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.