Aa
Active Army with Hep C
Hi all.
My name is Jim and I have Hep C, genotype 1a. I was diagnosed in 91 with "non-A/non-B Hepatitis". Finally, this year, I decided to do something about it. Had the biopsy and tests and began Intron-a/ ribavirin treatment 4 weeks ago this last friday.
I am Active Duty Army stationed in Hawaii (yeah, it would be GREAT if I wasn't always too tired to go out and play hahaha). I'm an Infantryman by profession, but had to take a "staff" job that would allow me to not deploy overseas during treatment and allow for those "bad days".
So far so good. I have been able to work all but 2 days so far. Those 2 days both happened to be the thursday before my shot. I experienced extreme anxiety. Speediness. Jitters. Felt like I was about to come apart at the seams. I'm not sure why I feel so bad on thursdays. Maybe the Interferon is leaving my system by then? Withdrawal? Maybe the Celexa (anti-depressant) is too strong without the presence of the Interferon? Maybe the Centrum Silver vitamins (no iron) are too big a charge of B-12?
I eat better now. The first week I lost 10 pounds. Thereafter I only lose 1-2 pounds a week. I'm drinking ALOT of water, too, but always seem dried out (I drink probably 15 8-ounce glasses a day). I find I have to get up several times in the middle of the night just to drink water. Generally when I wake up like that I'm SO dried out I have trouble opening my eyes, they are so dried out. Odd, but tolerable.
Well, enough babbling for now. Just wanted to post my experience so far with this.
My name is Jim and I have Hep C, genotype 1a. I was diagnosed in 91 with "non-A/non-B Hepatitis". Finally, this year, I decided to do something about it. Had the biopsy and tests and began Intron-a/ ribavirin treatment 4 weeks ago this last friday.
I am Active Duty Army stationed in Hawaii (yeah, it would be GREAT if I wasn't always too tired to go out and play hahaha). I'm an Infantryman by profession, but had to take a "staff" job that would allow me to not deploy overseas during treatment and allow for those "bad days".
So far so good. I have been able to work all but 2 days so far. Those 2 days both happened to be the thursday before my shot. I experienced extreme anxiety. Speediness. Jitters. Felt like I was about to come apart at the seams. I'm not sure why I feel so bad on thursdays. Maybe the Interferon is leaving my system by then? Withdrawal? Maybe the Celexa (anti-depressant) is too strong without the presence of the Interferon? Maybe the Centrum Silver vitamins (no iron) are too big a charge of B-12?
I eat better now. The first week I lost 10 pounds. Thereafter I only lose 1-2 pounds a week. I'm drinking ALOT of water, too, but always seem dried out (I drink probably 15 8-ounce glasses a day). I find I have to get up several times in the middle of the night just to drink water. Generally when I wake up like that I'm SO dried out I have trouble opening my eyes, they are so dried out. Odd, but tolerable.
Well, enough babbling for now. Just wanted to post my experience so far with this.
Hi,
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You should start a new post with your question as this is a very old thread and unlikely to get much attention.
Scroll to the top where there is an orange tab that says post and then write in what you want to say.
You are likely to get more responses if you do so.
I am on peginterferon alpha2a...i have these issues on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (treatment day is Thursday - why I thought doing treatments on Thursdays when I'm a full-time student in college is a mystery to me). Any advice other than rx's? I don't like taking anything I don't absolutely have to, especially medicines that cause dependency, such as most benzo's. I take Prozac daily and it helps tremendously, but I still have issues every couple of weeks. I have been on this med for 3 months, and I am on monotherapy. Thanks in advance, guys. Please respond to arturner at live *******, since it stars out email addresses, haha. I am more likely to read emails than remember to check this site, sadly. Also, I have been having issues with being scatterbrained, which is unusual to me. Anyone else with this issue?
I can identify with the Thursday issues. I am a 1a also, that works full time. I started shots Pegasys (alfa a). on Jan 3, 2008 (Fridays). So we are probably on the same schedule. I have had the same extreme anxiety issues with this med. (I took Pegintron two years agos with no where near this anxiety, though with different tough side effects, I relapsed post 6 months tx probably to GI dr reducing Ribaviron, which I found out is a big no-no)
I do take prozac regularly and take xanax for the anxiety on those bad days. It helps some. I did find that Gatorade helps with the water issue, since it has the electrolytes, etc. we need. I was given this gatorade info from the Pegintron patient assist line "Be In Charge".
