Low Dose Interferon – How’d you get through it?

Scot

Scot

Scot

I actually found the best remedy for the fatigue was doing some exercise – like walking.    Almost every day, I'd try and throw myself out the door to do the walk because inevitably, I would feel much better afterwards.

Believe me, it wasn't always easy and sometimes I'd bargain with myself to just get through 10 minutes but almost always got a second wind to do the full 2 mile walk.     Just do what you can at first and hopefully you will find some relief.    Glad you can telecommute – I was able to as well and it made a huge difference.

Good luck to you and hope that this helps . .

Mary

I actually found the best remedy for the fatigue was doing some exercise – like walking.    Almost every day, I'd try and throw myself out the door to do the walk because inevitably, I would feel much better afterwards.

Believe me, it wasn't always easy and sometimes I'd bargain with myself to just get through 10 minutes but almost always got a second wind to do the full 2 mile walk.     Just do what you can at first and hopefully you will find some relief.    Glad you can telecommute – I was able to as well and it made a huge difference.

Good luck to you and hope that this helps . .

Mary

I actually found the best remedy for the fatigue was doing some exercise – like walking.    Almost every day, I'd try and throw myself out the door to do the walk because inevitably, I would feel much better afterwards.

Believe me, it wasn't always easy and sometimes I'd bargain with myself to just get through 10 minutes but almost always got a second wind to do the full 2 mile walk.     Just do what you can at first and hopefully you will find some relief.    Glad you can telecommute – I was able to as well and it made a huge difference.

Good luck to you and hope that this helps . .

Mary

Just got done with interferon.  For me the fatigue and depression was really bad to deal with.  I hate to say it the Fatigue in particular will only get worse.  I also telecommuted during my treatment having used most of my time off during my surgery and high dose treatments.  I was sleeping 13-14 hours a night. By three PM during the day I was really tired.  I also had issues with my work around the house, cutting the lawn was really tiring.

I got the injections(my wife is a nurse) on MWF at around 7PM.  Before getting the injections I took tylenol.  The time I took my shots allowed the worst side effects to be during the night when I was sleeping.  Since my worst side effects continued the day after a shot, I was only worthless for two work days a week. I was also worthless on Saturday when I could sleep as much as I wanted. On the days that I was sick I worked from home and did the best I could.

Coffee and hot sauce seemed to help wake me in the morning.  I started the day with three cups of coffee in the morning.  I also usually had cottage cheese with either hot sauce or pepper on it.  Sounds a bit gross but the cottage cheese is a good source of vitamin D and after the first month spicy was the only thing I could taste.  We went through about a gallon of hot sauce when I was going thru treatment.

My guess is that when you work you an hour for lunch.  Those same rules apply to telecommuting,  Use your Telecommuting lunch hour to nap, and eat when you are doing work when telecomuting.  I found the nap really help me work in the afternoon.

While telecommuting is a good thing you should really try to make it in to work once a week.  Being cooped up in the house by yourself is not always a good thing.  Getting out of the house and interacting with people are things that we need as social animals.  This time away from home at the very least will take your mind off what you are dealing with.  I also used IM during telecommuting to interact with people.

Figure out the reason why you are doing interferon.  For me the reason why I cannot bare the thought to see my 10 year old son growup without a father – I saw what not having a father did to my dad.  Each time I got depressed and wanted to quit(there were numerous times)  I reminded myself of the reason and made sure I continued treatment.  It was my driving factor to finish.

You may want to use lotion on your injection zone.  After nine months of injections I developed a few sores at my injection points.  This was largely due to the interferon itself drying out the skin.  These sores are very painful.

It is the long treatment time that usually forces people to quit.  Especially early on, the treatments seemed endless. You can make it!  I did. The people on this web site are cheering for you.  If you have any issues or questions please post on this site.  I look forward to hearing from you again.

Thanks,

MikeWI Stage2c currently NED

Just got done with interferon.  For me the fatigue and depression was really bad to deal with.  I hate to say it the Fatigue in particular will only get worse.  I also telecommuted during my treatment having used most of my time off during my surgery and high dose treatments.  I was sleeping 13-14 hours a night. By three PM during the day I was really tired.  I also had issues with my work around the house, cutting the lawn was really tiring.

I got the injections(my wife is a nurse) on MWF at around 7PM.  Before getting the injections I took tylenol.  The time I took my shots allowed the worst side effects to be during the night when I was sleeping.  Since my worst side effects continued the day after a shot, I was only worthless for two work days a week. I was also worthless on Saturday when I could sleep as much as I wanted. On the days that I was sick I worked from home and did the best I could.

