Help please

[Diana66]

Only my second day but I got up with a terrible headache and I forced myself to eat at 6 and got the 3 Riba and 2 Telaprevir at 6.30am. One hour later I felt really nauseaus and I took a Zofran which helped and the sensation stopped

At 10.30 I had a bout of nausea and before I knew it I threw up everything. This is 4 hours after I took the meds. There was lots of meds taste but is it any chance that I absorbed it in those 4 hours? What am I suppose to do now?

Have you had that?

[dontworry_behappy1]

I remember now.  You have NHL and Hep C.   This is a very special
situation.   There is a Incivek website that gives you a direct 24 hour
line to a nurse who is very helpful.  I think it would be worth the phone
call.  

FYI: I know the information that NHL is connected to Hep C.  I personally took care of a person with NHL for years.  People on the forum agree
with what Advocate1955 is saying.  Making a few phone calls is worth
a fortune to your well being.
Cheppie

[Advocate1955]

I'm concerned that your doctor told you to stop taking the Incivek and reintroduce it in two weeks.  I'm not sure about the protocol in New Zealand, but so far as I know, here in the US the prescription information states very clearly that one must not stop taking Incivek, and once it has been stopped, one must not take it again.  Please call the on call doctor in your physician's office and check on this before you miss another dose.
Advocate1955

[orphanedhawk]

Not sure if you know this but Diana is in New Zealand where the triple therapy is still rather new.

[dontworry_behappy1]

I have been told that they are not giving anti nausea preventive.
__________________________________

Are you in a trial?   Doctors know this causes nausea in many people.
There are medications for nausea that you don't take by mouth.   I have
taken them before when Zofran didn't work.    Also, there are other
medication for nausea and I can be phoned into your pharmacy.  You
should always have them available if needed during treatment.  The
United States Veterans Affairs website has detailed information on what
to expect from treatment.   Look at the Incevik booklet.  
Wishing you the best,
C

[orphanedhawk]

It really sounds like your body is reacting, saying, 'get this poison out of me.'

Wish I had some good suggestions. Cannabis is good for nausea but I don't know that it would stop that kind of reaction.

Perhaps you need to slowly introduce your body to fats. Try Greek yogurt. Try slowly building up the fats in your diet during these two weeks.

[Diana66]

I did a them straight away on Fri. But is good to ave other's opinons. For example, my doctor did not give me anything for nausea even though I expressed my concerns. I have been told that they are not giving antinausea prventive. Oh, great. I covinced my GP to give me some, but I start to take it only before nausea. They stopped Incivek for 2 weeks and reintroduce later. I have no problems now with Riba and I feel reasonably good. I stil think it was for all those fats I took

[dontworry_behappy1]

You need to call your doctor.  People on this forum are not doctors.
If you are taking Zofran and still throwing up... call your doctor now.

[Diana66]

I can cope with the pain, no matter how difficult it is, I can cope with the nausea, even if I have to stay in my corner for 12 weeks, but what do you do when you throw up. I kid you not, first time I put both my hands on the mouth trying to stop it, taking long breaths, but I nver experienced such a violent reaction. It was a huge pressure, nothing I could have done about it. I really erdecorated the walls in the toilet :) Luckily is washable paint

[coeric]

when i started the incivek, i though i could eat an avocado with each dose.  i liked avocados and they are healthy, but  i quickly became nauseated after eating one.  so then i would switch to another food, which after a while would make me nauseated.   i used advocate's technique, and wandered through the supermarket looking for high fat foods that i thought i might be able to hold down. cheese, greek yogurt, bacon, eggnog, aged beef, ice cream are some of the things i could stomach. i somehow made it to 10 weeks when the docs finally pulled me off incevik due to the rash.  reading other people's experiences on the forum was helpful, because i knew from what others reported that it was going to be rough. so i tried to take the long view.  obviously vomiting is hard on the esophagus, but in the end i thought it would be worth it.
blessings
eric

[Advocate1955]

It sounds like you might be in a bit of a nausea cycle (e.g. you're nauseous, you eat, you take your meds, your stomach turns, you're nauseous and it starts over).  I wonder if it would help to take your Zofran every 8 hours as prescribed not only to control the nausea, but also to prevent the nausea.  I would try that, just take it as often as it's prescribed, eat a little something before you take your meds to try to settle your stomach, and make sure that you eat something when you take your Riba and eat the fat food when you take your Incivek.  Make sure you are drinking enough water to stay hydrated.  Dehydration can contribute to nausea.
As OH said, anything with ginger:  ginger tea, raw ginger, and candied ginger all helped my husband's nausea.  Candied ginger is available in Asian markets.
You might also try a wider variety of foods (smells, tastes, textures) to see if they go down/stay down better.  Be sure to get the proper grams of fat with the Incivek though.
Advocate1955

[marco126]

I agree With orpanedhawk eat so mauch as you can and then somemore
as with every type of medication that effects humans like this doctors and Pharmasists say you must take this with food,well with what your taking try to eat to the macks,little time to settle then down the hatch cuase they desolve into the food and has a harder for your body to directly reject it because it does want nourishment,thats my 2 cents hope you try it.

