An explanation
- Thread starter jimpeel
- Start date
BeardofPants
New Member
Hey JP, sorry to hear of your illness. I know someone w/ Hep C and it ain't pleasant, but he's lived a good many years now without too much infringement on enjoyment. Hope you find a good balance. 
jimpeel
Well-Known Member
Well, I started the treatment yesterday. Took the first shot and the evening pill at 4:30 pm and felt nothing at all.
Went home and made dinner, ate, watched some TV and got on the computer. Everything was still going swimmingly at 8:30. Then 8:40 hit.
HOLY SHIT!!!!
The first thing that happened was I got a shooting pain under my left arm that felt like someone pulled out one of my armpit hairs. The pain shot down to my left thigh.
Then the chills started. Every movement was accompanied by violent shaking that made it difficult to change out of my clothes for bed.
I got into bed about 9pm and the wife made me a hot water bottle and I put it under my kidneys. This helped bring the shaking under control.
Then the aching started. There was no starting or focal point. My entire body simply started aching all over. I couldn't lie on any side of my body for more than a few minutes. This went on all night -- all sleepless night.
During the night I got several more of the shooting pains from various parts of my body. Not a pleasant wake up call.
I did get some short naps but the pain of lying on my side/back/other side would wake me up. This went on for what seemed like 4-5 hours. When I looked at the clock it said 10:55. SHIT! This was gonna be one hell of a long night.
The pain stayed all night but the chills subsided during the night. When my wife left for work at 5am I felt better. I was able to get some sleep.
I forced myself out of bed at 8am to pound down a bowl of Cheerios so I could take the morning pill. I then returned to bed and slept until after ten.
I got up, took a shower, got dressed, made some calls, went to Wall World, and felt just wonderfully normal all day. I still feel wonderful as of this writing.
Well, one shot down and a minimum of 23 more to go. Tuesday nights are gonna be a royal bitch.
Went home and made dinner, ate, watched some TV and got on the computer. Everything was still going swimmingly at 8:30. Then 8:40 hit.
HOLY SHIT!!!!
The first thing that happened was I got a shooting pain under my left arm that felt like someone pulled out one of my armpit hairs. The pain shot down to my left thigh.
Then the chills started. Every movement was accompanied by violent shaking that made it difficult to change out of my clothes for bed.
I got into bed about 9pm and the wife made me a hot water bottle and I put it under my kidneys. This helped bring the shaking under control.
Then the aching started. There was no starting or focal point. My entire body simply started aching all over. I couldn't lie on any side of my body for more than a few minutes. This went on all night -- all sleepless night.
During the night I got several more of the shooting pains from various parts of my body. Not a pleasant wake up call.
I did get some short naps but the pain of lying on my side/back/other side would wake me up. This went on for what seemed like 4-5 hours. When I looked at the clock it said 10:55. SHIT! This was gonna be one hell of a long night.
The pain stayed all night but the chills subsided during the night. When my wife left for work at 5am I felt better. I was able to get some sleep.
I forced myself out of bed at 8am to pound down a bowl of Cheerios so I could take the morning pill. I then returned to bed and slept until after ten.
I got up, took a shower, got dressed, made some calls, went to Wall World, and felt just wonderfully normal all day. I still feel wonderful as of this writing.
Well, one shot down and a minimum of 23 more to go. Tuesday nights are gonna be a royal bitch.
jimpeel
Well-Known Member
I have felt great all week. I've been working, my scan times are normal, my attitude is the same, nothing seems to have changed. That could change in the future, though.
The one thing that has been noticeable is that I have not had to take Prednisone for my psoriatic arthritis until this evening. Humidity is what sets it off and I was taking 5mg each day for the last 5-8 weeks. The snow we got 6 weeks ago is still on the ground where it is usually gone in a week.
The humidity has been in the upper 60's instead of the usual high teens to low twenties. Very unusual for Colorado.
The one thing that has been noticeable is that I have not had to take Prednisone for my psoriatic arthritis until this evening. Humidity is what sets it off and I was taking 5mg each day for the last 5-8 weeks. The snow we got 6 weeks ago is still on the ground where it is usually gone in a week.
