Help. Cant take it

[autumnhope]

I need help. I havent slept in 3 days now. I will doze off for maybe 15 min and wake back up. I am loosing it. I cant take anything i have stage 3 liver. I am going to go insane. My sides are horrible the Dr says take the riba at bedtime. What bedtime I cant sleep. Anyone have any suggestions? I am drinking plenty of water. I am eating right and excerx when I can.

[ladybug52]

I have never heard of anyone taking the riba at bedtime. It interferes with sleep, most people take it as early as possible. Are you sure that there's nothing you can take? You have to have sleep in order to get better.
I googled ambien and liver and found an interesting article regarding liver disease and sleep interference. The article said Lunesta was safe and non-narcotic, people with cirrhosis were able to take it safely. Many here have taken ambien. Here's the website if you want to read the article. It's long, maybe it will put you to sleep!
http://www.liverdisease.com/sleep_hepatitis.html
Sweet dreams!
Bug

[mari74]

I am going to start treatment soon and my doctor, really his nusre, gave a precription for Zoloft.  She said it would help with mood swings and sleep.

[Andiamo1]

I am sorry to hear about your sleep problems.  I have a similar problem and I find that antidepressants and Lorazipam help quite a bit.  I am stage 3 and my doctor does not have a problem with me taking these drugs.  The most important thing is to not dose reduce and find a way to deal with the side effects.

I hope you feel better soon.

[jmjm530]

Sorry you're not feeling welll.

Try taking your ribavirin earlier in the day and with preferably with a meal with an adequate fat content. I took my second dose around 4PM with dinner. Riba has a long half life so taking it 12 hour apart isn't critical. Like "Lady", I also haven't heard of anyone taking their riba at bedtime.

Also, your doctor should be helping you with your sleeping problem. That is his job to help you get through this.

Is your doc a liver specialist (hepatologist)? If not, and your're not getting the help and attention you need, consider getting an outside consultation.

-- Jim

[jmjm530]

Also, don't know how much riba you're taking, but if it's an odd number -- say five a day -- then you might want to take 3 in the morning and 2 later on -- as opposed to taking the higher dose closer to bedtime.

[autumnhope]

I am taking 6 Riba a day. I take 3 at 8:30 am & pm. The nurse told me to take it every 12 hours. I tried Lunesta, Ambien and several antidepressants before I found out about HepC & Liver and they didnt work. Before tx I would go 30 hours and then sleep 10 I could deal with that but now I am looking at 72 hours or more before I get 3 of sleep. I am going to check on taking the evening dose earlier.
Autumn

[jmjm530]

If you don't get more helpful suggestions on this side, you might want to post it on the other side with "sleep problems" or something similar in the headlines. I'm relatively ignorant about sleep aids because that is about the only thing I did well on treatment.

However, we've had posts on sleep problems the past, and a lot of the members here have tried various different drugs with some success.

Hope things get better.

-- Jim

[froggydan]

Dear autumnhope! Sorry to hear you like that, i remember it was also very shakey at the beginning for me, but i did persevere and after some times it does really get better , take a good pain reliever like 1G paracetamol or even Dextropropoxyphene with paracetamol (here called di-antalvic,don't know name in usa) and you'll get through it. Also remember, no one dies from lack of sleep  (we have lived through worse times,or not? ;-) ! your body will regularize that as soon as the sides get more easy to live, i repeat its often only the first 1 or 2 months the worst then you'll handle it ! Keep the faith, dear person ! Big hugs from Paris (froggydan, 8 weeks let from 48)

[jmjm530]

I didn't realize until I saw your "INTERFURON" post, that you've only been treating for a couple of weeks. "Foggydan" is correct in terms of the body regulizing in certain respects. Thinking back, I did have some sleep issues for the first month which then disappeared. However, it sounds like you had some sleep issues pre-treatment, so def something to keep on top of.

[FloridaMouse]

I have a Stage 3, Grade 3 liver and I take ambien pretty regularly.  

