Just started treatment - no sides yet

[granitekonig]

I started Thursday night. Geno3. Did my first shot in the stomach and took my pills. Took two Advil Pm, expecting all hell to break loose two hours later. Two hours pass and I feel no difference at all. Four hours pass, no difference except for drowsiness from the Advil PM's and maybe a little foggyness. No fever or aches or anything. Woke up the next day feeling perfectly normal.

Just thought I'd post this for those that are about to start treatment and maybe are a bit nervous. It's been a couple of days and I feel perfectly fine. I did feel a little bit of drowsiness or foggyness throughout the day but it wasn't super noticeable - a cup of coffee made me feel more alert. I never felt any discomfort or anxiety after taking the meds. I do not feel like I'm "on medication", in other words. I'm sure I'll feel something in the future, but I thought it was interested to note since many say that the first shot is pretty bad.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

[jankar]

My first week was ok on Pegysus and 1200 riba. Do we all feel the same in the long run - some good days, some bad days, some bad weeks, some good hours or at the moment even minutes.  Week 10 now - parts of Weeks 6 and 7 were good I think I can recall.  I even went to the movies once, had an ice cream and enjoyed myself, was briefly my normal self.  Forgotten that this week.  I really REALLY wanted to be one of the symptomless ones - I truly wish you to be that.

It is Dizzy Land for me.  I pretty much have felt heavy body fatigue from the beginning, not the brain fog though.  That didn't really last although I did get it at first.  Somedays I don't know what I hate the most, the fatigue, the dizziness, the breathlessness, the nausea, the indigestion or the irritability and mood swings.  Today it is the headaches, the lack of sleep (insomnia) and the depression.

I wish none of that on you - good luck and enjoy feeling good.

pathetic aren't I? such a moaner today!!

[Keith_2008]

Are you in a clinical trial or just the standard care? I remember talking to you about a clinical trial. I was just curious

Keith.

[Keith_2008]

I just took my second shot today. My first shot  I got a fever, Chills, Headache and muscle aches. I felt really bad for the first 24 hours. I am not feeling the second shot right now but that may change in the next 4 or 6 hours. Congratulations on getting started. There seems to be a lot of recent people who are just in the starting phase of treatment. So it looks like we will be doing this together whether we like it or not. Good luck to all of us.

Keith

[Isobella]

Congratulations on getting that first shot out of the way.  I'm glad it's been uneventful.

Hopefully it will stay that way.  Rollercoasters aren't always rough  =)

Wish ya the best!!

Isobella

[comeagain]

Hey great you have started welcome to Dizzy Land, but the tickets for the roller-coaster you can´t bye until week 3 or 4.

ca

[epiphiny]

Congratulations on getting the first shot away!

My first shot was uneventful too.  In fact the first time round I actually went back to work for the afternoon!!  It wasn't really till my Hb started dropping that I started to feel like shite.  Peg and Riba have long half lives meaning that the meds build up in your system and the serum levels increase with each shot and tablet.  It takes about 4 weeks to reach optimum levels.

I'm interested to see that you are on 1000 Riba per day.  Is that weight based for you?  I seem to recall you are heavier than me and I am on 1200 per day.

[pink86]

Hi

That's good to hear :)

Me too, My first shot was easy as well - no fever, no chills, nothing. I finished now 17 weeks (4 month) and in my whole treatment period, I felt nothing! no side effects or anything :)

So, it is ok if you don't felt anything and I hope u to stay like that :)


Good luck in your treatment :)

[Marcia2202]

I already had fatigue before I started treatment, so it just became gradually worse. But it's a different kind of fatigue. I would describe it more like a jelly fish filled with led. The limbs become very heavy and there is this lingering ache all over the body 24 / 7. I take my shots on Tuesdays and sometimes it hits me over the head the same day, but usually my worst days are Thursdays through Mondays. I wouldn't call it riba fatigue, as I really feel that they peg does a really good job at knocking me out.

[granitekonig]

Well I shave my head and have been for many years so I'm not worried about hair loss. I figured the first shot would give me the typuical flu symptoms but it didn't. Maybe I will start feeling the shots around week four, so I'll just keep that in mind.  It looks like the Riba fatigue is the more reliable side effect. When did most of you really start noticing the riba fatigue?