The humidity has been in the upper 60's instead of the usual high teens to low twenties. Very unusual for Colorado.
jimpeel
Well-Known Member
Went to the doctor yesterday. The latest bloodwork, five weeks into the treatment, shows:
White blood cell count is way down. That means I am susceptible to everything you can see with a microscope. This is SOP for this medication.
The good news ...
When I started the treatment my ALT liver enzyme was 442. It is now 71. The high end of normal is 63.
My Viral Load, the number of replicated viral cells per cc of blood, was 12,700,000. It came back this time as "undetectable".
It looks like the medication is doing its job but I won't hold my breath. It could reverse course.
I took my sixth shot on Tuesday. Eighteen minimum to go.
White blood cell count is way down. That means I am susceptible to everything you can see with a microscope. This is SOP for this medication.
The good news ...
When I started the treatment my ALT liver enzyme was 442. It is now 71. The high end of normal is 63.
My Viral Load, the number of replicated viral cells per cc of blood, was 12,700,000. It came back this time as "undetectable".
It looks like the medication is doing its job but I won't hold my breath. It could reverse course.
I took my sixth shot on Tuesday. Eighteen minimum to go.
ResearchMonkey
Well-Known Member
Good news Jim, it sounds like you're responding to treatment fairly well. It's a grueling affair fer shure but well worth it if you can knock your count down like you seem to be. You may be one of those who are fortunate enough to 'clear' your count, which is great news.
Hang in there buddy, so what if its like stepping in front of a truck every week.
Hang in there buddy, so what if its like stepping in front of a truck every week.
Jim, I'm sorry to hear about your illness, and welcome back.
Jim, if this helps think of message boards like this: it isn't real, and no one really cares about the opinions posted. Yes, we all give our opinion at times. I consider message boards an exercise in non-combative debate or a way to share a joke, but it does not ruin my day if I run into a troll on a board. Meh... it's not a reflection on me at all, only on the troll her/himself.
I also avoid the obvious trolling threads and you may benefit from that same self-imposed rule, if that's what you choose. Trolls have a psychological need to poke sticks at people, find their buttons and push repeatedly, because of a deficiency in their real lives. They are lonely, they are in jobs or relationships they hate, or they have little to no control in their real lives. I choose not to feed the deficiencies. Therefore I have a more positive experience when posting on message boards, partly because of this self-imposed rule I have about Trolls and partly because I don't take any of what is said too seriously.
Jim, if this helps think of message boards like this: it isn't real, and no one really cares about the opinions posted. Yes, we all give our opinion at times. I consider message boards an exercise in non-combative debate or a way to share a joke, but it does not ruin my day if I run into a troll on a board. Meh... it's not a reflection on me at all, only on the troll her/himself.
I also avoid the obvious trolling threads and you may benefit from that same self-imposed rule, if that's what you choose. Trolls have a psychological need to poke sticks at people, find their buttons and push repeatedly, because of a deficiency in their real lives. They are lonely, they are in jobs or relationships they hate, or they have little to no control in their real lives. I choose not to feed the deficiencies. Therefore I have a more positive experience when posting on message boards, partly because of this self-imposed rule I have about Trolls and partly because I don't take any of what is said too seriously.
ResearchMonkey
Well-Known Member
as a bonus: Don't get discouraged if your Doc ends your Tx @ 90-day's. With your response, it could happen. Don't take it personal or anything, those Docs just like bugs better then humans.
Also, TrOller-CoaSTer.
"I'm noticing that there are far more positive political and social threads started here in the KK than in the RL forum. I think I'm going to ignore the RL forum for a while and just post here."
And ... that's what I did. Seems like ages ago when I posted that in solidarity with Spike's banination to the KK.
I was going to post that for you, but you found it for yourself. Good girl! (As a side note, I don't think I'll ever understand your obsession with me.
But... whatever.)
And ... that's what I did. Seems like ages ago when I posted that in solidarity with Spike's banination to the KK.
I was going to post that for you, but you found it for yourself. Good girl! (As a side note, I don't think I'll ever understand your obsession with me.
But... whatever.)... of Love... Troller-coaster... woohooohooohooo...
