Day 16, Side Effect Hell

Well, since Saturday, I've slowly been coping with the side effects of this medicine, but have noticed an overall change in myself mentally. I'm not depressed or anything, but am suffering lack of sleep. Since Saturday night, I've only been getting about 3-4 hours sleep a night. My head won't stop pounding, and to top it off Riba-Rage is in full effect. Even my wife has noticed changes in my mood, behavior and overall mental state. These drugs are heavy duty, powerful stuff, and I sometimes forget their dragon slaying capability and the repercussions that come from being on therapy. So yeah, my head is jacked up. The back of my head is throbbing again, and I woke up with a very bad headache. Sensitive to light, noise etc... On top of that, I can't think clearly. And I'm going to be real and open for a minute, which is hard for me to be transparent, but I've caught myself being harsh to my wife a couple times. This is definitely not me. Anyone that knows me and my wife, realizes we are like two peas in a pod. This Riba-Rage is really getting on my nerves, but thankfully my wife understands the issue and helps me cope.

To make matters worse, I had a little melt down last night. I was doing laundry, and noticed water pooling under my dryer. By system of debunking the issue, I found that it wasn't blowing air at all, hence the water pooling. In the process of trying to slide the dryer back to have a look at the duct work, I smashed my finger on the door handle by the garage door. my whole nail is purple, and kept me up all night throbbing with every single beat of my heart. My pain endorphins kept me awake most of the night, tossing and turning and grasping my hand to relieve pressure. Being a hemophiliac didn't make matters any better either. So despite being very angry, in a fog, can't think clear, lashing out from Riba-Rage and this other nonsense, I'm going into day 16, another day of meds, another day of rage, another day of sleeplessness, another day of side effects. No one said that this would be easy...

Day 14, The In Between

Day 14 - I woke up this morning feeling a bit off someway in the body. Upon getting out of bed and getting vertical, the symptoms became more and more prominent, I was very nauseous. Having to take my Ribavirin this morning, I was in a dilemma, one of which had only but one solution, take the meds regardless. Forcing myself to eat a granola bar and some string cheese, I took my morning dose of 400mg Ribavirin, and within 20 minutes the nausea intensified to the point that if I were to cough or blow my nose the wrong way, it could trigger a regurgitation response. It was then I remembered from a previous ER visit of having kidney stones back last Summer, I was prescribed Zofran 4mg tablet, which is to counteract the nausea. I took it without hesitating. GOOD MOVE! Within minutes, I started getting relief, and the symptoms dwindled away slowly.

So I called my doctor who assigned me to this new HCV therapy with Sovaldi, and she sent my pharmacy a prescription for Zofran with 2 more refills to help get me through those rough, upset stomach mornings to keep from throwing up my medication. It has to stay in me, it has to dissolve, it has to absorb... PERIOD! Within a half hour the pharmacy called back, and my anti-nausea tablets were ready for pick-up. What a blessing this was. I am very lucky to have such quick response with my doctor during therapy, and even more so blessed to even be on therapy in the first place.

Today marked day 14, and pill 14 of therapy, so two weeks exactly (22 more weeks to go). It was the day to go in and get labs drawn, which was a basic CBC panel to monitor white blood cells (WBC) counts. This lets the doctor understand how the Ribavirin is affecting my immune system. Upon arriving this morning at my local lab, I met a lady who I have interacted with before during a previous blood draw, her name was Deborah. She is the sweetest, most darling older black woman in the world. She asked me, "How ya doing today Joe?" In to which my reply is always, "Too blessed to be stressed." She laughed out loud and said, "Hallelujah!" A five minute lab draw turned into a 25 minute conversation about Jesus Christ, how blessed we are, and how amazing God is. God put Deborah in my life to pick me up, from my down points from the weekend of side effect hell I had. My Boss is like that, puts people in our paths, shows up at the random times, right when we need a boost, right when need a hand and right when we're weak physically and mentally. God is so good guys. It's amazing what a little faith, hope and God's grace can do for the soul. I go next Tuesday, February 11th, to follow up with my doctor and get the results of my lab work drawn today. Until then, every day, every dose, every pill. God Bless!

Day 13, Riba Rage

I've pretty much narrowed down my side effects to the taking of Ribavirin. Sovaldi by itself isn't causing me any sort of side effects after taking the daily pill, but I have noticed within an hour of Ribavirin, the effects enhance tremendously. There was a saying back in 2006 when I took therapy with Interferon and Ribavirin from a message board support group I was involved with. That saying is "Riba Rage." It fit so well with side effects, and how up and down the drug can cause one to feel. So, I'm resurrecting this old term, and saying that my RibaRage has returned, and my head is stuck somewhere in the clouds.... "Pretty bird..." That was a silly Dumb & Dumber reference, but seriously, I can feel the ups and downs of this drug in my system after taking it. The more fattier meal I eat, the more severe and harsher the side effects manifest. Side effects for me at this moment include brain fog, dizziness, lethargy, chills, sweats, muscle cramps and stomach ickyness. One side effect drives me bonkers, often after taking the pills-AM/PM-I get this feeling in the back of my head like pressure, followed by a sense of wanting to faint, but not fainting, a sense of light headedness. I just knuckle down, and endure. No one said slaying a dragon was going to be a walk in the park, but with all victory comes a season of suffering.

Side Effects

Small update at midnight. After taking Ribavirin tonight, I started really feeling like crap. My head feels different, and so does my body. I feel slightly dizzy, light headed, had a small episodes of chills and now I have a moderate headache on top of waves do lethargy. I'm heading to bed, and hoping to sleep it off. I was having some acid reflux earlier in the week, but now this vertigo feeling is throwing me off. It almost feels like I want to black out, but don't quite get that extreme. It's an odd feeling to describe for sure. 

It's times like tonight, I'm reminded that with victory, comes suffering. No war is won; no battle is progressed without some form of adversary and enduring.

Day 12, And Doing Well

I haven't posted in a couple days, mainly in part because I honestly haven't noticed any changes in my therapy in terms of side effects and the way I feel. I do, however, notice at certain times for periods of about 25-30 minutes in the early afternoon around 3:30PM I get a wave of lethargy that hits me. I typically eat really light lunches and breakfasts, so nothing too heavy like pastas or breads. The lethargy is just the same as a sugar crash, that half hour of just, UGH, BLAH & BLEH! The heartburn has seemed to dwindle down a substantial bit, nothing like it was a few nights ago thank God! Nothing like lying down in bed and the acid so bad in your stomach that the back of your throat is on fire and burning. ICK! All in all, I can determine if heartburn and lethargy are related at all to Sovaldi or Ribavirin, but hey, if that's all the side effects that manifest, than it's a piece of cake!

I have to leave you all with this video I found on YouTube of a girl getting her first lab work drawn and being stuck with a needle. I have never in my life seen a teenager act like this over a stupid needle. Mind you, that comment is coming from someone who injects himself into his veins 3 times a week with a butterfly hypodermic needle. I'm just rolling my eyes and thinking in the back of my head, "Really?" I'm not judging anyone, but this gal has a lot more to cry about in today's world than a stinking needle. I am not sure is this young lady suffers any form of mental illness, but in the case she doesn't, REALLY!?