Hope this helps. God bless you.
I do take prozac regularly and take xanax for the anxiety on those bad days. It helps some. I did find that Gatorade helps with the water issue, since it has the electrolytes, etc. we need. I was given this gatorade info from the Pegintron patient assist line "Be In Charge".
Hope this helps. God bless you.
Hi, nice to meet you! I admire anyone who goes in the service.
Anyway, there are plenty of wonks about this here, who are far more knowledgeable then I am, but HR, a doctor here, once told me that the interferon hits a plateau of sorts, then goes down...he told me that it would be good to shoot a little of it every day, in fixed amounts....but that would be impractical...but at least the interferon would be at a level amount in the system that way...
so, just guessing, it would seem that it would go down by that Thursday you're talking about? dunno...Jim or somebody more knowledgeable, help me out here...also, you might try a mild anxiety drug like ativan (supposedly the one most liver friendly, at least it says so on the lit) on an *as needed* basis if you're doing the jumping bean dance and it gets a little unbearable...I"ve just heard that helping many here on treatment....best of luck, can't imagine being in the service! let alone on treatment, my hat's off to you!!!!
Anyway, there are plenty of wonks about this here, who are far more knowledgeable then I am, but HR, a doctor here, once told me that the interferon hits a plateau of sorts, then goes down...he told me that it would be good to shoot a little of it every day, in fixed amounts....but that would be impractical...but at least the interferon would be at a level amount in the system that way...
so, just guessing, it would seem that it would go down by that Thursday you're talking about? dunno...Jim or somebody more knowledgeable, help me out here...also, you might try a mild anxiety drug like ativan (supposedly the one most liver friendly, at least it says so on the lit) on an *as needed* basis if you're doing the jumping bean dance and it gets a little unbearable...I"ve just heard that helping many here on treatment....best of luck, can't imagine being in the service! let alone on treatment, my hat's off to you!!!!
welcome to the group.
thank you for your service to our country!
i am a vet and i am not active duty since 75. i had my tx here in kc. i pray your tx goes well and you achieve sustained viral response ( svr ).
as far as your feeling dry all the time i was also drinking pedialyte it has extra electrlytes that the body loses ecpecially when on tx. i also added a supplement drink that had all the electrolytes the body needs. it comes in an individual pkg designed for 8 ounces but i would mix it with 1 ounce and drink it about every other day. the way you figure how much water to drink is half the body weight in ounces. if you wiegh 200lbs then you should be drinking 100 ounces a day min.. the other issues you asked about sounds like side affects form tx. hopefully it will get more tolerable as time goes on. also b4 you take any supplements always ask your doc or np about them first b4 taking them.
keep us informed as your tx progresses.
thank you for your service to our country!
i am a vet and i am not active duty since 75. i had my tx here in kc. i pray your tx goes well and you achieve sustained viral response ( svr ).
as far as your feeling dry all the time i was also drinking pedialyte it has extra electrlytes that the body loses ecpecially when on tx. i also added a supplement drink that had all the electrolytes the body needs. it comes in an individual pkg designed for 8 ounces but i would mix it with 1 ounce and drink it about every other day. the way you figure how much water to drink is half the body weight in ounces. if you wiegh 200lbs then you should be drinking 100 ounces a day min.. the other issues you asked about sounds like side affects form tx. hopefully it will get more tolerable as time goes on. also b4 you take any supplements always ask your doc or np about them first b4 taking them.
keep us informed as your tx progresses.
I am not a soldier, but I also had the jitters on Thursday. The "interferon feeling" symptoms seemed to get worse on Thursdays as well, especially as the treatment went on. I think there is a "withdrawl" factor at play as the interferon drops towards the end of the week.
I am a dependent wife recently retired Air Force, I had great care at Walter Reed. A really good GI at Landsthul, named Doc Kobes.
transfusions in England, not that matters really now.
Ask about effexor, I ahve had good luck with that.
Good Luck to you both and I won't say go Blue! :)
transfusions in England, not that matters really now.
Ask about effexor, I ahve had good luck with that.
Good Luck to you both and I won't say go Blue! :)
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