anti-depressent and HepC ?

[orphanedhawk]

Hi, I have Hep C w/cirrhosis and am gearing up to do the treatment this fall/winter.I was advided to start an antidepressent since one of the major side effects of interferon is depression. My Dr. prescribed 10mg of Paxil. I did it for a week and slept almost the whole time. I have been looking on the net for alternatives. (My dr. isn't very helpful but will prescibe what I ask for unless he has strong objections.) I'm very confused. Have any of you had success with a particular anti-depressent while getting treated?
     thanks in advance.

[orphanedhawk]

Thanks for your replies.  I did try cutting the pill in half and just take that 5mgs. I slept less but still a lot. I can't figure anyway to cut it evenly into 2.5 mgs. I too, am a lightweight and react strongly to most medications or even vitamins.

[jmjm530]

Understood. I'm talking about *smoked* salmon which can be purchased "Wild" as well as farm. Only problem with the Wild is the price. But it is the smoking process I was concerned about. You can google "Wild Alaska Smoked Salmon" for some examples.

[Forseegood]

yeah, but I'm so sensitive to caffiene, that if I drank 4 cups of black tea a day, I'd have my shoulders as earrings, my eyebrows to the top of my forehead and I'd see around corners to boot...

[jmjm530]

Sorta belongs here since we're talking about stress and depression. Just found this recent item regarding Black Tea. A new study suggests four cups a day helps reduce stress hormones.
http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?156470

[Kalio1]

That is great news that he is feeling energetic and doesn't seem depressed. Im so glad for him. Get your "honey do" list out! My husband isn't on traetment and it took some cajoling to get him to move the cable today to hook up a TV we've had sitting there over a year lol
Cirrhosis is a scary diagnosis but our livers are amazing. Once we stop the "assault" (as my doc calls it)of the virus or whatever is assaulting the liver it starts to improve. We can reverse damage even if we have cirrhosis with the Interferon. I think I remember you saying he is taking very good care of himself and that is the key. It is a really good sign that he is feeling good. I have to struggle with Hgb at 10, more power to him, that is pretty low for a guy.
I bet your landscaping looks beautiful.
I've been having some decent days, I am so much more grateful for them than before I was sick. My platelets went up to 137 and even though that is still low, it made my week because it shows things are improving.
Thanks for sharing good news.

[motheroffour]

My husband was put on Lexapro as he's been minorly depressed for the past couple years first because of his psoriassis flares and then to find out all this Hep C/cirrohsis business. I don't think he realized he was depressed, but I did and the doc did fortunately.  The first week he was hilarious, almost like he had a couple cocktails in 'em, but he's evened out (it's been 5 weeks).  The minorly depressed H I could handle, the hilarious one I couldn't take (said with fondness). His Hep doc says lexapro is the better one with damaged livers.  All in all with the Lexapro and whatever is going on in his body, he's had great energy (he's relandscaped our entire back yard complete with earth moving and new brickwork and seems quite upbeat these days). I hope it continues because I have a long long list of "stuff" he can do for the next 44 weeks if this crazy energy keeps up! Hard to believe because his hemoglobin is dropping every week and he's down to 10 already. He's sleeping fine except shot night when he snores and I don't sleep. We'll see after the 4 week viral load test this week what kind of mood he'll be in!