An interferon-less future?

Interferon-free treatments

Although one sentence here is a bit misleading: "Interferon is a fierce drug". It may be, but I find it to be almost tame compared to incivek, although your mileage may vary, and it depends on what kinds of side-effects you find more nasty.

But yes, I am a bit pissed off about possibly having just missed an easier treatment. Incivek may be worse, but only a fool would forego a chance to give one of these motherfuckers up if they could.

New Horizons of Pain

Haha, now that the deadening pall of incivek has been lifted from my body I can more properly appreciate the special effects produced by the other members of the team. I was already familiar with the icky burning sensation and mild nausea that was the hallmark of brother ribavirin, but uncle interferon had largely ignored me for the first 14 weeks. The few mild production touches had hardly prepared me for last night's full-on wall-of-pain treatment. Mssrs Inter-Phil-Ron Spector woke me up at 3:30AM, about 5 hours after taking my injection, with shuddersome muscle aches, horrifying thirst, some headache and the general feeling of having fallen off a bridge at some point previously. His show lasted for a couple of hours, and still there are traces of ache now. The permanent "flu-like" symptom appears to have settled upon me. Motherfucker! Still, nine more shots only. And, according to the doctors, side-effects are in many ways an indication of the efficacy of the medicine: the worse it hurts now, the better the chances of complete success eventually. Very Calvinist of them, but I suppose I'll take their word for it, provisionally.

A tip

Sorry; it looks like interferon has begun to fuck with me for real and I can barely muster the energy to get out of bed most of the week. The good news are that I only have 6 more days of incivek left--one less poison after this Saturday! Hurray! My 12 week blood results will be done then; I hope the virus is still below detectability thresholds. The not-so-good news are that the rashes are continuing to spread. My elbows are the worst, slabs of red eczematic masses that are especially scary in computer monitor lighting. Otherwise, patches on my back are slowly moving down onto my legs. Supposedly they should be gone within 3 weeks of stopping incivek. The good/bad news--depending on your POV--is that apparently many people get it much worse than me. Pretty much everyone I've talked to that had had this (or earlier) treatment was sicker than me so far. I still have 12 more weeks to go, of course, but I keep on hearing horror stories about rashes over 80% of the body 5-6 weeks after beginning treatment, or people having to stop working because they were unable to get out of bed at all--and I keep thinking that either I am extremely tough or extremely lucky....:) Perhaps both!

A food tip: if you are going to go on this treatment, whole fat yoghurt IS YOUR FRIEND. Not only does it provide necessary fat with your meals, it also appears to be of great help managing side-effects--from nausea to diarrhoea. Live cultures FTW!!! Eat it at least once a day; yes, you WILL get sick and tired of it in a few weeks, but taking a break from it, even for a couple of days, leads to all sorts of extra nastiness.

OK, I'll tell you more about interferon later. For now, all you need to know is that it DOES follow a week-long cycle, and that the effects, despite what I was told in training, peak out about 36-48 hours after administration (not 7!!!) Anyway, over and out for now. Must go get my passport.

Interefering rashes

Sundays after my interferon shot are getting to be quite a drag. After shot #11 I am barely able to get out of bed and move around. going out for a bit tonight, because this may be the last Sunday for 13 more weeks that I am physically capable of doing so. It's like battling some nasty exhausting flu: weak, achy, etc. And this persists into Monday and starts wearing off by Tuesday, and by Friday I feel almost human again (other meds considered), in time for the next shot. Ugh!

Meanwhile, the rashes are growing, even though it seems I am rather lucky, overall. I have two really nasty patches: around my elbows (and, frighteningly, scratching them is almost orgasmic in its intensity), and several small ones on my back. Other people started having them 3-4 days into treatment, and by the point I am at, some had them over 60-70% of the body, including their face. So overall, I shouldn't complain.

My platelets stabilized around 55-60, which is pretty damn bad but at least not dropping anymore.

14 more days of incivek: things should get a little better after that!

Too tired to type...:)...will post some pictures of rashes later!

Interferon note

The side effects of interferon are supposed to peak about 7 hours after the shot. Until tonight, I've managed to sleep through them. Today, I woke up about 6 hours after I took it, wondering why the fuck I felt like utter shit. OK, it took me a minute to figure out.

I note, however, that I notice the side effects more and more with each shot as well, and they do not all wait for 7 hours: 30 seconds after the injection, I get loopy. My speech becomes slurred and my train of thought, derailed in funny ways. Thankfully, these things only last for a couple of minutes...