Missed a Dose - and learned something

[Andromedae]

Yesterday I was feeling great!  It was 4 pm and I wasn't feeling like I needed my afternoon nap.  "Great!  " , I thought, "after four weeks I think I'm finally adjusting to this thing.  Maybe the rest of the treatment will be better from here on out".  Even my head seemed to be clearing up.  Brain Fog?  Not this evening.  So I had my 7 pm mean and opened my little pill case and that's when Wednesday morning's pills had a little conversation with me.

"Hi !" , they said , "we've been waiting on you all day.  What's up!"

Oh fracking frackitty FRACK !  I missed my morning dose.  I had changed my routine and went to work early to make a medical appointment and instead of taking the pills at breakfast I planned to take them at work .  Except I forgot.

OK... don't panic.  Not the end of the world.  Took my regular evening dose and (after doing some skimpy research) added another pill for a total of 800 units of Riba that evening (which by the way I am NOT recommending for anyone to do)..  I've taken 170 pills on time so far and was 12 hours late on 3.  Did some more research - Riba half life in the blood plasma is 12 days so 12 hours is like...  let's see... ummm...  12 to the log 2 ...  or is that base?  Umm...   something about exponential decay...carry the one...  OH Heck!  It can't be that much.   I know it's vital to be consistent in this but I suspect one missed dose is going to make or break me here.  Anyway it was a done deal  so move on.

so here's the think - I was starting to feel like my old self again right?  Took my regular dose and next (this ) morning - felt like cr@p !  Brain Fog, headache, everything feels like moving through water.  So I really think that , for me at least, it's the Riba that is responsible for most of my tiredness and brain fog.

[Kerfluffle]

Is missing a dose really that important? It looked like it when I searched the forum.  It sounds like you have to be really regimented to make this work.

[nygirl7]

What geno are you again?  Unless you are not a 1 there is no way in the entire world I wouldn't fight like h3ll to get the full course of 48 weeks to have a reasonable (50/50) % chance of success.  Don't let anything fool you - it's hard enough to achieve with the full course let alone stop early.  We ALL wanted to stop early and many of us have had to go on longer to get to the goal.

If you relapse chances of success go DOWN. So the next time you would treat again it would definitely be longer and harder.

If you aren't absolutely dying with sides........it's worth fighting the fight ONCE and putting it behind you. Even doing 48 and getting SVR you have to consider yourself VERY LUCKY.  A lot of people do NOT.

[medicmommy]

With only 3 weeks (!) to go out of 24, (I'm a 3a) here's some patterns I've recognized...It seems that, up to 3 months (generally) if you're going to get symptoms, they go in the pattern of...Shot...Feel chills/ aches/ mild nausea/headachy for up to 56 hours..a bit of breast enlargement(!), then varying levels of fatigue, depending on how fast your blood values drop...Within 2 weeks, the riba rash, brain fog, and irritability start...and seems to lessen by the 10th week or so...By week 12-14, you've gotten used to the low blood values (my HGB has persisted at an annoying 10.1) and you start to do a few things again...(Like be able to raise your arms in the shower without needing oxygen!LOL) then you notice your hair's subtle thinning...And weirdness in other hair things...like squiggly grey pubic hair looking things growing on your head..and LLama lashes...sorry, the leg hair keeps on growing...LOLIn the 4th month, I've noticed quite a few people mentioning joint aches and muscle pain they didn't have before...this is when my thyroid started freaking out, so I wonder if there's an undiscovered connection there....In this last month, I've battled with the fatigue and riba rash again a bit...Nothing has changed except the thyroid stuff, so I wonder...Anyhow, from stuff I've heard and read, and been told by my Dr, the Txing will uncover hidden pre-existing conditions...And it can hyperstimulate your immune system so much so that it brings forth autoimmune stuff..thyroiditis being a (hopefully) temporary autoimmune effect, or RA, for example, as being a more permanent one...
6 months before I started txing, I began seeing a Naturopath to assure I was building my body and mineral stores up the best I could. I saw this as a "storage bank" of sorts, and hopefully, a preventative against mineral depletion during txing...(the less mineral deficiency, the less likelihood of developing lasting problems)...I don't know if anyone else has done this, so I'm not sure how to tell if it's made a difference...But, I knew I'm sensitive to all medications, and expected txing to be no different...Jeeze...Sorry! I didn't mean to write a book!!! Well, maybe this info will help...I guess, the response is..."Yes, it really does seem to be a "**** shoot"!"
       ((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGZ))))))))))))) Hope you're doing well!    ~Melinda

[Andromedae]

Yeah really !  I was feeling so good and then ....  blech.   I didn't know that you could spread the doses out like that - it's tempting but, like you said, I'd just start missing doses.  

The V.A. says that if I show p to be an RVR (und at 4 weeks) they only give 24 weeks of treatment.  I know that I could successfully fight that (and I know how - found and read the VA national HCV treatment protocols) but I have to say - between the symptoms and all the talks here of continuing medical problems after prolonged IFN treatment, I am considering the 24 week protocol.  Well...just considering I know it increases my chance of relapse from an 80% success rate (RVR only) down to the 70's  but I am curious that there are no hard figures on permanent side effects of long term IFN exposure - like cancer, rhumatiod arthritis, lupus, etc.  Interesting and kind of scary.  

What a cr@p-shoot !   :(  

[medicmommy]

Yah, kind of a teaser, huh? Lets you know you can feel human again if you don't take it...(Don't listen, don't listen...Lah, lah, lah..LOL) Some people spread their doses throughout the day...it doesn't matter If you take 2 big doses. or 4 little doses, just as long as you get your daily total dose...Me, because of brain fog, I'd never be able to remember to take more than two!LOL Good luck! Each dose brings you closer to the end of the trail! Happy dragon stomping!                                     ~Melinda

[geterdone]

That is the best way to look at it, as an “Adventure” going places where you’ve never been before, to reach the outer most envelopes of ones existence, and to maintain the perseverance and endurance needed to stay the course until ones ambitions are achieved. In doing so, the hurdles one must face in the journey is the adventure in of it self as achieved by many who chose the journey of adventure, knowing ones true existence may or may not depend on the outcome of it, for in it lies the existence of ones true adventure.

Dang, it is just way too early in the morning to be thinking of stuff like this but then again it may be the best shot of the day, lol. Good Luck in the journey, for it is the best of times and the worst of times…

jasper

[Andromedae]

No, I probably should not have even taken the extra pill like I did really.  But it sure seems to me that I am most sensitive to the Riba considering how good I felt when I missed a dose and how awful I felt shortly after I took my dose.

What an adventure , right ?  :)

[geterdone]

Sounds like you may have a little system sensitivity in not so much as missing your morning dose as it is to the addition to the evening dose, a little engine revving eh! Like you said no big deal and maybe the slight trough fooled them virions into thinking the riba on slought was over but you revved the riba a little and took out a few more unsuspecting virions, not a bad thing but would not recommend doing it too often unless your thinking of going to the next level and upping your dosage, because now you know the power behind the riba and it don’t take much to throw you out of balance and whack you hard, lol.

jasper