When do you feel better after interferon?

[Hepcwife926]

I know most take it on Fridays, so when do you start feeling better? My husband seems to be better by Sunday night, and most like himself Tuesday - Friday morning. Is Friday PM better than Am for the injection?
This weekend was tough for my husband, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow hoping he feels better. I hope all of you are feeling better as well! Maybe it should be TGIT instead of TGIF for this community! Have to celebrate the few better days of the week while we have them!

[Grandmajane420]

I take my 4th shot on Tuesday night, from the first shot I didn't feel good on Wednesday, 2nd one was bad WED. and had me OK but burning out early on Thurs.. Weird thing with my 3rd, think I hit a blood vessel, near puked right after the shot but seemed not too bad Wed. and Thurs. tiring out easily.
We are all so different.
Last time I was on TX about 1/4 of the way into TX I was needing the whole week to recover in between shots and 1/2 way through I was on eprex for very low blood counts.

Best wishes to all

[mapx]

the doctor has never taken the med's nor experienced the awful side effects. You have a right to prescription level anti nasua meds, zofan is good or vinigan,but that makes you drosy.
I take 1/2 zofan, and I have been taking benadryl every night to help sleep and help rash.
This is my 2nd time with treatment, the 1st was not working 2 years ago so now i am trying the new combo treatment and on week 8.
Sprite, 7 up and ginger ale have all been good too.
I take the shot on Friday night as well, and I am wipped out Saturday and feel some better by Sunday..

[indy531]

I feel better by Monday as a rule-my friends no longer call me on weekends since they know I'm feelin' low.

[Advocate1955]

For my husband, I would say by Monday morning.
Advocate1955

[Jester18]

Glad to say my 12 weeks of incivek is over today, missed 3 doses so I'll eat this poison again tomorrow. Itching not a problem until week 10 almost unbearable now although only flares up for an hour at a time several times a day. I'm lucky because overall side effects not nearly as bad as others describe. I take shot on Friday morning before work, don't start to get tired until late afternoon. Saturday I take it easy and on Sunday am feeling a bit better so I can spend some time with my girlfriend. This has been hard on her. Treatment has had some positive effects on me - It motivated me to stop drinking and my acid reflux problems went away. My advise to those about to start therapy - don't read these forums until after you start so you don't get scared. Once side effects become apparent these threads are very helpful. Now when I read them it makes me happy because I realize I'm one of the lucky ones - HOPEFULLY YOU WILL BE TOO! Good luck the journey is worth it!

[Hepcwife926]

Bbj2856 - my husband is tired all the time too! It seemed to get better after week 4 though.
Flcyclist - I am impressed you go out for a ride! I am supposed to get my husband out ( according to his dr)- but I can't get him out of bed on Sat/ Sun

[bbj2856]

a Hi Hepcwife926
I took first inj. on 1/14.   Sat I take my 4 th one . I had been completely drained so very tired not sleeping . No other bad reactions. T
Today is Thur 2/2 an it is best day I have had since I started  I feel almost normal. Hoping this is good sign. Good luck to your hubby in his treatment

[bbj2856]

I have had my 3rd peg inj. so far I have not had any side affects from it. I must be one of the very blessed one . I think God for that. I do feel tired most of the time and have trouble sleeping. My nurse had my Dr. to give me ambin so I take 1/2  pill if I lay for a long time and dont fall asleep. God bless you all  less beat this virus and walk away with a healthy body is my prayer.

[flcyclist]

Friday night shot, feel good most of Saturday, maybe a bit more tired in the evening.  Do a bike ride Sat/Sun and Sunday afternoon, not much energy left.  Monday/Tuesday start to feel a bit better. Wed-Fri almost back to normal, repeat cycle.  Some weeks are easier than others and hard to predict.

[orphanedhawk]

You are taking your riba with food aren't you? This is important to avoid nausea.

Anything with ginger is good for nausea, ginger ale. Or take fresh ginger root and make tea.

Cannabis works great though I know its not for everyone.

[threepaddleCurt]

{wife of Curt}  eh?  Since when is anti-nausea meds an issue?  I'm not HCV, but I've done three gastric bleeds in less than three years.  Phenegran should be the first try, because it isn't exactly an addict's dream.  Hard on the body, but hard to O/D on it.  Curt is currently on 50mg a shot every four hours as needed, which currently is holding him.  I maxed out on it and am now on the 8mg of Zofran.

Benedryl, Allegra, and Claritin are so-so for allergies (the dx strength Allegra was a different story, that stuff was grand) but, as far as I know, anti-nausea properties are not quite their strong suit.  Most insurance companies now are requiring pre-approval for Zofran (which can take several weeks) but, if you need it, you need it!  Go beat your doctor over the head!  Projectile vomiting is not only unpleasant, but completely unnecessary!

[Hepcwife926]

My husband does Friday around noon since I only teach classes Friday morning and can get home to watch the kids earlier. He usually doesn't feel anything until around 7-8, then goes to bed until Sunday evening. Not exaggerating - he maybe will get up for 30 min on Sat other than taking his meds. I've tried to convince him to get up a little and watch TV, eat something, drink some water, but 7 shots in and no luck on that yet. He feels so-so Mondays and better on Tuesday. The timing is ok I guess, I was thinking maybe he'd sleep better (?) if he took it later Friday. Then if he actually slept better, maybe he'd feel a little better on the weekend?

