share what your experiences were like when you started your first few treatments. what it was like how you felt before and after the treatments.

[comeagain]

Just wanna say to you what a guy said to me before I started my treatment.
This guy did it a couple of years before me, and he said comparing with alcohol agnesty tx is nothing this man have had dilerus tremens 2times so he know what he was talking about. The hospital phoned him up one time and said he had alarming high alt ast  and that he ougt to do tx.He continued heavy drinking though for another 10 years after that phonecall, he had the same geno as you G 1 he cleared the virus four years agoo, did 48 w tx and now hes still SVR also clean and sober and is top 10 half maraton runner in hes age kategori in Sweden  (hes 53)
That attituded helped me a lot and still does cause I´m in my sec tx know done 13w  of 48
Take care you can do it

[meki]

Oh - and now... a year later... I feel almost normal... There are some residual side effects... Like I still have achy bones... I still have headaches...

But ---- overall --- throw in a major surgery (6 surgeries in one) 2 and a half months ago... And I'd still say --- I feel better now.

I think I'm almost at the light at the end of the tunnel... It was, for me... and for many others a very difficult road.

Meki

[meki]

I'm the opposite of most of these posts.

I had what I would call after researching - a moderate to severe reaction after the 2nd week. It all started slowly - and side effects continually changed. One day it would be achy bones --- next a headache - next the chills - next I couldn't remember my middle name... LOL!

I'm glad those days are over... I think, for each individual - this treatment varies. No one can tell you what your reaction is going to be.

For some - it is a breeze... for others it is one of the most difficult things to get through --- and for  even others it is impossible.

One thing I can say --- I SVRd... Which is technically "cured".  I've maintained that SVR for over a year now.

Would I do treatment again if I hadn't SVR'd? Probably not until another TX came along.

For me - it was pretty rough. And I had only 6 months of treatment compared to some who have a year or more...

I simply cannot imagine someone going through the TX that long and staying sane. LOL! (Not that we all are sane prior to TX... *GRIN*)

But --- the more serious question: Knowing that TX would be hard as it was --- would I have done it the first time?

ABSOLUTELY.

Wishing all of you much luck --- and sending love your way!

[wed1942]

Hi!
I will be taking my 9th injection of the Pegasys tomorrow evening. I really haven't had any symptoms from that. The first couple times I took the Riba I was a little queazy but think it was because I didn't have enough on my stomach. No problems with it since then. I did have to start Neupogen because my white blood count dropped to 1.3. I've taken two injections of that so far and I'm back up to 2.5. So far my Hg and Hct are staying stable. Only trouble I'm having with the Neupogen is that I've been getting headaches the day after taking it. Not booming headaches, just dull nagging ones. I'm trying not to take a lot of extra drugs so I try to just get by with the headaches. I'm hoping that they'll get better the longer I take it. I'm probably going to have to stay on the Neupogen throughout treatment because my counts dropped so low. I'm lucky because I work full time but I work 12 hour days and so only work 3 days a week. I schedule my injections so I'm off after doing them. Works out great for me.

I did ask my doc to put me on an antidepressant before I started treatment because I kept hearing and reading that you can get major depressed. Didn't want to go that way so figured I'd get the meds on board before having a problem. Want to make this as easy as I can.

So anyway, so far I have been doing OK with the treatment. My viral load dropped from over 9 million at start to 51,000 after four weeks of treatment. So hopefully it will keep working. I don't do another one till after 12 weeks, so in another month.

What was the worst for me so far was waiting to start the treatment. I'm one who wants to get on with it if I'm going to do it. I hope it keeps going as well as it has been.

Hope that helps. Good luck to you. Ricki

[burned74]

pretty good shape to start. resting pulse is about 44
fever and chills first day.
thereafter about 2 days after shot,felt like I had stayed out til 3 am the night before
had trouble with rigorous exercise (out of breath easily but still managed 50 minute swim or bike ride 3 times per week)
did not clear virus. stopped at 25 weeks

[JackABCD]

I am on week 10 and have no side effects (maybe light sx).
I think it is very indvidual, I believe that if you have good doc follow his recmmendation and hope for good, you can always stop treatement if can't stand sx, but go with possitive attitiude.

Previous soc with ingection 1 in 2 days or so was much more difficult, I think no sense to comare with current treatement.

I hope it answer your question.
Be well.
Jack

[Pdilly]

I think most of us will tell you that the biggest bite is how nervous you make yourself the first time.  Really, for most it is not bad.   Here is what I did.   I took by meds and about 2 hours later I would take a Reguar Tylenol and an PM Tylenol.  In an hour I would be sleepy.  I would sleep the night away and generally wake up feeling not bad.  There were some days it was better than others but shoot.  I have had things that made me feel a lot worse than that.

[mayday557]

After my first month I remember thinking --- gee what's all the fuss about???---
The second month, thats when I first started getting easily fatigued and achey joints.
Third month my hair started thinning, the appetite was waning and my hemogloben plumetted and I was taken off tx.

After reading thru a few posts now tho, I feel like I have more 'ammo' in the way of knoweledge ( is power ) to talk to the doc about dosages and some of the things nygirl
has noted.

[moahunter]

Started treatment twice. I didn't really worry either time, just decided to do it, no point in worrying about what you can't control (that's just me though). First time, just pegasys (no Riba as in acute stage), I had minimal side effects through 12 weeks of treatment (I did not respond sufficient to carry on after that). Some slight fever.

Second time, on pegintron, was a bit of a shock. I thought sides would be similar to just Pegasys on its own. But for me, 4 hours after the first injection, I was hit like a brick, highest fever I have ever had (well over 100). After that, I always felt pretty rotten after shots, but not as bad as that first time. I had significant sides throughout treatment of 48 weeks, but they varied at different times, sore bones, hair loss, skin dryness, breathlessness, iratiility (for me, linked closely to sleeplessness), etc.. Not so significant for me luckily to require rescue drugs or anti-depresents (aside from sleeping pills towards the end).

In other words, I think there is no real way to tell until you try it. My hep C nurse believes pegysys has less symptoms initially, but probably evens out over the treatment course. That matches my experience, but pegintron worked for me, so I give the drug credit. Good luck if you do, for me, treatment was the right choice (1A, detected early). I am undetectable now, hoping I will remain undetectable at 6 month test post tx in July.

[nygirl7]

I worried myself into a nervous fit - did the shot and then crashed so hard for 18 hours that my parents kept coming in to see if I moved or I was breathing.

I had none of the flu symptoms till way way later in treatment.  The only thing that happened was I was extremely tired. Then I was taking WAY too much riba and I gave myself a great problem with the hemolytic anemia that kept causing me to pass out and things like that.  Once I began procrit it helped a great deal.

I'd say the basic problem in the beginning was just being so tired. That never goes away though.

So don't be worried just do the treatment - everyone is different.

Later my thyroid died my hair fell out I was grey and emaciated and it was HARD. But worth every second because I've been "cured" for 15 months now and there is no virus detectible in my body.

PS The hair grows back, the weight sure comes on and life goes on.

Good luck.