Well, I didn't post anything because I was too sick and weak to get out of bed for most of 3 months, until my doctor and I agreed that I'd better stop the meds.  Sorry.  I really didn't know what the heck to say, either.

That was really, really bad.  I had blood tests performed every 2 weeks.  Things just went to a dangerous level as far as thyroid, going anemic (not just plain ol' iron, either), and by the time I quit, I had a feeling the meds would do me in before the virus. 

Strangely, the virus did almost disappear, but since I wasn't able to maintain for another 6 to 9 months, I'm not considered a 'survivor' by the medical establishment. 

I don't drink, I'm just taking good care of myself, and I get regular medical visits anyway because of the fibromyalgia (which I most likely part of the Hep C) so we'll keep an eye on my liver functions.

My hair got about 1/3 as thick, but is growing back full again, and I've just been on a good vitamin/mineral booster program (designed by me through research), so I've been able to bounce back pretty well. 

That stuff does very strange things to your mind, too.  Depression, but more than that.  It's really hard to explain.  You can't remember s*it, but you can connect the dots on some obscure things faster than can be imagined.  Basically, it's like microscopic cheese graters going through your body, grating away the virus cells and leaving the rest of you to heal (if you can).  Don't mean to scare anyone and some do manage it very well, successfully.  I didn't. 

 

Last night I did my 4th peginterferon injection.   It leaves me pretty tired for the next couple of days.    Fortunately, my family and friends are giving me encouragement and I just think of what my life could be like in a year if the treatment successfully clears the virus from my body.  I'm just holding the image in my mind, my heart, and my prayers. 

Well, I've made it this far.  Yeah, this is tough.  It feels like fibromyalgia but 10 times worse than usual.  Aches, no energy, no appetite, antsy, irritable.   I know I just have to keep my eyes on the prize - getting rid of this virus that's been hiding in my bodies' cells for 40 years waiting to destroy my liver.

Bells are going off and lightbulbs are blinking on at how much like fibromyalgia these side effects are.  The more research I do online, the more I read of a connection between Hep C and certain diseases, such as seronegative arthritis, keratoconjunctivitis sicca, non-Hodgkin's type - B cell lymphomas, lichen planus, and fibromyalgia.  I'm thinking that the fibro that I was diagnosed with back in '85 was the same as or co-existing with the HepC.  (I had a non-A/non-B hep in 1970, but my doctor said I was 'cured' a couple of months after I got it.  Apparently not.  It ended up being called Hep C a couple of decades later.)  So, as a best case scenario, this interferon/ribavirin treatment will remove the virus from my body for the rest of my life, liver damage will cease, and I will no longer have any fibromyalgia symptoms!  It would be awesome to be feeling as good as I did up until my early 20s for the last 20 or 30 years of my life. 

I've lost 5 lbs. in the 2 weeks since I began, which is a good thing.  If I eat the way I did before I began treatment, I get horrible indigestion.  So I eat about 4 or 5 very small portions of quality food and drink tons of water.  Two liters a day is what is recommended when on these meds. 

I did come sort  of unglued when someone told me I couldn't park in the spot I'd just settled in at the Trader Joe's/Santa Barbara Surgery Center parking lot.  Just to get to the store I need to really psyche myself up and go into "automatic" to get it done.  Once I parked and struggled just to get out of the car, having some parking lot guy tell me I couldn't park there, caused me to unleash my inner Hades, so to speak.  I got very angry.  I only raised my voice to question why my car wasn't OK, but the car next to me was OK (that the lady had just gotten out of to walk into Trader Joe's...)  He hadn't noticed her.  They need to mark the spots better so drivers can see where they are allowed to park.  And it's a hideous parking lot anyway.  There are not nearly enough spots.  And now some liquor-barn store wants to open up across the street from there.  More, much more parking problems.  Bad planning by someone. 

I did my first injection with the pegintron redi-pen last Friday night.  No problem.  They make it very easy and painless.  And I've been taking 6 of the ribavirin pills each day, too.

To be honest, this is no worse, to me, than a bad fibromyalgia day, like those where I didn't sleep well the night before.  I have felt slightly hot/cold, very achy, very slightly nauseous for a moment here and there, and a small flash of a headache will happen once or twice a day then disappear as quickly as it appeared.  On a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being the worse migraine or fibro day, this is about a 1 or 2.  Very tolerable.  Since the strain of hcv I have is the most difficult to treat, this is the strongest dose used to stop it from replicating in the body and damaging the liver.  This could be really good.

If 50% of the patients do get to a Sustained Viral Response for 6 months after the end of treatment, also known as 'clearing the virus', I might as well fall in that 50% with success of ridding the body of the virus.

I got the box with the Peg-interferon and ribavirin today.  The interferon has to be refrigerated.  The doses are already pre-measured into a disposal syringe, but there is a liquid and a powder that you press a button to combine just before you inject it.  I don't think I'll have any problem with it.

First, I have to go to the lab once more so we know exactly what the quantity, etc. is just before beginning treatment.  Then they want a nurse to go through everything with me.  Then I can finally begin treatment. 

I hear that injecting the interferon just before bedtime is a good plan because then you sleep through the worst of the side-effects.  That's assuming you CAN sleep.  And they suggest taking some Tylenol or ibuprofen before injecting, too, to keep the fever down.  The achiness and fever seem to go away after the first month or so of treatment.  I will do the injection once a week.  The ribavirin are pills taken twice a day, 3 at a time. 

I'm ready.  I hope I can just bear with any side effects, knowing that the reason I feel crummy is because it is helping my body kill the virus and preventing it from replicating any more.  To me, that would make just about anything bearable.