[Hepcwife926]

Preggie pop drops aren't ginger - they are just really sour candies you suck on and they do help. They sell them at Babies R Us or Motherhood Maternity. You can also get ginger or peppermint tea, ginger ale, or even chocolate covered ginger ( at Trader Joes). Good luck!

[1oftheclub222]

I do my shot on Friday night and Monday night and Tuesday seems to be the worse so far (tired, run down, etc..).  I feel pretty good on Sat and Sunday.  don't know if the will change as treatment goes on but it seems to be the pattern so far.

[Idyllic]

"The idea of taking this cocktail of drugs only to have it come back up is not appealing at all."

Insert "where one of the pills is Incivek which averages about $101.00 each."

[Idyllic]

I administer my shot on Friday afternoon. That gives me a 6 hour window until I start feeling  just the way y'all have described in this thread.  I am functional on Monday but do not totally bounce back until Tuesday

I suppose I do need to ask about nausea. I have lost 9 pounds since my first shot (13 Jan 2012). My doctor really thinks Benedryl should do the trick even though it causes drowsiness and has other unpleasant anticholinergic side effects. Claritin (Loratadine) makes me feel funky and Allegra (Fexofenadine) is great for my cedar allergies but does nothing for nausea.

I just hate asking about any kind of rescue med since his office makes me feel like I am trying to score drugs or something. I can't explain it.

[LookingForward12]

Funny you should suggest this. I just sent an email this morning telling them that the over the counter stuff was NOT working and that I wanted Zofran. I will call this afternoon and follow up on that. I also told them that I was so nauseous that I was frightened to death of throwing up. The idea of taking this cocktail of drugs only to have it come back up is not appealing at all.

[pooh55811]

I take my injections on Monday eves. and I usually feel the worst on Tues. and Wed. By the weekend I am usually feeling pretty good, relatively speaking. Also, it depends on how everything else is going and how the side efects of the other meds are affecting me. Some days I just feel crappy because I have more fatigue and aches and pains than other days. For instance, yesterday was Mon., usually one of my better days, and yet I was extremely tired and my joints and muscles ached and felt heavy. So the side do move around and come and go for no apparent reason.

I will say that getting off the Incivek helped a great deal.

[pooh55811]

and to anyone who is nauseated:

If I were you, I would go back to that doctor and tell him/her that the over the counter meds do nothing and assertively ask him to please order some Zofran or some other anti-nausea med. Zofran works great for me. I take 8 mg every 8 hours and I take it about an hour before I plan to eat and take my pills. Zofran blocks the chemicals that cause the nausea.

"It is likely that Zofran works in the small intestine, but it may also work in the brain. The medication blocks serotonin, a chemical produced by the body that is associated with nausea and vomiting. Serotonin has many effects in the body and has several receptors where it can bind. Zofran blocks serotonin at a specific type of receptor (the 5-HT3 receptor)."

http://cancer.emedtv.com/zofran/zofran.html

If you are nauseated you will not be eating properly and this is going to compound things (it sure did for me). If you are vomiting, you may not be getting all of your Hep C meds. Anyway, being nauseated for months on end, is debilitating. It is not minor, in my opinion.

If your doctor is treating you with Hep C meds, then he/she needs to be willing to treat the side effects of those meds so you can continue treatment.

[suezeeque]

I thought I'd try taking my shot on Friday morning...  ONCE...  The theory in my head was that I felt SO bad on Saturdays that I didn't want to do anything at all.  Maybe if I took the shot Friday morning I'd be able to get  somethings done on Saturday.

By Friday afternoon I was nauseated, had a terrible headache and everything hurt.  I still felt like crap on Saturday so I didn't try that again.

I also like candied ginger and it's way cheaper than any anti nausea med.  However, after several weeks on treatment I was no longer able to use it because my tongue was on fire 24/7.  :(

[JasmineT]

this is for pegasys:

PHARMACOKINETICS

Maximal serum concentrations (Cmax) occur between 72 to 96 hours post-dose. The Cmax and AUC measurements of PEGASYS increase in a dose-related manner. Week 48 mean trough concentrations (16 ng/mL; range 4 to 28) at 168 hours post-dose are approximately 2-fold higher than week 1 mean trough concentrations (8 ng/mL; range 0 to 15). Steady-state serum levels are reached within 5 to 8 weeks of once weekly dosing. The peak to trough ratio at week 48 is approximately 2.0.

The mean systemic clearance in healthy subjects given PEGASYS was 94 mL/h, which is approximately 100-fold lower than that for interferon alfa-2a (ROFERON® -A). The mean terminal half-life after sc dosing in patients with chronic hepatitis C was 80 hours (range 50 to 140 hours) compared to 5.1 hours (range 3.7 to 8.5 hours) for ROFERON® -A.

http://www.druglib.com/druginfo/pegasys/description_pharmacology/

[LookingForward12]

What are preggie pop drops? Where do you get them? My doctor is so leary  of prescribing anything. Even though I asked for Zofran, was told to try over the counter meds first. They don't touch the nausea....I have waked up yesterday and today gagging from the nausea.

[stormy456]

My husband is a big fan of candied ginger.  Seems to help the nausea a lot, but I know about those "preggie pop drops", I ate them during my pregnancy too.  Husband does his shot on Thursday, does great on Friday, then Sat and Sun vary.  Sfx not as consistent as I expected them to be.  Go figure...

[Hepcwife926]

Hmm, good to know he's not alone. I suggested he try the "preggie pop drops" I had from last year ( I was sick the entire 9 months with our second son) and found those sour candies really helped. Not sure why, but they help the constant nausea then, I figure it's worth a try?