| Sheila |
|
|
| #46 |
Hi my name is Sheila and I start my Pegatron combination therapy may 8th.I am a recovering drug addict of 8 yrs and apparently I have had hepC for about 10yrs b4 1995 and it was undetected.I got my life together with a nice life and I want to keep it and live life with my children watch them grow up. I am Stage 4 of cirrohis and I dont want to die. I'm positive about the outcome but nervous at the same time more of how phyco I'm going to get :) I am Bipolar and I am taking a medication that is suppose to level me out but I can be somewhat of a btch sometimes and I'm afraid for my boyfriends feelings because I'm sometimes rude. I have 3 kids and I explained everything to them but my guy is a drama king and I scared of how he's going to over react because I dont have patience for drama without the pegatron so I'm nervous how I'm going to be on it. Got any helpful tips I would really appreciate it... Thanks |
| |
| smile |
|
|
| #47 |
You will need someone who is understanding when you start treatment. If you have a choice between dying and offending your guys feelings, I would kick your guy to the curb. If you are already on meds, maybe the Peg mental effects wont be as hard on you. Maybe you should let your guy know this will be hard and if he cant support you even when it gets tough, maybe he should leave during treatment. Maybe get his own place for a bit.
Sorry.....
No easy answers here.
|
| |
| bent |
|
|
| #48 |
Smile has good advice. This time of treatment is your time. For you to focus on your treatment. For you to relax and rest and heal. Stay focused on healing.
|
| |
| just me |
|
|
| #49 |
I thought I was just bitchy,I guess I have had a lot of side effects that I blame on anything but the medicine.Thanks for making me feel a little less crazy.
|
| |
| Victor Smith |
|
|
| #50 |
I have gone through the treatment one year ago. It was really very testing time for me and my family. I have to face many side effects due to the medication. Today i feel much better. I thank God for that.
================================================== ==
Victor Smith
nova scotia drug rehab
|
| |
| webinc02 |
|
|
| #51 |
I have gone through the treatment one year ago. It was really very testing time for me and my family. I have to face many side effects due to the medication. Today i feel much better. I thank God for that.
================================================== ==
victor
nova scotia drug rehab
|
| |
| Geelong |
|
|
| #52 |
Hi, I am still "um-ing and ah-ing" about treatment at the moment. I have 2 littlies a 2yr old and 3 yr old. Its hard enough not going psycho without adding to the stress without treatment. With side effects like headaches, can you take panadol/neurofen etc? and why not get straight onto anti-depressants immediately? to smooth it a bit, or is that too much stress on the body? If the liver needs to break up meds, isn't this serious anti-viral stuff quite a lot for the liver to deal with? Can you prepare/time the psycho days? Are they the days immediately after injection? So you can sort out childcare and a day in bed? Whats the % of patients with the psycho/side effects.... sounds like 99% to me? Or do we just vent on the negatives? It's freaking me out. I keep putting it off. Is it any better for reasonably healthy patients? I've prob had since 2001. 35yr old female, dont smoke, rarely drink I contracted this from an ex, who used to inject. I however have NEVER. Bad luck. Pisses me off in every brochure I read, they make a point of saying how hard it is to contract through sex. I am one of them and makes you feel like no one believes you. Thus only very close friends and poor hubby (who hasn't got it) know about me. No way in hell will I tell my family as they are supportive but I dont really want to have to explain my sexual shenannigans with my ex bike rebellious boyfriend! Sorry to rant. Guess this is the best place to do it. So i really have to get off my butt and get more tests. To start ot not to start? |
| |
| Milret2 |
|
|
| #53 |
Everyone is different and stressors manifest differently for all as well I suspect.
Having a good idea of where you stand before starting therapy is something important for you and your doctor/doctors to sort out. You should make sure your genotype is known and there is some information regards prognosis that may be attached to viral load (low pre-treatment counts may have a better chance of sustained responses then very high loads and some genotypes require shorter treatment times). Degree of liver injury as sorted out by liver biopsy also may help you in sorting out your own desires to treat or not.
