Week 10 Update

[undersiege]

I'm about to take my 10th shot this Fri. Had appointment with with NP today and asked her if I had seen the worst of tx yet and she said yes. I'm on a 24 wk tx for G2 can anyone give me info about what might take place over the next 14 wks. HGB 10.8, RBC 3.32, WBC 4.30, Pltlt 157. UD wk 4.

[Xville]

lol!  I'm definitely under the influence of this medicine.  Brain fog!  I take 6 a day.  I'm still shaking my head over my own stupidity.  I wasn't always this dim!  Just another month and maybe I'll start to get my mind and body back.  

[FoieGras]

my bad...prev post to undersiege

good nick for  someone going thru SOC, btw

[FoieGras]

Agree with HectorSF your gift arrived week 4.

Also agree to be ultracompliant at least with meds. The virus is down: strangle and butcher it with highest dose riba, most frequent dose IFN...treat the anemia  if it worsens or is very symptomatic and ignore the rash, it will go away after you've finished the tx...

SVRland is a great place to be, and you are almost there...courage.

Eye on the prize!

[Junebug812]

The low HGB thing ***** the most, more than anything I've endured so far. Good luck with dealing with it. Are you in a trial? Is that why you aren't being prescribed Procrit?

Sunshine=evil these days. Last weekend it turned me into a strawberry as you may recall. Actually, SF is overcast today (surprise, surprise) which is ok by me because I have lots of reading I need to do for work. Hard to focus when the sun is shining, even if my skin hates the rays these days.

[Anne1717]

yeah June - I thought the same thing but my doc said they see what we can handle and then back off - best chance of clearing.  I feel probably as you did at 9.7 but it is what it is eh?  We'll see how this week's blood work came out.  He also said that the small girls have the hardest time with side effects.  
I hope you have some sunshine out there!!!!

[Junebug812]

Each capsule is 200 mg. How many do you take in a day? I take 5 capsules (2 in the am and 3 in the pm) which equals 1000 mg per day. I suspect you take multiple capsules a day as well?

[Xville]

I just looked at my bottle and it says 200 mg.. Is that even enough?  I didn't pay much attention to dosages and numbers up until now because I just couldn't deal with it, and decided to let the doctor do the thinking.  Maybe not a good idea but necessary in my case.  I was told at my last appointment that I am getting anemic, and I do feel like death warmed over, pretty much just lying on the sofa all day and night (except the million times I've had to use the bathroom...all that water.).  Since I have reached UND and only have three more shots I do hope to finish out the treatment.  But what I wanted to say to you was that I started out with few symptoms and gradually got to feeling worse and worse to the point that I'm worried about finishing tx.  I hope you don't go through the same thing, but be prepared in case you do.  It's still worth treating, but I really hope I don't have to do this again.  I don't mean to be discouraging, it's more likely you won't have the same experience, but be prepared for anything.  Good luck!  

[Junebug812]

My Riba dosage is 1000 mg. I weigh 130 lbs., and am 5'9" tall (if that even matters). My HGB dropped from 13.5 to 9.7 pretty quickly. It hit me quite hard and I struggled a lot for nearly 2 months.

Sort of wonder if I should have been at 800mg, and if so, would I still be UND @ 4 weeks and would I have less sx. Ah, silly to ponder. All that matters is having a good response at this point and finding ways to tolerate the sides.

@Anne, wow, 9.5 HGB. How do you feel???!

[Anne1717]

gosh - my HGB is 9.5 and I am taking 1200 mg of Riba and I am 135 pounds and 5'5

NOT FAIR !!!!  Poo

[undersiege]

What is your riba dosage ? I am on 800 mg riba,mine was lowered from 1000Mg to 800 after wk 5, not that I had a problem they said it was all I needed.

[Junebug812]

Hector is right, we all experience tx differently. I hate to say, but things got worse for me from about week 8 moving forward. My sides change from week to week. Low HGB was the worst for me, but my newest sx include loss of hair, rash spreading and more intense, and the flu symptoms are back after shot night, but nothing like the first shot night. I've been having breathing issues since Christmas day, including shortness of breath, chronic cough, and constant phlegm in my throat (sorry it that's tmi). Anyway, I had hoped by now to feel better than I do, but like I said, once I got the HGB thing under control, I felt I could at least complete tx. Should note though, for my weight, I am on a high dose of Riba. I have Geno 3 so am also treating for 24 weeks and I was also UND at week 4.

Hang in there. Being UND at week 4 is a gift I hear and I definitely believe that after reading what others go through in here (multiple treatments). Very best of luck to you.

June

[HectorSF]

No one can sorry how anyone will react to treatment. Everyone is different and has different degrees of side effects throughout treatment. Hopefully the worse is over for you.

The main thing to concentrate on is that you were UND by week 4. Stay compliant with your meds and you should be virus free soon. This is the goal of treatment.

I won't comment of your blood test results as others here are more knowledgeable.

Good luck!
Hectorsf