interferon for 6 months

jodi_girl_50

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if there is anyone out there still on interferon and how they are doing. I was diagnosed with stage 3 metastic nodular melanoma last sept. I had just had my first child and then 2 weeks later found out. I had 2 surgeries, one on the sight and then one to remove my lymph nodes it had spread to. I started interferon this past jan. first everyday in the hospital for a month and now i give my own shots 3 days a week. Ive been doing it now for 6 months and i feel like my body is gona give out anyday. I can barely take care of my child let alone work on this he%%ish medicine. If I had it to do all over agian knowing what I know now I probably wouldnt be doing the interferon. I was wondering if there is anyone else out there who had good results or bad from this drug.

bho

interferon 6 months
Jodi, been a lurker here for a while, your post jolted me out of lurking. I had the same diagnosis as you. Wide tumor excision and sentinal node biopsy soon followed by the lymph node disection. Diagnosed in 05. I took interfuron for 7 months. I quit (against my doctors advice) when it killed my thyroid gland. I have no regrets from quitting early, sometimes I wonder why it took so long for me to think of it as an option. Drug is simply nasty. I think I had every side effect listed and created a few new ones. My hi dose phase was inturpted 3 times (took nearly 9 weeks to complete)due to liver levels. Diagnosed when I was 44, kids were 6,8,& 10. Thyroid died in the shot phase. It sure was a struggle to get through, but I am still here to complain about it(after 4 years). Take it a day at a time and you can get through it. On the other hand, there was a gentleman getting the same treatment as me and he sufferd few side effects. Was even mowing his lawn during treatment(god I hated him. I was tossing chunks, and he was mowing..). Guess everybody is different. Hope you start feeling better soon.

yalleh

bho said:

interferon 6 months
Jodi, been a lurker here for a while, your post jolted me out of lurking. I had the same diagnosis as you. Wide tumor excision and sentinal node biopsy soon followed by the lymph node disection. Diagnosed in 05. I took interfuron for 7 months. I quit (against my doctors advice) when it killed my thyroid gland. I have no regrets from quitting early, sometimes I wonder why it took so long for me to think of it as an option. Drug is simply nasty. I think I had every side effect listed and created a few new ones. My hi dose phase was inturpted 3 times (took nearly 9 weeks to complete)due to liver levels. Diagnosed when I was 44, kids were 6,8,& 10. Thyroid died in the shot phase. It sure was a struggle to get through, but I am still here to complain about it(after 4 years). Take it a day at a time and you can get through it. On the other hand, there was a gentleman getting the same treatment as me and he sufferd few side effects. Was even mowing his lawn during treatment(god I hated him. I was tossing chunks, and he was mowing..). Guess everybody is different. Hope you start feeling better soon.

Jolted
I was jolted by another thread but now I cant stop.

DON'T give up... You've made it 6 months you've done the tough stuff now you just need to coast to the finish line. I would strongly suggest talking to your doctor about anything that can help (in another thread I suggested to wait to take anti-depressants) but for you at this stage they may help. If it helps I can send you emails of all the stuff I went through. Initially I had headaches so bad I thought my head would explode.. I stuck something in my mouth to bite down on and bit so hard and for so long I finally passed out and woke up the next morning (still had a headache but not as bad... and my jaw was sore.. hmm). When I talked to the doctor about it she gave me some pain pills.


DON'T QUIT AFTER 6 MONTHS PLEASE!