Took my last Riba today - I'm finished

[Lynno711]

The first 41 weeks were not too bad, tired and a little depressed sometimes.

The last 7 weeks were a real struggle, visit to the ER, pnemonia, ear infection and the draining of fluid from my abdomen. (approx. 5 litres).  Now I have to have my gall bladder out!  Is this a relatively common thing with the meds. I've been taking?

Can I expect any kind of withdrawl from these drugs and how long does it take for the blood levels to normalize, my Hg. is low 91.

[Marcia2202]

Congrats on finishing a tough treatment! Hope you will feel better real soon and obtain a big fat SVR!

Marcia

[annieCinMD]

I'm so glad. I know you really went through a rough time at the end, and I was worried about you. The feeling better part comes next!

[charm27]

You have certainly proved to be a trooper! Happy its all over and you completed tx.

WIsh you the best outcome!

Again, congratulations!


Charm

[Kristina538]

Congrats on getting through;  I'm sorry your losing your gallbladder.   I believe it's more related to the HCV than the tx.   It's something to do with the bile and the difficulty we have digesting food with our livers not working at optimimum.  

On the bright side, I'm sure, after the operation, that you'll start recovering quickly and be feeling better faster.  If your gallbladder has been giving you trouble, the tx would've been that much harder for you.   Congrats again!!

[alagirl]

it's pretty common for the infections to hit in the latter part of tx when your white cell count has been down for a while.  your immune system will come back up.  your hemaglobin should also start to recover pretty quickly once you've quit the riba.  Congrats on finishing up!

[Isobella]

It is my understanding that the half-life of peg is about 76 hours, but this article says 45. Which is an increase from non-peglated

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/414906_4

Riba has a half-life of 6 months, I believe.  I had some great links, but lost them when I had to erase my hard drive.

I am soooo very glad you are done.  Yay for you!!!!  But sad to hear of your troubles.  Please keep us posted.

SVR for us all,

Isobella

[lapis]

Someone wrote on here recently that gallbladder problems are common in folks with Hep C.  I don't have any research to back that up, but I do remember reading that, I'll try to find the thread.

Congratulations on finishing tx!  It sounds like those last weeks were really tough, and I agree with what Joey said, just take care not to get too excited on the days when you feel really energetic : )  I overdid it a few times in the days after tx and then would have a couple days of feeling bad.

I've been told it can take up to 6 months to clear all the meds out of your system.  Still, I think our experiences post tx can be as different as our experiences on tx, in other words, it's different for everyone.  So just listen to your body and continue to take really good care of yourself just as you did on tx.  

Best wishes to you, and keep us posted!

Lapis

[Rain6866]

Congrads!!!! Im so looking forward to when I can say that. Good luck on the journey to wellness..

[Joey_M]

Congratulations on being done! It is a long road to get through it but the worst should be behind you. My last weeks were also the roughest. I finished just over 3 weeks ago and still have side effects from the treatment but feeling much better. I don't believe there is any withdrawals from the meds but the pegalation keeps the interferon in your bloodstream for about 3 months after treatment. I believe the riba also hangs around for a few months. But your blood levels should start to normalize within a month of treatment. Continue to drink a lot of water and don't push to hard when your energy spikes.