May 19th - Took my first shot of interferon around 9:45 pm and started the Ribavirin around 11:00 PM. I Went to bed around 1:00 am and I was woken up around 3:00 or 3:30 am by the sound of thunder and lightning. After I gained my senses I realized I was feeling pretty ill. Freezing cold and shivering, my bones hurt, my head hurt, I was nauseated, and drenched in sweat and just could not stop shivering no matter how many blankets I pilled on top of me. I was very thirsty and felt like I couldn’t get enough to drink. All the shivering caused my muscles to begin to cramp up and hurt really bad. I had eaten a pretty good snack around 11:00 pm, it was not a good idea – it had to go – so up it came which provided instant relief of the stomach cramps. I could not go back to sleep and had to endure the pain and discomfort the best I could. Around 6:30 I was able to get up and take a shower to wash off stench from all the sweating. I went back to bed and was able to go back to sleep. I woke up again around 9:30 am. I got up and walked around a little and stretched my muscles. I was feeling much better. By 10:30 am I was able to get up and get in front of the computer and check my email, etc. By early afternoon I was actually able to get a little bit of programming done. I was very surprised; we had planned on the best case being that I would be in bed until sometime Sunday.

Ongoing through the week I continued the Ribavirin doses of two in the morning and three at night and my daily Wellbutrin. It seems that the Ribavirin does not get along well with Pepsi (which I normally consume a lot of). I had to stop drinking Pepsi and had to resort to water, cranberry juice or apple juice. It is not very fun to quit the Pepsi cold turkey. Also, the Wellbutrin reduces the effects of smoking and eventually makes you not really want them any more. I could think of better times to cut way back on the smokes.