hi and welcome to the group!

if you're hemoglobin gets too low the doctor will prescribe procrit injections for you to do. (that happened to me around week 8 and continued for the remainder of treatment.)

no, the doctors and nurses have no idea the hell we go through! that's why you really really REALLY need a support group while in treatment.

there's a myriad of side effects. homicide and suicide being two of them. you may need to get on an antidepressant while in treatment. many people need to be on them.

yes, the nausea is horrible. you can also get a prescription to help with that. i think i was on phenergan. and crackers help. i lived on crackers and milk shakes.

you need to be drinking water. lots and lots of water!

mike,

read old posts on here. tht'll give you lots of good info. or have your wife read them.

treatment is easy for some and almost kills others (well, i felt like i was going to die ! many times i almost called 911. )

just hang in there and hunker down for the ride. you're doing this for YOU...so you can be virus free for the rest of your life! sounds like you're having a tough time right now but you will get through it!

usually there is a nurse hotline that comes with the meds that you can call 24/7. when things get bad call them too. they can tell you if you need to go to the emergency room.

and you will learn a lot on here.

many hugs, q

hi Mike.... you wont find any better information for this tx than here. What week r u in... have you started tx yet? Everyone here is great with helpin the others get through their bad days and nites. I did 48 weeks and my tx sides were horid! Had it not been for the people here, I WOULD NOT HAVE MADE IT THROUGH THE WHOLE 48 WEEKS! Thats how we roll here. one day ata time buddy...... shout it out... scream, cry, we ALL LISTEN!!!!!!!!!we r a family here. Nothing shocks us and we dont judge........ tx is a Bitch! You will however find an inner strength in you that u did'nt even know existed in you. If we all can get through this..... I have faith you can too.
tight hugs buddy!

Mike, hang in there. The tx is a bitch, just make it through as far as you can. Are you on 24 or 48 wks? Some people ride right through this easily, but the majority of us have a hell of a ride. This is the best place to come when you are down or hurting or need a shoulder to cry on. We understand. We are all at some stage of dealing with disease. We will help you through...this is the best bunch of people you will ever find in a suport group. Stay with us Mike...we'll help you through!!!!!

hmmm what happened to mike?

Mike you out there?

Is everything ok with you?

Hope he's feeling better. We all know how panic attacks can freak us out and then we settle down a bit..hope so!

Ditto Mo

Bro Im sorry your having such a bad time today. I cant call Due to my minutes are already up for this month. Had surgery and most was spent on doc calls. But it sounds to me like youve nd that makes me mad. We are paying them so much to help us but they just dont care anymore it seems good doc is as hard as gol some gd to find these days. Please get on the computer whatever you have to do to get another doctor or at least a mental dotitor and keep doing this untill you find ones who cares.

Ditto ditto Kharm! :)

Hey man I know how your feeling plan and simple sucks ass and is horrible. But this website offers a lot of great people for the support and it helped relieve me.

Mike was going in for bloodwork today.

THANK YOU EVERYONE! It meant SOO much to me that people actually called me last night answering questions and calming my nerves...

I made it through the night (obviously), and today is much better. while in higher spirits, I was so fatigued that I never made it out of my house to do the bloodwork (the hospital is almost an hour away). I talked to the "phone nurse" (she's nice but gets irritated with me quickly). My Ribavirin dose is temporarily reduced to one pill twice daily.

I started taking Celexa about two weeks ago. Not sure if it's helping or not. I'm not too keen on anti-depressants...

I'll check back soon. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!

Mike is there a lab closer to you that you could get your lab work done at? Seems that an hour drive just for labs is a bit much...but if that's your only choice; it must be done.

Don't discontinue your anti-depressant. I don't think anyone cherishes the thought of taking them but the treatment meds are brutal on the psyche...take them and, in fact, if you aren't noticing enough improvement your doc may need to up the dose. It's a necessary part of treatment.

Keep us posted. You might want to ask DS to remove this post since it contains your personal phone number. If you're okay with that then fine but it could create a lot of problems for you as you never know who views forums such as this.

Mike wanted to thank everybody for their help/concern during his time of need. His DR put him on Procrit and he is trying to stick it out.
Thanks Everybody!

Wow...it's really neat to see how everyone pulled together on this...hmmmmmm...you all make me proud. I was gonna add a reply about how the doctors and nurses don't seem to want to be bothered with us...blablabla....but that's not news to anyone.
Mike, research this on your own, too. In a week or two, you'll know more than most of the doctors do.
and then,....I was just gonna throw this out there for everyone that I really need a pizza right about now. I know this is unusual..........................