Working during treatment?

[taccs4]

How many of you are still able to work fulltime during the triple therapy with Incivek? I am currently in my 6th week, and this is my third time to go through treatment (1st - 1999, 2nd - 2007 -NR). The first two times I barely had any side effects at all and went on like normal. This time has really worn me out!  I am currently working but thinking of making some modifications to my schedule. I don't want to overreact and seem like such a baby, I am trying to be positive and push through. I am a big believer in mind over matter, but this time I think my mind is giving up too! :)

[cakes8267]

Yes, I work full time and I am in my 16th wk of treatment. *****!   tired, tired, tired.  But I push on because I have 8 wks to go.  It would be extremely tough to do manual labor but working in an office doing "brain" work is tolerable.  Have to keep working, need the medical insurance!

[newby40]

this is a great site!I havent started treatment yet but i am this fall.i have had this disease for about 15 years.i still work fulltime but am very very very tired when i get home.i sleep from 6pm -6am,but still feel unrested.any advice for thenewby?

[spyderman370]

I have a stressful job in a financial instituiton in NYC and have humped to work since tx started 7 weeks ago. I run on fumes mostly everyday and find myself gasping for air since HGB dropped down to 10.

But....I did get RVR UND at week 4 and need to stay the course. This keeps me going.

On really sucky days I will drive to the NYC and park close to my office, (damn the cost) and put in my 10 hours. Getting home is nirvana and I go straight to my potato position and watch The Office re-runs until I pass out which is usally 20 minutes. Then it's up for a 20g fat meal for Incivek and some Riba and off to bed to do it  again the next day...

[dixiechicdana]

Let me know what your labs are as far as viral load. I got mine for week 4 back today. I am not undetectable but went from 14,900,000 to 43 so you should be undetectable ....praying for you :)

[Mary4now]

I didn't work the last 2 months of treatment got layed off ,  but I was so grateful to not have to go to work during that time,  now I'm trying to make up for those 2 months and I have the energy, but the money part *****,  Its always something.  
Take care of yourself,
Mary

[crossroadsec]

pcds, I was touched by your comment. Just yesterday I was looking for something (anything) to be grateful for. I told my bf that I read a book years ago about a holocaust survivor, and of course I've used The Diary of Ann Frank many times in the classroom. We discussed how suffering is suffering and can't be compared. However, we are receiving sound medical help and have such safety and encouragment from family n friends. Like you, I believe we can find strength and meaning in our suffering.
I'm believing for UND for you! Keep us posted. xo Karen :)

[pcds]

Hello my fellow soldiers.  I am in week 4 of triple tx, this is harder then SOC, but I get up each morning go for a run or rather now a trot with the dog and go to work.  I can't do the gym anymore after work.  This is really hard.  But going to work helps complete my day and I look forward to sleep, the end of another day.  If I have an undect reading on my 4 week lab it will give me the emotional strength to carry on.  And I haven't even had the rash yet.  This is hard, but that is what life can be sometimes.  I think about those who have truely sufferred, like the Jews who lived through the concentration camps.  This is easy compared to what they went through.  This sort of thinking helps me.  I'm also the daughter of a holocaust survivor.

[ribman]

i go to work monday to thurs,self employed,busy time of year for me.some days the wife drives me around.i plan nothing stressful on monday.a couple of days a week i have to crawl in bed and sleep a few hours in the afternoon.by wednesday i feel ok,thursday pretty good and friday my wife tells me im back to my old self.it has been different symptoms almost every week for me.but seemed to get worse after about the 8th week.standing in one place seems to cause me the most discomfort.

[indy531]

I've got my schdule and at least 2 days a week I go straight thru from 9am to 3:30 pm-no breaks; I don't know how I'm going to do this and teach 125 kiddos (ages 11-14) a day. That doesnt include meeting, grading, lesson plans, etc. Sheer he!!. Thanks for letting me vent.

[SunShineGirlie]

it's my 2nd time to treat and this is a lot harder on me than the first time I blame it on Incivek and my age

[JAY0914]

week 15 on incivek.....it gets so much easier after you stop the telap at 12 weeks....havent missed a day at work yet....hang in there! you can do it!

