List of Questions
Linda Freeman
2. Is the desire to commit suicide because you are soo sick for soo
long and it is agonizing or is it because the interferon type drugs
stimulate the desire in your brain?
3. I read that the overall success of Interferon treatment is 50/50 but
my doctor said that since I have genotype 3 it is 70-80%. So what is it
really?
4. I read that if you decide to quit the treatment it will be worse for
you if you try it again. Know anything about that?
5. Could I become worse if I do the interferon whereas I may be one of
the l/3 who never experience symptoms?
6. My doctor tells me that my liver is inflamed but I just decided to
check. Don't some foods/flu shots/anti-biotics cause an ordinary or
sensitive liver to inflame temporarily?
7. I have had Hep C for 30 years or more and I do not have any pain. I
do have a glob of fat in one of my breasts and zit-like boils under my
arms much of the time. (not Cancer but globs of fat can be an indicator
of the body adjusting to the liver's inability to do its job. The liver
does slow down as you get older. I'm 50.
8. I spoke to a neighbor who had Chemotherapy and Interferon is a part
of that treatment. She said that she wasn't able to take anything for a
headache. I read that rubbing lemon rind on you temples and then
wrapping your head in a towel is a remedy. Can you comment one way or
another? What about vommiting or having to drink lots of water when you
are absolutely nauseas?
9. Will the treatment keep us sleepy so we don't have to suffer soo
much or do they give us something for that?
l0. What is the plan for managing the pain/side-effects.
ll. Will I be able to clean my house, pay my bills and shop?
l2. I have medicare. Will they pay someone to clean my house and
nursing visits?
l3. Can we be given a prescription for marijuana?
l4. What is the best Social Security approved country that allows
heroin for palliative care?
TX-012
wrote:
> l. Which genotype/s are contracted by the use of injectable drugs?<<
All.
>
> 2. Is the desire to commit suicide because you are soo sick for soo
> long and it is agonizing or is it because the interferon type drugs
> stimulate the desire in your brain?
Both.
>
> 3. I read that the overall success of Interferon treatment is 50/50 but
> my doctor said that since I have genotype 3 it is 70-80%. So what is it
> really?<<
Your doctor is probably right; genotype I is both most common (in the
US) and least treatable.
>
> 4. I read that if you decide to quit the treatment it will be worse for
> you if you try it again. Know anything about that?<<
No--I have not seen any data on that...
>
> 5. Could I become worse if I do the interferon whereas I may be one of
> the l/3 who never experience symptoms?<<
I do not understand the question
>
> 6. My doctor tells me that my liver is inflamed but I just decided to
> check. Don't some foods/flu shots/anti-biotics cause an ordinary or
> sensitive liver to inflame temporarily?<<
I have no idea...
>
> 7. I have had Hep C for 30 years or more and I do not have any pain. I
> do have a glob of fat in one of my breasts and zit-like boils under my
> arms much of the time. (not Cancer but globs of fat can be an indicator
> of the body adjusting to the liver's inability to do its job. The liver
> does slow down as you get older. I'm 50.<<
Okay.
>
> 8. I spoke to a neighbor who had Chemotherapy and Interferon is a part
> of that treatment. She said that she wasn't able to take anything for a
> headache. I read that rubbing lemon rind on you temples and then
> wrapping your head in a towel is a remedy. Can you comment one way or
> another? What about vommiting or having to drink lots of water when you
> are absolutely nauseas?<<
You can take NSAIDs, low doses of Tylenol, and opiates when on hep c
treatment.
I sometimes had problems with fluid intake on treatment, but not
often.
>
> 9. Will the treatment keep us sleepy so we don't have to suffer soo
> much or do they give us something for that?<<
Insomnia and pain are very common, you may wish to get Rx sleep/pain
medication.
>
> l0. What is the plan for managing the pain/side-effects.<<
For anemia, you may need EPO
For pain, NSAIDs, Tylenol and/or opiates
For sleep, benzos
For nausea, various anti-nausea meds
For depression, SSRIs or other drugs
Etc.
>
> ll. Will I be able to clean my house, pay my bills and shop?<<
Probably.
>
> l2. I have medicare. Will they pay someone to clean my house and
> nursing visits?<<
I dunno. Doubt it re: the former.
>
> l3. Can we be given a prescription for marijuana?<<
In CA, sure!
>
> l4. What is the best Social Security approved country that allows
> heroin for palliative care?
Methadone is better for that purpose. It's what I used (in the US)...
Waterspider
"TX-012" <with...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:23cf5dc3-8e9e-4c9b...@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
On Dec 13, 3:29 pm, lfreemanlindafree...@webtv.net (Linda Freeman)
wrote:
> l. Which genotype/s are contracted by the use of injectable drugs?<<
All.
But usually just one at a time.
>
> 2. Is the desire to commit suicide because you are soo sick for soo
> long and it is agonizing or is it because the interferon type drugs
> stimulate the desire in your brain?
Both.
People don't normally become suicidal because of chronic illness. The
suicidal tendancies we're warned about in treatment for hepatitis c are
caused specifically and exclusively by the drugs.