[Marcia2202]

My first short was practically uneventful.

[fretboard]

Well good for you.  Either you slept thru it or you never felt anything.  Just so you know I never feel anything till around 5 or 6hrs. after the shot.  good luck with the rest of your journey.  Wouldn't it be great if you never felt anything at all thru tx?  God Bless

[lalapple]

so far so good!  i didn't have any sx until the 4th week of my shots, i was put on neup.  then started to lose hair there on after.  i'm not saying this is going to happen to everyone, but it's good to be mentally prepared for things like these.  the hairloss caught me off guard and when i first experienced it, i started crying in the shower because my hair would always clog up the drain.  however, none of my friends noticed my hair loss until i told them so!
for me, i think the sx kicked in as the drugs started to buildup in my system.

good luck!  and hope you stay sx free!

[Rockerforlife]

Im glad someone posteD and said they SVR even tho they had minium SX...THANK YOU....i feel better now

[Rockerforlife]

What i meant by getting the" hit" was....ive heard of people fumbling with the syringe and pulling out ,checking for blood and even dropping the needle and missing some of the shot...ive even heard of someone after dialing the dose on the redi-pen first before they attached the tip and and pushed down and lost some of the PEG...my nurse told this happens

[geterdone]

Not everyone gets hit hard after the first shot because some have higher resistance levels to the meds and you may be one of them but I assure you it will not last, so enjoy while you can. I also did not feel the first shot that much until the second and by then the riba started kicking in and from there it was wave after wave of...

Good Luck on the journey

jasper

[desrt]

LOL

Like I said, "(usually)" & "wide variation". Absolutely nothing 'scientific' in my comment, just a general pattern I've noticed over the years.

[meakea]

Isn't it funny how these meds affect us all differently.  I had my worst weeks from 1-8 and my best (so far) have been 9-14.  I have a long way to go (to 48) so I'm sure I'll have ups and downs.  The rash just hit me about a week ago and it's crazy.

I'm using Pegasys.

Granitekonig:  I'm glad you had an uneventful first shot.  Every shot that you can feel good after is one less shot that you have deal with later.  It's a blessing...enjoy it!!  Oh...and there is no correlation between how one feels and whether or not they get to SVR.  In other words, just because you feel good doesn't mean the drugs aren't working.

[zazza]

"Let me guess - you're using Pegasys rather than Peg-Intron."

I used PegIntron.

[konyha]

If it happens at all, physical discomfort and the decrease in endurance is usually more gradual than the freight train effect it sounds like you were expecting.

The extent and nature of the side effects are different for every one.
A lot of members administer the Peg shot on Friday or toward the end of the week. The week end recovery time is helpful if you work

¡¡Enjoy being 100% functional while it lasts!!

[granitekonig]

I'm not sure what you mean by "sure you got a Hit"? - I put the needle all the way in and injected 180mcg into my stomach.

Yes, I'm using Pegasys. I'm forcing myself to drink lots of water. I stopped drinking completely and I made sure to eat a full meal shortly before doing the shot and taking the pills. I kept waiting for something to happen, even warned everyone around me. But nothing ever came. I'm 32 and in very good health and very fit. I wonder if this has anything to do with it? I'm at work right now and feel fine.Maybe a little stiffness in the neck and lower back but not sure if that's related to the medicine. I'm on 1000mg of Riba. Two in the morning and three at night.

[desrt]

Let me guess - you're using Pegasys rather than Peg-Intron. People who get very mild sx the first shot (usually) are using the Roche product and sometimes take 4-6 weeks to really start feeling it. There's a wide variation to how people react to IFN, so you'll sometimes hear things like "the first shot is the worst" when someone gets a stong reaction to the first shot.

[zazza]

My first shot was easy as well - no fever, no chills, nothing. In fact my first 4 weeks were easy. Then came the fatigue. So I worried when I heard people saying that "little sx means lesser chance of SVR", but that was not true in my case. I am SVR now. Thought this is important to tell others who have no sx in the beginning.

[konyha]

The first two shots are gravy.

[Rockerforlife]

Well...that the first ive heard of this...the first shot we all shake and shiver....thats just the body killing off the virus....maybe someone else will comment on this....you sure you got a "hit"...??