[taccs4]

Thanks for the comments everyone. It is so nice to find others that understand and can relate. Wishing you all the best.

[crossroadsec]

Just my 2 cents, there are so many variables. There have been some days that this lil "trooper" slept all day on Saturday. Started back in the classroom a few weeks ago and have had to push harder than I ever dreamed. Then out of the blue, I'm running circles around these young healthy teachers. I'm w/ ann. It's all about knowing when to hit the couch, modifying your schedule and like streamline said, know when to quit and pamper ur hard working body.
I hiked yesterday, cleaned and cooked. Last night I told my bf that if everyone lived as though, for the next 11 months, every bit of nutrition, exercise, mental wellness, and spirituality could save their lives - we would be a healthier society. Give yourself this one moment in time. Hopefully you'll reap the benefits for years and years to come.
Good luck. Take care o YOU. Karen :)

[streamline569]

We're all individuals with different stages and degrees of liver damage. How the meds will effect us will be different. I thought I'd be able to work but soon realized I couldn't with platelets at 25 wbc down hgb down and the drugs I'm taking, everything is just wiping me out. I sleep more then I ever thought I would. The mornings are the worse I take my meds at 6am have to take a pill for headaches and a valium for the anxiety  and I'm out like a light again for about 3 hrs. I won't even try and plan to go to work at this point, but we're all different so you just have to see how everything is going to effect your body. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to can you work while on treatment or being a trouper it's just have to see how far your body take.

[yougivemefever]

I'm a self employed artist, very active, now on wk 10 of the triple treatment.  The first 6 weeks were OK, and I was able to to keep the 'routine' going: 5 mile morning walk, 6hrs of fixing up the house (it's what an artist does these days..), and several hours of productive studio time when it became too hot to work outside.  The noticable, but tolerable effects were less 'oomph', and a shortage of breath.  After 6 weeks, the energy levels began to fall away, coinciding with an increase in the Riba rash.  At 8 weeks, went to see the Doc re. the rash, who prescribed a steroidal treatment CLOBETASOL PROPIONATE FOAM .05%.  This is where it went rapidly downhill.

24hrs after starting applications, I started experiencing INTENSE flu symptoms, chills, continual 101 fever, and horror of horrors, my face swelled up like mumps.  What followed was physically the worst 8 days of fever, sweats, dry mouth, exhaustion, bone pain, I have ever known.  Upon research, I concluded that an adverse reaction with the steroidal foam.  I have of course stopped, and 4 days later, only mild fever.  Still exhausted, and now experiencing the associated 'withdrawal rash' side effect of the foam.  It is crap.

BUT I'm a trooper - if I can handle this, you all can handle it too.  Stick it out, but be warned!!

[KAMO]

I just started the new therapy and it's my 3rd time too.  The first two times the sx weren't as bad as they are now.  I haven't even added the third med yet and I can breath well, stand for longer than it takes to shower...it seems the sx are more and in a shorter amount of time than last time.  I'm supposed to go back to work in about a week (I work in a school) but I'm on my feet most of the time at work and I don't think I can do it.  I think you should make the changes...it's time to take care of you!

[ann61]

I am just starting my 5th week (still waiting for my 4 week labs) on triple tx and this is also my third time around.  Although this time around seems to be taking a bigger toll on me, I am still working full time and will resume teaching one night a week the first week in September.  I have some flexibilty at my job so today for example I got here at 9:30 rather than 9.  Mornings and getting ready for work wear me out.  

However I find I am much better at work than I am at home.  I can focus on other things other than how lousy I feel.  Now don't get me wrong..... I am really tired by the time I get home in the evening and can't wait to get in my sweats and hop on the couch and do nothing.  But work gives me a purpose right now and helps me to remain positive and upbeat.

That said, you should listen to your body.  It is at war and if it needs more rest, then you need to give it more rest.  I would try the modifications.  Perhaps these will be enough.  Good luck!