It is not unusual for doctors to want evaluation for the likely hood of depressive illness to be done before starting therapy and antidepressants may very well be started preemptively. A good physician patient relationship may also help to deal with such problems in a proactive manner during therapy.
The doctor caring for you hepatitis c is the best person to advise you on pain care/headaches and what medications to take.
In my own dealings with my hep c I did not have serious depression issues nor did I have children to take care of. I did have fatigue as time went on (I was on treatment for a year) and frequent lab/doctor visits were/are not my idea of fun. Was it all worth it? I have been in sustained remission now off of meds for well over eight years from my own 1A genotype hep C, I am an older male (47 years old at diagnosis) who had a fair amount of liver injury by biopsy, and I suspect I might not have had a good time of it had I elected to not treat. I went into treatment with my eyes wide open (liver biopsy done, knowing I had a relatively low count of virus, knowing viral genotype, understanding how the meds might affect me, knowing I could depend on family and doctors for support) and with some very good primary care docs as well as a top of the line liver specialist treating me so .. yeah .. I think it was worth it for me.
If you decide to treat how you respond to treatment may have some bearing on if or when you tell others your diagnosis. I think there is no big problem with telling people who may wonder that you are dealing with a liver inflammation which requires some strong medication and prolonged therapy. I do not think that people with whom you do not share bodily fluids have to be told that you have hep c but knowing that you are dealing with a serious illness requiring serious treatment may help in some situations. You always have the right to decide such things though.
Others may have more to say and I suspect we have many moms who have posted here in the past that may have helpful thoughts. Good luck what ever you decide.
|
| |
| Geelong |
|
|
| #54 |
Thanks. Motivated to get some more tests and stop procrastinating! Will post again when I have details for some more help. thanks again |
| |
| liz |
|
|
| #55 |
My husband just finished his 48 weeks and it has not been a cake walk, the little anti-depressants work and a good sleeping pill. He has been off everything since Jan 2 and he is still tired but getting better he only missed 4 days of work through this whole thing that is what kept him sane. It is not easy on the spouse but hang in there because when it is all over they slowly come back to them old selves. It was rough to watch the person you love go through this but the end results out way the bad. He has been virus free since week four and I am hoping it will stay that way. So all I can say is be there and don't take things to heart because they really don't mean it and they soon start to come back after the treatment. The caregivers must take care of themselves to get through this as well. Good luck to everyone |
| |
| pammie | |
| trekie |
|
|
| #57 |
pammie,
Who said your going to die?.
|
| |
| Judy Rumney |
|
|
| #58 |
Hello everyone.
We want to start a Support Group for people who are on treatment for Hep C in our town. I will be talking to the Nurse from this area, but I would really like to know what needs you have that a group could help with. Any comments will be greatly appriciated.
Thanks
|
| |
| Milret2 |
|
|
| #59 |
Judy writes >>>We want to start a Support Group for people who are on treatment for Hep C in our town. I will be talking to the Nurse from this area, but I would really like to know what needs you have that a group could help with. Any comments will be greatly appriciated.<<
Learning how others have dealt with medical and insurance systems, using medications on a chronic basis, dealing with not knowing what the future may bring if one does or if one does not treat the illness, sharing experiences, triumphs, defeats and such seemed to me to be a lot of what our own support group that I would attend offered.
Sometimes there would be a guest speaker with expert information to impart but I think just sharing was the greatest aid SLOHepC group offered me personally (diagnosed 1998, treated 1999-2000, sustained viral remission since).
You might also want to communicate directly with the SLOHepC misssion in San Luis Obispo using this page here-->http://www.slohepc.org/contact.php and the comment section there. They have run both the AIDS support network and the SLOHepC project here in San Luis Obispo for many years and I suspect they have a wealth of knowledge that they would be willing to share.
|
| |
