is crying/emotions an actual side effect?

hi guys and gals, i'm in the last month and a half of triple treatment wth peg, inc and riba. i've had all the side effects to some degree or another; nausea, rash, anemia, tranfusions, hair thinning, weight loss. i'm dealing with them ok. but th one tha really gets to me and i dont hear much about it is these incredible feelings of emotion. i can cry or well up at the mention of well just about anything. it doesnt have to be sad either, it can be thinking how proud i am of my daughter who just entred college. or thinking of some situation where somebody did something honorable. or watching somebody make a speach that strikes me as above and beyond. a movie, a tv show, a book. ANYTHING! even right this minute i'm welling up because of this idea of emotions. i realize what is happening and know that these arent real feelings, just the meds (i hope). anybody else having this emotional experience?

[rivll]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-information/DR602577/DSECTION=side-effects

Hi,
I have taken an excerpt from the link above to show that crying is a common sx of Ribavirin, as I can attest to as well from personal experience.

More common

    Anxiety
    Black, tarry stools
    Body aches or pain
    Chest pain
    Congestion
    Cough or hoarseness
    Crying
    Depersonalization
    Diarrhea
    Difficult or labored breathing
    Discouragement
    Dry mouth
    Dryness of the throat
    Dysphoria
    Euphoria
    Feeling sad or empty
    Feeling unusually cold
    Fever or chills
    General feeling of discomfort or illness
    Headache
    Hyperventilation
    Irregular heartbeats
    Irritability
    Joint pain
    Lack of appetite
    Loss of interest or pleasure
    Lower back or side pain
    Mental depression
    Muscle aches and pains
    Nausea
    Nervousness
    Painful or difficult urination
    Pale skin
    Paranoia
    Poor concentration
    Quick to react or overreact emotionally
    Rapidly changing moods
    Restlessness
    Right upper abdominal or stomach pain
    Runny nose
    Shaking
    Shivering
    Shortness of breath
    Sleeplessness
    Sore throat
    Sores, ulcers, or white spots on the lips or in the mouth
    Sweating
    Tender, swollen glands in the ne

[R Glass]

  Yes, it is a normal sx. One day I started crying because I didn’t see the light turn green and the car behind me honked their horn at me. Usually I’m the one laying down on the horn.

[dscj]

thanks for sharing that. i feel better about it now. its still a little bit embarrassing sometimes though! LOL

[orphanedhawk]

Several times during tx I had to apologize to people, "sorry, I'm doing a medical treatment and the meds make me very emotional."

Very common as Rivil pointed in the long list above.

[Naya888]

I feel very much like you now,I am sure it is the medication.Glad you mention that.I almost regularly cry in am /mostly for no reason/

[coeric]

thank you. what you are describing is a well known side effect of interferon.  from about week 12 until near the end of treatment i became sad and found myself crying for hours each day. in the darkest times i would fantasize about taking my life.  i am thankful for having this forum to share our experience and to understand that what you describe is more of the norm rather than the exception. prior to treatment i imagined myself to be calm, cool and collected but from about week 12 to 40 i saw myself as a lunatic.

for an article about depression and interferon see.
http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/content/58/4/711.full.pdf

[BoceprevirGal]

  My personal experience with crying was:  It was strongest with from week 4~16, where I always ended up crying, while waiting for the waitress to bring me my "early bird breakfast" (foods high in vitamin B like eggs, seemed to make me feel better!)
   I think I was crying becuz I was sad that I was dining alone!  Then, I would go up to my local coffee house corner hang-out, and shoot the breeze with long time aquaintences, most who I have known since childhood. I always felt fine, while socializing, and could forget my Hep probs for a time.
  But if I had to do something stressful, I could end up "falling apart" afterwards, but would rage instead of crying.
   The way you described your tears (happy, proud or honorable moments also) really did describe my tears...and sentimental songs on the radio!
   Once my Riba was reduced, at week 19 of my Tx, I noticed the tears were gone. I am 4 weeks post Tx, and no tears at all!
   I actually feel great, and I am noticing all kinds of pleasurable feelings, feels like I new endorphins, and stirrings I havent experienced in years-

[Dannyboi7]

I'ts very common,your emotions go on a roller coaster ride and everything is seen through a magnifying glass during treatment.I cried a few times over nothing,I actually felt better after.Also my brain eloped with my libido during treatment,I told them they wouldn't last together,see now post tx they came crawling back.

    Hang in there you got a few weeks left,I know during treatment days and weeks seem like an eternity,nevertheless as you know it's doable.

Best wishes

Dannyboi7

[rivll]

I love that expression, ''my brain eloped with my libido''
lol

[Dannyboi7]

Humor helped me a lot during treatment.During treatment i watched a ton of tv.I found commercials highly educational and entertaining.For instance I found out there are times women don't care about the color of there tampax box....i never knew women cared about the color of there tampax box...or this other commercial about a middle age couple stuck in there SUV...I never knew there was a pill that can repair broken down cars...I thought surely if they got a pill for repairing cars my meds should work fine.

[rivll]

LOL.
I have rediscovered humor as a basic need. I cannot believe how good it feels to have great belly laughs with others in this cyber world.
Many a hard night, aching and tossing about in the dark, some one liner will come to me from the forum and set me off into giggles . Like a quick burst of light and air shoots through the dungeon.
So when all else seems lost, we can find humor to carry us through.