Coffee and hot sauce seemed to help wake me in the morning.  I started the day with three cups of coffee in the morning.  I also usually had cottage cheese with either hot sauce or pepper on it.  Sounds a bit gross but the cottage cheese is a good source of vitamin D and after the first month spicy was the only thing I could taste.  We went through about a gallon of hot sauce when I was going thru treatment.

My guess is that when you work you an hour for lunch.  Those same rules apply to telecommuting,  Use your Telecommuting lunch hour to nap, and eat when you are doing work when telecomuting.  I found the nap really help me work in the afternoon.

While telecommuting is a good thing you should really try to make it in to work once a week.  Being cooped up in the house by yourself is not always a good thing.  Getting out of the house and interacting with people are things that we need as social animals.  This time away from home at the very least will take your mind off what you are dealing with.  I also used IM during telecommuting to interact with people.

Figure out the reason why you are doing interferon.  For me the reason why I cannot bare the thought to see my 10 year old son growup without a father – I saw what not having a father did to my dad.  Each time I got depressed and wanted to quit(there were numerous times)  I reminded myself of the reason and made sure I continued treatment.  It was my driving factor to finish.

You may want to use lotion on your injection zone.  After nine months of injections I developed a few sores at my injection points.  This was largely due to the interferon itself drying out the skin.  These sores are very painful.

It is the long treatment time that usually forces people to quit.  Especially early on, the treatments seemed endless. You can make it!  I did. The people on this web site are cheering for you.  If you have any issues or questions please post on this site.  I look forward to hearing from you again.

Thanks,

MikeWI Stage2c currently NED

Just got done with interferon.  For me the fatigue and depression was really bad to deal with.  I hate to say it the Fatigue in particular will only get worse.  I also telecommuted during my treatment having used most of my time off during my surgery and high dose treatments.  I was sleeping 13-14 hours a night. By three PM during the day I was really tired.  I also had issues with my work around the house, cutting the lawn was really tiring.

I got the injections(my wife is a nurse) on MWF at around 7PM.  Before getting the injections I took tylenol.  The time I took my shots allowed the worst side effects to be during the night when I was sleeping.  Since my worst side effects continued the day after a shot, I was only worthless for two work days a week. I was also worthless on Saturday when I could sleep as much as I wanted. On the days that I was sick I worked from home and did the best I could.

Coffee and hot sauce seemed to help wake me in the morning.  I started the day with three cups of coffee in the morning.  I also usually had cottage cheese with either hot sauce or pepper on it.  Sounds a bit gross but the cottage cheese is a good source of vitamin D and after the first month spicy was the only thing I could taste.  We went through about a gallon of hot sauce when I was going thru treatment.

My guess is that when you work you an hour for lunch.  Those same rules apply to telecommuting,  Use your Telecommuting lunch hour to nap, and eat when you are doing work when telecomuting.  I found the nap really help me work in the afternoon.

While telecommuting is a good thing you should really try to make it in to work once a week.  Being cooped up in the house by yourself is not always a good thing.  Getting out of the house and interacting with people are things that we need as social animals.  This time away from home at the very least will take your mind off what you are dealing with.  I also used IM during telecommuting to interact with people.

Figure out the reason why you are doing interferon.  For me the reason why I cannot bare the thought to see my 10 year old son growup without a father – I saw what not having a father did to my dad.  Each time I got depressed and wanted to quit(there were numerous times)  I reminded myself of the reason and made sure I continued treatment.  It was my driving factor to finish.

You may want to use lotion on your injection zone.  After nine months of injections I developed a few sores at my injection points.  This was largely due to the interferon itself drying out the skin.  These sores are very painful.

It is the long treatment time that usually forces people to quit.  Especially early on, the treatments seemed endless. You can make it!  I did. The people on this web site are cheering for you.  If you have any issues or questions please post on this site.  I look forward to hearing from you again.

Thanks,

MikeWI Stage2c currently NED

I managed 11 months of  interferon, and worked as much as I could the whole time. Thank God for understanding bosses & telework!  I finished treatment in Oct 2010, and thankfully, most of that year is now just a dull blur.

My best advice?

1) Drink – water, soda, tea, coffee, Ensure, milkshakes, whatever. Just get lots of liquids

2) EAT – anything, and whenever you're hungry (even if it's 3am, because who knows when you'll be hungry again?)

If you've had problems eating (enough to have lost weight), you might consider having your vitamin D level checked.  Poor diet and reduced sun exposure (I think we all become "vampires" while undergoing melanoma treatment!) can lead to low vitamin D levels.  One symptom of vitamin D deficiency is fatigue – and the lower the level, the worse the fatigue gets. My worst fatigue during interferon occurred when my vitamin D level had dropped to single digits.