[Diana66]

Thank you Eric, I tried to call them and they were closed !!! is an 8am-8pm service and will reopen on Mon. So really I had 3 full doses, number 4 was puked after 4 hours and number 5 after 3 hours. So it is on the verge!!! Oh well, I will have to go with what the doctor said and have faith that someone up there is on my side

[coeric]

sorry to take so long to get back to you.  i was in a study that quantified the amount of ribavirin that showed up in the blood serum. after my first dose of riba blood samples were taken every hour for a few hours and then every two hours.  i was shown a graph of the level of ribavirin in the blood serum.   within 3 hours of the first dose the blood serum level had peaked.  so the ribavirin rapidly enters the blood stream.  at the time i was fasting so that probably sped things up.  i don't know about the telaprevir. i asked the principal investigator how long it would take for telaprevir to reach study state in the serum and was told it would take 5 doses.  i am concerned that having to stop after the 5 doses will allow the virus to develop resistance to the telaprevir.  i agree with hector that you should call the vertex nurse and see what they have to say.  i am sure they have other that are experiencing the same problem as you.  
eric

[Diana66]

can't eat more than one apple !!!

[can-do-man]

Gingerale worked for me most of the time....... Good luck

[Diana66]

in the past fizzy coca cola helped with stopping me to throw up

Right now I have the most awful bitter taste in my mouth, probably bile

[can-do-man]

"Apparently Riba is more important."

Nope, the PI is the one you can never stop and start or even reduce, riba is important but the PI is by far the most important.

[Diana66]

They told me to interrupt the Telaprevir for now and reintroduce in 2 weeks. Apparently Riba is more important. But already had 5 doses

[Idyllic]

Wow you must feel miserable and I am sorry for it.

★☆ - I really think you should call your doctor tomorrow. It is Friday. Do not let yourself go through the weekend with this uncertainty. ★☆

I double dosed a lot during Incivek because I was sick in the beginning (err...and I was unorganised).   I was not thinking rationally on Incivek. I did not see how I could have absorbed the medication since I could literally see undigested food when I was sick.  

Zofran helped with nausea but it gave me a splitting headache as well. Ginger is supposed to help however I did not happen to respond well to it no matter what form I took.

Sometimes it requires some experimentation when the traditional rescue meds to treat sides do not help. My nausea went away after two weeks. It returned in week 37 or so and I remembered how awful it was walking around feeling like that all the time.

Meclizine Chewable chewable tablets helped me:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000709/

http://www.amazon.com/Meclizine-Chewable-Tablets-Model-85207/dp/B000K6GXNW/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Feel better

[BoceprevirGal]

  It only happened to me twice, the throwing up, and
i was both times, the day after the Interferon shot, when I had a head-ache.
   At least you got 3 hrs in, before it came up. I read that most of the meds are absorbed within 2 hrs, so I still think you are doing okay. Your body is adjusting to 3 harsh meds at once, but it will get used to the Interferon, in a few weeks.

[Diana66]

Here we are, I threw it up again. Telaprevir at 3pm and out at 6pm. Now I am really concerned.

I had been wearing the sea sick bracelets for the whole day, no difference.

[Revalation]

This early in treatment I doubt you have to worry.
I'm sure you absorbed what you need, but call your doctor if you find you are throwing up the medicine on a frequent basis. They can give you
meds to help you get past the side effects.

After my first Pegasys injection I had an awful headache the next day.
Only happened once. Maybe that will be the case with you.

Just hang in there we're all here to help you do tx.

Reva

[dontworry_behappy1]

I used the sea bands that Dawn talked about.   I felt better wearing them.
Make sure you drinking lots of water.  Its can be hard to drink all
the water but it does help you with the treatment side effects.  This
medication dehydrates you and will contribute to your headache.  
C

[orphanedhawk]

Headaches were worse for me the first week or so, then they tapered off.

Be sure you're taking your riba with a substantial meal to avoid nausea.
Anything with ginger, ginger tea, ginger chews even chewing on ginger root can relieve nausea.

Cold compresses can help with the headaches.

Good luck.