[Dannyboi7]

Yeah for sure,a bit like watching cooking shows to build up an appetite,it worked for me.In the same way humor can be a little nourishment for the soul in it's  darkest hour,and also if throw in a little vitamin D it helps boost up the endorphins a little.

[flcyclist]

My worst days on tx were a day or two after the interferon shot.  Between fits of rage and unexpected and unexplainable emotional releases made it a challenge to control myself on certain days.  Certain songs could trigger some raw emotions, but it never got to the point of needing AD's.  I can certainly understand why some needed them to get through.  

There were some rough days where this forum and other forms of entertainment provided the humor that I needed.  Laughter is one of the best forms of medicine and could turn a lousy day into a good one.  Its easy to find humor in many things, you just need to look a little.  

[his3707]

Wahhhhhh Wahhhhhh ha hahaha   Yep, did that a lot on treatment.  Still do  6 months post but not near as much....  Its horrible really.  Certainly never wore mascara

[8nickers8]

I just finished 7977 and riba and I felt very deregulated emotionally meaning that I didn't feel like I had control of my emotions.  Especially anger.  I usually repress the anger but on treatment, I actually "blew up" a relationship with our local library.  My dog is a therapy dog and she was having the kids read to her but the children's librarian did something so dishonorable involving us that I got really mad.  Unlike my usual passive self, I opened up my big trap and told her how I felt.  They e-mailed me but I have yet to look at it.  I am still a bit pissed.  Once off the meds, I have much better control of my emotions except anxiety.  That is STILL a bit stronger than it used to be.  Hope this helps that I have shared actually what happened.  

[Idyllic]

Hey we don't have to be in control all the time and respond like automatons

We tend to hear a lot about "Riba Rage" or "Interferon-induced depression" but on a more practical note the intensity of this experience can be overwhelming. I go through periods where I cry more easily ~ especially in the "above and beyond" examples you mentioned in your post (daughter getting in college, animal abuse/neglect, subject matter in TV, media or books that would evoke emotion in most people).

If anything maybe treatment is making you appreciate the intensity of your feelings. Most of the responses I have read so far are not all that over the top or incongruent with the situation outlined. I think it is cool :)

[rambleon40]

"Emotional lability" is the term.  Similar to bipolar.  

  

[R Glass]

You know you’re on tx when you think One Headlight by The Wallflowers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ap4s6pyoNw
is an abstract song that only you can understand.

[Kristina538]

I cried from laughter at how ridiculous some things were - my family had to evacuate the lounge in the middle of winter because of the nasty riba smells I silently emitted.   My hubby took me for a work, and didn't realise I gone around a corned (for about ten paces) - I was so exhausted and so full of water that I had to sit on the pavement crying with laughter - it was funnier still that he didn't see the funny side of it.

I cried when I took an anti-depressant and because I didn't think I could handle some of the head trips (or be human to my family any more) and my body had a 'reaction' and went somnabulistic, so I couldn't talk properly, very heavy, tired, couldn't sleep, and just tears rolled down.

But mostly, I kept my crying to this site - and cried when others reached SVR and cried more when they didn't.  I hibernated from my friends - I could manage a 5 minute phone call, but in person, I couldn't focus on the converstion.  I just hobbled around the house doing my own thing for 6 months.    I cried when I watched birds play and flowers come out.   I cried when my son went out one night and I cried because I missed me and wasn't sure I was ever coming back!

I guess emtional intensity was it for me;  laughing, crying, amazed, scared, dumbfounded, irritated, unable to concentrate, sleep, talk much, keep with the plot on a TV show.... I was functioning on a very different level; slowly, surely, and with as much focus as I could manage.   I'd simply hate to have to be nurse and patient ever again!!

[BoceprevirGal]

   I would have to agree, it was the fact that I didn't have as tight control on my emotions, as I had, previous to Treatment.
  To begin with, I spent YEARS working on controlling my emotions, before I went into Tx, becuz I had read the Interferon/Riba side effects, years ago.
  I had to do alot of Self Help books, on positive thinking, 12 Step Meeting, etc. And then, since I had gone years and years, with-out losing my temper (in a violent manner), I felt more confident about going into Treatment.
  

[fullmoon13]

my wife went to her parents house to do her treatment.she doesnt want me to see her like that....so is strange.? that sometimes, she will call or text and be all into the talk, then at times dead cold.no calls,no text messages nothing.

[Doofus_jones]

Yup - Geno2, INTERFERON AND RIBA.  Just coming up to week 14.

Bursting into floods of tears at anything sad or even saccharine. Embarrassing really

[Doofus_jones]

you're going to start me weeping!

[Doofus_jones]

Danny

Lol!

I'm avoiding Old Yeller, re-runs of Bambi and anything by Charles Dickens.

Best to you buddy


Pete

[Dee1956]

I was very emotional during tx.  I see what you are saying about people not talking about it.
I had anxiety and at one point realized that I was misinterpreting other people and they were doing the same with me.
It was a very tough time for all of us.
A friend of mine, 2 years after finishing tx will still tear up when he hears a sad song.  I imagine it is even more than that but that is all he will admit.
It does get better with time
Dee