Thursday or Friday for shot?

[Vannh9]

I start treatment this week and am trying to decide it I should do the shot on Thursday or Friday night. I work from home and Fridays are very slow...most on my team work very little in the afternoon on Friday.

I was wondering how Long after taking the shot do the sx kick in?
What time do you take the shot?
Do you start RIBA the next day after the shot?

I know some of these questions are probably different for some, but all feedback is welcomed.

Thanks

Vann

[Vannh9]

Thank you all for the great info. Desrt- thank you for the chart...that does help. am taking Pegasys....Jasmine, I like your suggestion of checking to see if I can start on Thursday and if it is a problem, switch to Friday unless it will impact treatment. Many thanks to all!!!

[Gerbils]

Special thanks to desrt for the info on the different interferons. I have always thought I was weird because I do not experience sides from my shot for 2-3 days. I never understood why. I take pegasys and started on a Thursday because I am allergic to alot of stuff and didn't want to find out if I was going to have a problem in the middle of the night on a Friday! It was a good thing because my worst days are Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Good for working folks- I am usually better by Monday. I took my first shot and then started the pills the following day (except the AD which I started a few days before). Good luck with your tx Vann!

[pooh55811]

I am on Pegasys injections. I have had only 2 injections so far, but I do the injections on Mondays about 8 pm. So far I feel the worst (flu like symptoms of headache, general malaise, fatigue, wiped out, hot feeling but no fever) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. By the weekend I feel much better. I take one tylenol about 30 min. before the inj. and one about an hour after the injection and another one the following morning. This routine does help. ( I have a history of migraines so I have to stay on top of anything that might trigger a migraine.)

I picked Mondays for my injections because I go to the symphony and some chamber music concerts on Sundays so I wanted to feel my best and be able to go to those concerts on Sundays.

[SunShineGirlie]

Best of luck for whatever day you decide - Sunny (my shot night is Wednesday)

[Louie723]

Yep! What you said.

[mykids247]

Louie, I started with Riba on Tuesday and my first shot was last night. Waited until I was good and tired or so I thought. Did the shot went to bed and could not fall asleep for over an hour. Just got up now and so far so good, didnt have any problems with Riba during the week. Cross your fingers say a prayer and jump in, its the only way and from someone who had sooooooo much anxiety about starting it feels sooooooo good to finally be on my way to being done with it. Take care and lots of great people here to help you out. It truly is a god sent!!!!!!!   Good Luck  :)

[Louie723]

I took my first shot several hours before bedtime friday. I was told to take the Riba pills starting the next day (today) I really don't know the reason why unless they didn't want to put too much on me at once.
So far no problems really, just a little spacey feeling.

[desrt]

The blue lines on the graphs are the relevant info, representing concentrations of PegIFN at various times after the shot. The black lines are the viral loads in two individual co-infected patients.

[desrt]

As you can see from these graphs (compliments of 'willings' profile page):

http://www.medhelp.org/user_photos/show/168497

it's largely dependent on which PegIFN you are doing. These graphs also agree with an informal poll that was run here a couple years ago and my own experience. I did my shot of Peg-Intron on my lunch break Fri. noon and my worst side effects were from Fri. evening till Mon. morning. People who use Pegasys generally report a slower onset of side effects, with the worst usually occuring 2-4 days after the shot.

[JasmineT]

I just took my shot last night.  I had a splitting headache most of the night, some chills,  woke up multiple time to use the bathroom.  I am up for a shower this morning.  Most Saturday's I can handle a jaunt to the store but not too many or too long.  I would be tempted to try because Monday's back to work are very hard for me.  One more day might be helpful.

I would suggest asking your doc/pharmacist if you start out Thursday and it becomes problematic, do they have concerns with switching and would it risk your treatment.