help start tx

[denigreg]

Not doin good. took shot 11am and pills a little after 12pm thurs. took tylenol little bit later. slept on and off all afternoon. temp up to 100. went to son's family night at school. almost killed me. came home freaked out on my husband long story. called pegasys nurse told me to take xanax and not to take pills that nite. calmed down. slept on and of all nite. took pills at 8am fri fever again by afternoon up to 101. severe back pain. called dr because couldn't get fever down w/tylenol. he told me not to take pills. and they don't work that way? asked if something else was going on. cause i also had a cough. he told me to call my reg doc mon/tues if not better and to call him on tues. WTF? Help!! I feel so confused. hard to breathe my lower back and legs hurt and also my lower belly. now what? today is sat and i only did shot thurs and 1 set of pills, and am fri pills now still feeling really sick can't call doc till tues or call and get a dif doc on call. did this ever happen to any0ne else?  

[meakea]

I would suggest that you consider changing the timing of your shots (with your doc's permission, of course).  I think most people take their shots in the evening and then are able to sleep through most of the bad stuff.  (Or at least try to sleep).  I took my shots on Friday night and I kept my weekends as free as I could so that I did nothing but take care of myself and get feeling better so I could go back to work on Monday.  

What "pills" were you told not to take?  Riba?

[spectda]

My first shot my fever went to 104 and I was very sick for about two days, my second shot I had a fever of about 102. After that I didn't have fever or bad flu like symptoms. I kind of expected it might be bad and just slept a lot and took tylenol.

I had bad back pain and leg pain for several weeks that woke me several times and used a heating pad and used pillows under my knees and back which helped a little.

Treatment ***** for some of us. I expected it to be a bad year, and sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't. I never stopped taking any pills or interferon although they were reduced at times because of my blood levels.

I hope your treatment get's better. I expect the interferon reaction will not be as severe after a while. If you are fearful or anxious it may also be affecting your breathing also and make the symptoms even worse. Maybe they can prescribe an anti anxiety med if you feel you could use it. I took klonopin ocassionaly when I was struggling.

Good luck to you,
Dave

I am

[ribman]

im gonna repost my earlier post i had very similar reaction.while it was bad ive had the flu that was worse

here is my honest assesment of how it hit me,spent three hours talking to daughter and son- in -law on back porch.i felt slightly tired untill they left then immediately started having chills very similar to running a fever.12 midnight .piled on some blankets and finally dozed off after about an hour.woke up at 4 am to ****(i drank my 140  ounces of water... insanity...)while draining it i started spinning kinda like when you get drunk for the first time.i dove for the couch and left a nice trail of urine.awoke at 8am took 3 riba pills and woke up and felt better for about three hours.decided to go pick up a load of 60 boxes for my wifes business.was fine till i spent 30 minutes in the sun.drove home with the flu crawled in bed for three hours.got up at 7 pm and took two more riba pills now kinda feel better.seems the riba pills actually bring me out of the funk.oh well hope thats not too much drama.

[Trish77]

When you say your nurse told you "not to take pills that nite" and the doctor told you "not to take pills" - what pills are you referring to? The tylenol, the ribavirin or something else?

What you seem to be experiencing is the flu-like symptoms some get from their first shot.  Some people have a really rough weekend and worry that it's going to be like this the whole time.  It usually isn't and if your first shot is really bad, it gets better from there and it doesn't last all week til the next shot.  So try to treat this like you have the flu, drink lots of water, take your tylenol for your headaches and just rest up and ride it out.   Lots have gone through this.  You're not the first and you won't be the last.   Just hang in there and ride it out.

[Anne1717]

OMG and how could I forget the worst of it - HEADACHE - blinding, unrelenting HEADACHE.

Like June - the Riba brought a different set of problems after about 2 weeks of being on it.  But all in all, I got used to it and it no longer seems like such a blow.

[Junebug812]

My sx from the interferon were very much similar to Anne's. My first shot was by far the most difficult. It became easier as time went along. Once the Riba kicked in, that was another set of problems. It is concerning that you're missing Riba doses now. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know how skipping Riba will effect the overall outcome, but I'd have a good talk with my doc about that one.

Try not to panic and get too anxious. You may be like a lot of people here who have a hard time the first shot but then the interferon sx lessen with each shot. I too took my shot on Friday nights before bedtime so I could sleep through most of it.

Don't give up and keep posting here and getting help. I wish you the best.

June