>
> 3. I read that the overall success of Interferon treatment is 50/50 but
> my doctor said that since I have genotype 3 it is 70-80%. So what is it
> really?<<
Your doctor is probably right; genotype I is both most common (in the
US) and least treatable.
The success rate used to be 50% before the drugs were administered according
to the patient's weight. Now I believe it's over 60% successful for
genotypes 1 and 4, over 80% successful for genotype's 2 and 3. It doesn't
mean that your individual odds of success are 80% on a linear scale, it
means that, in a group of ten people, eight will succeed.
>
> 4. I read that if you decide to quit the treatment it will be worse for
> you if you try it again. Know anything about that?<<
No--I have not seen any data on that...
The theory is that treatment can cause the virus to mutate to become more
resistant to the drugs, which sounds reasonable. The other thing at work is
that more people fail in their second round of treatment than their first,
but you have to consider that the first failure is a good indication that
their particular case is more difficult to treat and thus less likely to be
successful. Statistics again, which can confound just about any information
that it's applied to.
>
> 5. Could I become worse if I do the interferon whereas I may be one of
> the l/3 who never experience symptoms?<<
I do not understand the question
You could be free of side-effects, or you could have serious side-effects
that prevent you from completing treatment. You could start off with
horrible sides and feel better and better as you go through treatment, or
you could start off fine and feel like crap by the time you're done. No one
knows, and no one knows why, but there are many tricks to dealing with many
of the possible side-effects. I don't think 1/3 of people doing treatment
experience no sides; I think it's much fewer than that.
>
> 6. My doctor tells me that my liver is inflamed but I just decided to
> check. Don't some foods/flu shots/anti-biotics cause an ordinary or
> sensitive liver to inflame temporarily?<<
I have no idea...
The most common cause of inflamation of the liver is alcohol consumption. As
far as I know, food is an unlikely culprit. Antibiotics and vaccines may be
suspect.
>
> 7. I have had Hep C for 30 years or more and I do not have any pain. I
> do have a glob of fat in one of my breasts and zit-like boils under my
> arms much of the time. (not Cancer but globs of fat can be an indicator
> of the body adjusting to the liver's inability to do its job. The liver
> does slow down as you get older. I'm 50.<<
I'm 55. I regularly had zits/boils for years, but after treatment they
disappeared. It makes sense because one function of the liver is to clean
toxins from the blood. I suppose the toxins that the infected liver can't
deal with could collect under the surface of the skin and cause eruptions.
Treatment (even if it's not successful) improves the condition of the liver,
so that could help the zit problem.
Okay.
>
> 8. I spoke to a neighbor who had Chemotherapy and Interferon is a part
> of that treatment. She said that she wasn't able to take anything for a
> headache. I read that rubbing lemon rind on you temples and then
> wrapping your head in a towel is a remedy. Can you comment one way or
> another? What about vommiting or having to drink lots of water when you
> are absolutely nauseas?<<
You can take NSAIDs, low doses of Tylenol, and opiates when on hep c
treatment. I sometimes had problems with fluid intake on treatment, but not
often.
I haven't heard of the lemon rind thing, but who knows, it might work.
On treatment, you can safely take the recommended dose of Tylenol
(acetominaphen).
>
> 9. Will the treatment keep us sleepy so we don't have to suffer soo
> much or do they give us something for that?<<
Insomnia and pain are very common, you may wish to get Rx sleep/pain
medication.
You're more likely to have trouble sleeping. About an hour before I did my
shot at midnight on Friday, I would take a Gravol and a Tylenol, so I slept
soundly until the next morning, through the worst of it. How do I know that
was the worst? Because my curiosity got the best of me towards the end of
treatment and so I skipped the Gravol and Tylenol, just to see. That was one
of the stupider things I did while on treatment.
>
> l0. What is the plan for managing the pain/side-effects.<<
For anemia, you may need EPO
For pain, NSAIDs, Tylenol and/or opiates
For sleep, benzos
For nausea, various anti-nausea meds
For depression, SSRIs or other drugs
Etc.
You probably won't get anemia.
In most cases, Tylenol is effective for any treatment-caused headache and
flu-like achiness.
If you have problems sleeping, Gravol is usually just fine and it takes care
of the nausea too.
Because you may experience depression, it's a good idea to start a low-dose
antidepressant several weeks before beginning treatmtent. These drugs work
differently on everyone, and take a while to have any effect.
Many people find marijuana helpful for nausea, pain and depression.
>
> ll. Will I be able to clean my house, pay my bills and shop?<<
Probably.
Who knows.
>
> l2. I have medicare. Will they pay someone to clean my house and
> nursing visits?<<
I dunno. Doubt it re: the former.
I doubt it too but, wow, wouldn't that be cool?
>
> l3. Can we be given a prescription for marijuana?<<
In CA, sure!
Where do you live? Here in BC Canada, some doctors will prescribe it and
some won't. It's up to your doctor and the laws governing whatever
state/province you're living in.
>
> l4. What is the best Social Security approved country that allows
> heroin for palliative care?
Methadone is better for that purpose. It's what I used (in the US)...
Methadone better than heroin? Wow, that should raise some debate.
Linda, you'll probably find a better answer to that question on a different
newsgroup. We're all about hepatitis C here.