Mouse
Genotype 1a, Stage 3, Grade 3
finished tx 4/2007
relapsed 9/2007

[GrandmaA]

Insomnia is an old friend of mine. I got an Rx for Ativan and I took Night Rest by Source Naturals  and 5-HTP (both from health food store), and HerbSom from Dr. Zhang (one each). You can also take melatonin (but not valerian root- not good for the liver). Incidently, Tylenol PM knocks me out. I take one of those when I'm desperate.  Also, I would take my riba about 5 or 5:30 and go to bed at 9. Be sure to take it with fat. I would have 8 or 9 almonds in the a.m. and ice cream in the pm. Best wishes to you. You can also drink Sleepytime tea that you can usually get at the bigger grocery stores now.

[Robin_Fla]

Insomnia was definitely worse at the beginning for me, and has gotten much better (in my 8th mo now). I have had issues more in the past 5+ years also (am 45) but it was bad when I started tx.

I too was taking 600 riba w/bkfst and 600 at bedtime (so I would remember), and no one said boo to me. Complained to doc about insomnia and he said, "why on earth are you taking the riba at bedtime?! It can interfere with sleep!" Uh, dunno - cause no one told me NOT to??

Anywhoo, he said that the riba is 2x BID meaning it can be taken at any two times during the day spaced apart. I now take the evening dose with early dinner (5-6pm) and am much better.

I don't take the Tyl PM cause I find that it has way too much of the diphenhydramine HCl sleep aid. As Grandma says, it will knock you out! I just take the Tyl and/or 1/4 - 1/2 the usual dose of the diphen (aka Simply Sleep) just when I need it and that does the trick. If you are allowed to take any of that, you can play with dose and go with the minimum. I found that the regular dose would make me feel like **** the next day, but if I reduced it, I could fall back asleep easily if I woke (which was unusual) and felt good the next morning. I was told it it is fine for heppers to take, but I don't know about at stage 3.

I also found (just lately!) that if I take the Tyl prophylactically (how's that for a big word?!) on shot night (even if I feel fine), it also helps through the night and even with sx the next day. Tried to be "good" and not take stuff that I don't need so as to give liver a break, but that was misguided!

My mom was a big proponent of melatonin but she would get terrible nightmares and then not remember that she had woken the whole house up! We finally got her to switch off that but my sister takes it occasionally just fine. Again, the dose may be less than recommended on label and see how you do with it if docs say it's ok.

So sorry you are suffering with this! Hope you can get some relief, and be sure to keep insisting to docs that you need some help. They can tend to blow stuff off a lot unless we are quite adamant! I find that refusing to leave their office until they pay attention is effective. LOL. So perhaps if you bring your blankie and pillow and lay down on the examining table, he might get a clue!

Good luck!

Robin

[GrandmaA]

Do not take more than 3 mg. of melatonin otherwise your body will not make it's own. I would have beautiful dreams, no nightmares. We are all different. I just woke up very early and just kept napping until morning. Some people take an antihistamine - the one for hayfever but it was way too strong for me, gave me a big sore on my lip. Wear sox on your feet (the Germans do it). Have no lights on in your bedroom. Nighty night.

[nygirl7]

I've never EVER heard of anyone taking the riba at bedtime - you definitely should be taking it at like 7am and 7pm.  DEFINITELY.

Even then once you build up a serum level in your blood it's pretty much evenly in you all of the time and sleep is almost impossible.  I finally turned to Ambien so I could get a bit of sleep but even with that I could only sleep from like 11 - 2 every night.  Then I'd do the wake up every 15 minutes.

It is one of the biggest problems when treating - we are already SO lethargic as it is and the no sleep really doesn't help.

That is why I always advise Saturday to be the Day of Rest if you can. Just stay in bed and zonk in and out with the remote in your hand...don't do a DARN thing if you can help it except eat some Mallomars or ice cream and REST.  Your body needs it.  It's not very easy to get sleep but...if you can hang on for a while you'll get more used to it as sad as that is to say.

Talk to the doctor - he's WRONG about taking Riba at bed time #1 and #2 he needs to give you some Ambien or something to help you get adjusted.

And GRANDMAA is RIGHT no lights at all - I read that too and it helps.