Aa
Prove 3 - 36 weeks
I am 3/4 through this journey and it gets more difficult every week. I have been down this road often enough to have expected this, but it is still difficult to handle. Not enough sleep for 8 months is wearing me down. The sleep aids just make me feel worse, so I take as few as possible. Lorazipam helps me sleep, but it is known to cause depression and certainly does with me.
Kudos for Vertex though: they are letting me have my 36 week blood draw done in Sarasota, so I won't have to fly back to NY for a blood draw! After this one, I think I only have one more before end of treatment!
Kudos for Vertex though: they are letting me have my 36 week blood draw done in Sarasota, so I won't have to fly back to NY for a blood draw! After this one, I think I only have one more before end of treatment!
I am routing for you Eric. You have been through more than most could ever endure. I pray that you get your SVR.
MO
MO
You nailed it: the almost done syndrome! Every night I think I am gong to quit and every morning I say no way! I know I will make it one day at a time. I never usually complain.
I think I am just making excuses for not posting much these days.
I hope all is well with you. At least it is warm down here.
Eric
I think I am just making excuses for not posting much these days.
I hope all is well with you. At least it is warm down here.
Eric
Ah the dread almost done area when you just feel like you can't take it anymore. I'm so sorry my friend I surely know how miserable it is and how hard it is to remember ALMOST DONE Is just around the corner!!!!!!!
I wish I had avoided the dread Ambien12mgCR situation but at least that way I got a few hours a night...............the benedryls and xanax's just didn't do anything and after awhile I would have done ANYTHING to sleep. At the hospital they give me this GREAT knockout antihistimine called Vistaril (can't spell it) with Demerol for my migraines that used to put me OUT - but probably it wouldn't do much now, still maybe just for a night or two a doc could get you that? I'm telling you that stuff gave me the best sleep in the world and even with the 100mg Dem on board I wouldn't be knocked out until I had that. The only way to sleep duirng a migraine and make them go away.
I wish I had avoided the dread Ambien12mgCR situation but at least that way I got a few hours a night...............the benedryls and xanax's just didn't do anything and after awhile I would have done ANYTHING to sleep. At the hospital they give me this GREAT knockout antihistimine called Vistaril (can't spell it) with Demerol for my migraines that used to put me OUT - but probably it wouldn't do much now, still maybe just for a night or two a doc could get you that? I'm telling you that stuff gave me the best sleep in the world and even with the 100mg Dem on board I wouldn't be knocked out until I had that. The only way to sleep duirng a migraine and make them go away.
Sorry to hear you are depressed. This too shall pass and you will feel great when you reach SVR!
I have been on TX for 6 mos and sleep like a baby every night. I take Xanax for panic and anxiety attacks everyday and I guess that is what helps me sleep.
I tried treatment 5 yrs ago and couldn't go past the 3rd wk because of the restless leg syndrome/insomnia and extreme depression with crying outbursts. This time around I don't have the trouble sleeping, I have had some days where I get on my pitty pot and feel down and out but I have made it 6 mos. I have 6 more mos left and then I am done!!!!!!
Oh, the Xanax is in a 25 mg pill and I take half a pill mid-morning and the other half late afternoon.
I do have a prescription for Ambien CR 6.25 mg (lowest dose) but I rarely take it. When I take the Ambien I sleep great but I feel wierd the next day and have had some crazy dreams on it. So, basically I stay away from the Ambien but I have it just in case...
I tried treatment 5 yrs ago and couldn't go past the 3rd wk because of the restless leg syndrome/insomnia and extreme depression with crying outbursts. This time around I don't have the trouble sleeping, I have had some days where I get on my pitty pot and feel down and out but I have made it 6 mos. I have 6 more mos left and then I am done!!!!!!
Oh, the Xanax is in a 25 mg pill and I take half a pill mid-morning and the other half late afternoon.
I do have a prescription for Ambien CR 6.25 mg (lowest dose) but I rarely take it. When I take the Ambien I sleep great but I feel wierd the next day and have had some crazy dreams on it. So, basically I stay away from the Ambien but I have it just in case...
I can really relate to you andiamo! It is absolutely impossible to explain to anyone how I am feeling while on TX. I just keep it to myself and ride out what I call the peaks of the drugs until it subsides. I literally took off my glasses at work last week and laid my head on my desk and cried because I am all alone in this with no one that understands me. I cried to a co-worker when I was peaking one day and said I felt really sick and really scarred and I was having a really hard time. She said "do you think it is because of the watermelon you ate" I called her ignorant for asking me that and ran out of her office. Whenever I tell my mother any of my side effects she freaks out and says "call your doctor." I try not to discuss it with her at all or anybody else. I told a close friend that I felt like I was dying that I was being poisened and she too questioned me, "exactly how do you feel."
I don't talk to people anymore, they are inconsiderate and uncaring because they haven't got a clue.
I don't talk to people anymore, they are inconsiderate and uncaring because they haven't got a clue.
hey grisled warrior, totally crushed but still kickin eh?
as usual, you exhibit nothing less than what i would expect from our venerable old warhorse. the wise and measured andiamo. iron will brought to a new high. soon, it will all be over.
keep marching fearless
leader, show us the way!
as usual, you exhibit nothing less than what i would expect from our venerable old warhorse. the wise and measured andiamo. iron will brought to a new high. soon, it will all be over.
keep marching fearless
leader, show us the way!
