Symptoms Part 2 The List
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You know those daft martial arts movies where the lone hero sorts out 100 really mean looking guys armed with broken bottles and bicycle chains ?
You know of course that if they all attacked at once our hero would be completely overwhelmed and any hope of stopping the vice trade and the heroin smuggling being run by the vicious gang warlord would be lost and Asia and indeed the whole world would be doomed.
Well, fortunately side effects of tx are like the mean, nasty gang - they don`t all attack at once. Some of them don`t even attack at all.
That`s what you have to remember when you are under attack. It isn`t going to be a constant. It will pass.
Take my Riba incident the first day for example. My fear instantly was that everday was going to be like this. In fact, such was the shock of that initial incident, that I didn`t go out unaccompanied for ten days afterwards.
But subsequent incidents have been few and never as intense as that first time.
I developed a strategy for coping and fixed it in my mind so that no matter what I was doing I would drop everything and go straight into my contingency plan. The only other time I had a relatively serious Riba attack was in Church.
A few minor incidents had occured in the morning and frustration was building up. This was normal and normally it would be alright - but just as the minister was about to start his message I hit mega irritation.
One more moment in that building and I`d explode. I didn`t even consider that it would probably look a bit off just getting up and leaving - I just did it.
Once outside I felt better and once in my buggy and heading for the ranch, I felt a wave of relief.
You have to decide on a plan of action so that you can say "If and when this happens I will do that".
My nurse loves me because she asked me in the begining of tx to list my symptoms. I have a notebook for this purpose and hand it to her everytime I go in. Here is that list.
These are the side effects I have experienced since starting tx.
Racing brain, riba-rage, flu like symptoms, fatigue, waves of nausea, mouth ulcers, dry skin, extemely itchy skin, brain fog, confusion, depressive cloud, burning eyes, headache, insomnia, emotional and weepy, sweats, and probably a few others that I didn`t write down at the time and have forgotten about.
Very interesting I am sure you will agree.
There are ways and means of coping with all these symptoms. They can be handled because they don`t all come at once. The secret is to be prepared so that when they do come you will know what to do.
In my next post I will give some links (hopefully I will have found out how to do that by then) to the best sites with some tips on how to cope, as well as some of my own.
Fatigue is now my current symptom so my contingency plan tells me to stop what I am doing and go and lie down. Simple, isn`t it.
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You know those daft martial arts movies where the lone hero sorts out 100 really mean looking guys armed with broken bottles and bicycle chains ?
You know of course that if they all attacked at once our hero would be completely overwhelmed and any hope of stopping the vice trade and the heroin smuggling being run by the vicious gang warlord would be lost and Asia and indeed the whole world would be doomed.
Well, fortunately side effects of tx are like the mean, nasty gang - they don`t all attack at once. Some of them don`t even attack at all.
That`s what you have to remember when you are under attack. It isn`t going to be a constant. It will pass.
Take my Riba incident the first day for example. My fear instantly was that everday was going to be like this. In fact, such was the shock of that initial incident, that I didn`t go out unaccompanied for ten days afterwards.
But subsequent incidents have been few and never as intense as that first time.
I developed a strategy for coping and fixed it in my mind so that no matter what I was doing I would drop everything and go straight into my contingency plan. The only other time I had a relatively serious Riba attack was in Church.
A few minor incidents had occured in the morning and frustration was building up. This was normal and normally it would be alright - but just as the minister was about to start his message I hit mega irritation.
One more moment in that building and I`d explode. I didn`t even consider that it would probably look a bit off just getting up and leaving - I just did it.
Once outside I felt better and once in my buggy and heading for the ranch, I felt a wave of relief.
You have to decide on a plan of action so that you can say "If and when this happens I will do that".
My nurse loves me because she asked me in the begining of tx to list my symptoms. I have a notebook for this purpose and hand it to her everytime I go in. Here is that list.
These are the side effects I have experienced since starting tx.
Racing brain, riba-rage, flu like symptoms, fatigue, waves of nausea, mouth ulcers, dry skin, extemely itchy skin, brain fog, confusion, depressive cloud, burning eyes, headache, insomnia, emotional and weepy, sweats, and probably a few others that I didn`t write down at the time and have forgotten about.
Very interesting I am sure you will agree.
There are ways and means of coping with all these symptoms. They can be handled because they don`t all come at once. The secret is to be prepared so that when they do come you will know what to do.
In my next post I will give some links (hopefully I will have found out how to do that by then) to the best sites with some tips on how to cope, as well as some of my own.
Fatigue is now my current symptom so my contingency plan tells me to stop what I am doing and go and lie down. Simple, isn`t it.
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posted by Paul | 7:12 PM
3 Comments:
Did you forget 'uncontrollable shivering' or have you avoided that one? You missed out! Seriously though, I feel for you having been there. It DOES get a bit easier with time, and you DO learn to live with it. Stay positive and you will make it through!
Martin
I love your analogies, first you bring us Phil Mitchell on speed then you give us the martial arts movie version of hep c.
You seem to have loads of side effects, I never really had the flu symptoms though the night sweats were always a problem for me until I started treatment, since two weeks into treatment I have had better control of my temperature than I can remember.
The point about being prepared is a good one and we all have to think about. Before I started treatment I wrote downa list of all the potential side effects and then came up with a list of how I would deal with them.
I have found the emotional and rage side effect the hardest to cope with and cannot stop them, though weekly counselling provides a useful outlet.
Good luck
Jonathan
Hi Paul,
That list sounds pretty familiar to me - haven't had all of the symptoms, but the flu-like ones have been a constant post-injection reaction for me, although slightly less severe now than at the start (or perhaps I'm just getting used to them - just did shot 4). I also develop a red rash around the injection site that comes up a few days after the shot and lasts about a week. i use them as a map of where not to inject, as site previously used!
the hardest is the emotional lability, which seems to hit unexpectedly. i have no tolerance for little arguments with my husband (which never previously bothered me in the least), and now have to say "i can't do this right now". suspect the dynamics of our relationship will undergo some change.
a good website: www.janis7hepc.com.
Sue, Toronto
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