Undereating can contribute to fatigue too. You may not realize how little you are eating (chemo fog tends to make everything a blur). If you are steadily losing weight, then you've probably decreased your diet enough to add to your fatigue.

Cheeseburger Happy Meals with a Vanilla Milkshake eventually became my friend while on interferon!  I didn't have to smell it cooking, it's actually fairly bland, the size was right, and the toy was usually very entertaining

Just my 2cents, based on what I went through.

I managed 11 months of  interferon, and worked as much as I could the whole time. Thank God for understanding bosses & telework!  I finished treatment in Oct 2010, and thankfully, most of that year is now just a dull blur.

My best advice?

1) Drink – water, soda, tea, coffee, Ensure, milkshakes, whatever. Just get lots of liquids

2) EAT – anything, and whenever you're hungry (even if it's 3am, because who knows when you'll be hungry again?)

If you've had problems eating (enough to have lost weight), you might consider having your vitamin D level checked.  Poor diet and reduced sun exposure (I think we all become "vampires" while undergoing melanoma treatment!) can lead to low vitamin D levels.  One symptom of vitamin D deficiency is fatigue – and the lower the level, the worse the fatigue gets. My worst fatigue during interferon occurred when my vitamin D level had dropped to single digits.

Undereating can contribute to fatigue too. You may not realize how little you are eating (chemo fog tends to make everything a blur). If you are steadily losing weight, then you've probably decreased your diet enough to add to your fatigue.

Cheeseburger Happy Meals with a Vanilla Milkshake eventually became my friend while on interferon!  I didn't have to smell it cooking, it's actually fairly bland, the size was right, and the toy was usually very entertaining

Just my 2cents, based on what I went through.

I managed 11 months of  interferon, and worked as much as I could the whole time. Thank God for understanding bosses & telework!  I finished treatment in Oct 2010, and thankfully, most of that year is now just a dull blur.

My best advice?

1) Drink – water, soda, tea, coffee, Ensure, milkshakes, whatever. Just get lots of liquids

2) EAT – anything, and whenever you're hungry (even if it's 3am, because who knows when you'll be hungry again?)

If you've had problems eating (enough to have lost weight), you might consider having your vitamin D level checked.  Poor diet and reduced sun exposure (I think we all become "vampires" while undergoing melanoma treatment!) can lead to low vitamin D levels.  One symptom of vitamin D deficiency is fatigue – and the lower the level, the worse the fatigue gets. My worst fatigue during interferon occurred when my vitamin D level had dropped to single digits.

Undereating can contribute to fatigue too. You may not realize how little you are eating (chemo fog tends to make everything a blur). If you are steadily losing weight, then you've probably decreased your diet enough to add to your fatigue.

Cheeseburger Happy Meals with a Vanilla Milkshake eventually became my friend while on interferon!  I didn't have to smell it cooking, it's actually fairly bland, the size was right, and the toy was usually very entertaining

Just my 2cents, based on what I went through.

HI,

  I did 11 months of low dose interferon and while I chose not to work as I was too fatigued, my doctor did prescribe Ritalin, a stimulant medication (given to people with ADHD) which really helped me, especially when I HAD to go out and do things.

Check with your oncologist about this if you'd like.

Also check my profile for more information opn my experience…its been 6 years since I did it so I dont remember alot of the details.

Vermont_Donna, stage 3a

HI,

  I did 11 months of low dose interferon and while I chose not to work as I was too fatigued, my doctor did prescribe Ritalin, a stimulant medication (given to people with ADHD) which really helped me, especially when I HAD to go out and do things.

Check with your oncologist about this if you'd like.

Also check my profile for more information opn my experience…its been 6 years since I did it so I dont remember alot of the details.

Vermont_Donna, stage 3a

HI,

  I did 11 months of low dose interferon and while I chose not to work as I was too fatigued, my doctor did prescribe Ritalin, a stimulant medication (given to people with ADHD) which really helped me, especially when I HAD to go out and do things.

Check with your oncologist about this if you'd like.

Also check my profile for more information opn my experience…its been 6 years since I did it so I dont remember alot of the details.

Vermont_Donna, stage 3a

Just wanted to say, as my husband enters the high-dose interferon phase tomorrow, that your I appreciate the replies here.  I'm grateful for this community. 

Best wishes to the original poster as you keep on keeping on!

Warmly,

Colleen

Just wanted to say, as my husband enters the high-dose interferon phase tomorrow, that your I appreciate the replies here.  I'm grateful for this community. 

Best wishes to the original poster as you keep on keeping on!

Warmly,

Colleen

Just wanted to say, as my husband enters the high-dose interferon phase tomorrow, that your I appreciate the replies here.  I'm grateful for this community. 

Best wishes to the original poster as you keep on keeping on!

Warmly,

Colleen