Eric,
I truly know what you mean as I've had to use my 6 week sabbatical just to try and catch up as I've not rested the needed 12 hours a day that's recommended as well.
Also, I've had to fly accross the country for every appt and blood draw since day one and now I wonder if I don't see the doctor if I can pull that off as well? 3 hours one way and back the next day the same is tough and a bit expensive. My local town has 2 groups of Prove 3 but I couldn't get in before it was too late and think I was literally the last person in as they closed enrollment the day I enrolled.
Anyway, hang in there and what's a little bit of addiction for now when you can deal with that later is how I look at it as I'm addicted to at least 2 drugs now (was 3) so I relate to the concern. I'll keep positive vibes going your way and wonder what it will be like when I need to return to work in Jan? I may need to involk the FLMA or long-term disability while finishing up... it's just too hard this time around and i don't think I've overcome the Telaprevir yet and it's been 4 weeks... take care and you're getting close to the end.
Scotty
I truly know what you mean as I've had to use my 6 week sabbatical just to try and catch up as I've not rested the needed 12 hours a day that's recommended as well.
Also, I've had to fly accross the country for every appt and blood draw since day one and now I wonder if I don't see the doctor if I can pull that off as well? 3 hours one way and back the next day the same is tough and a bit expensive. My local town has 2 groups of Prove 3 but I couldn't get in before it was too late and think I was literally the last person in as they closed enrollment the day I enrolled.
Anyway, hang in there and what's a little bit of addiction for now when you can deal with that later is how I look at it as I'm addicted to at least 2 drugs now (was 3) so I relate to the concern. I'll keep positive vibes going your way and wonder what it will be like when I need to return to work in Jan? I may need to involk the FLMA or long-term disability while finishing up... it's just too hard this time around and i don't think I've overcome the Telaprevir yet and it's been 4 weeks... take care and you're getting close to the end.
Scotty
Thanks - I will give Benadryl a try. I take it day by day. The weeks seem to crawl by and then all of a sudden - its another month.
Interferon is sure a weird experience - it's impossible to explain it to someone that has never taken it.
Interferon is sure a weird experience - it's impossible to explain it to someone that has never taken it.
During my treatment I rotated several different drugs in order to get sleep (when I needed them). Benadryl was good because it also helped with the incessant itching. Atarax is also another (prescription antihistamine) tool in my drugbox that helped alleviate itching while helping bring on sleep. Lunesta was also used from time to time (avoid ambien at all costs). I found that by rotating these various drugs, and by using them as sparingly as realistically possible, it tended to thwart the tendency to become resistant to their effects. Benadryl and especially atarax did usually make me feel a cloudy the next day, but that was an ok side effect as long as the blessed sleep could be acquired that evening as well. In short, I learned to live with being a zombie. Besides, I looked like one already, might as well feel like one too. ;-)
Good luck dude, you're coming into the home stretch. Just visualize that warm sun on your face, the breeze in your hair and filling your sails on your way to SVRsville. Cuz that's exactly where you're ship's setting sail to...and your 2 week UND result and continually UND thence afterwards confirms that.
Good luck dude, you're coming into the home stretch. Just visualize that warm sun on your face, the breeze in your hair and filling your sails on your way to SVRsville. Cuz that's exactly where you're ship's setting sail to...and your 2 week UND result and continually UND thence afterwards confirms that.
Sorry to hear you are not feeling well. You are correct though, we will reach SVR and it will all be worth it!
Here's to the SVR party!!
Here's to the SVR party!!
I'm right there with you Eric. I had hoped to feel so much better off the trial drug. I think we're just getting run down this far into our treatments.
Yesterday I had a rough day at work but was thankful to be off at noon. I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some cranberry juice (I have the nagging feeling I may be getting a bladder infection). When I walked into my house I was so weak I dropped the grocery bag....the cranberry juice bottle broke and I had a total meltdown. I was trying to clean up the HUGE mess when I realized I had cut myself. Blood was everywhere. I had to try to keep my dogs out of the area so they wouldn't get cut on the glass themselves. I ended up crying on my kitchen floor until I finally got myself together got up took care of my cuts and cleaned up the mess.
The stress on top of being run down physically is taking it's toll.
I'm glad you don't have to make the trip to NY.
We'll get through this Eric...and come out of the other side SVR.
Yesterday I had a rough day at work but was thankful to be off at noon. I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some cranberry juice (I have the nagging feeling I may be getting a bladder infection). When I walked into my house I was so weak I dropped the grocery bag....the cranberry juice bottle broke and I had a total meltdown. I was trying to clean up the HUGE mess when I realized I had cut myself. Blood was everywhere. I had to try to keep my dogs out of the area so they wouldn't get cut on the glass themselves. I ended up crying on my kitchen floor until I finally got myself together got up took care of my cuts and cleaned up the mess.
The stress on top of being run down physically is taking it's toll.
I'm glad you don't have to make the trip to NY.
We'll get through this Eric...and come out of the other side SVR.
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