Hep C Discussion Forum

OK! I can see (now) both you guys are real hard cases!!

Yer asking for it!.

I'm calling in back up.

Lucky, plug your ears again. Now! Harder! DON"T listen. If you hear something - just ignore it as best you can. This is a private conversation. It may take more than a few minutes, so stay put ... you do not need to "know" what is going on here. Suffice to say there is an important conversation going on about you, decrees, commands that include some repetitive reinforcement.

OK, you got back-up now!, unplug. Good'uns have been invited, they are standing by, aware of deflection as required. See how that goes. And, the last thing you should do before you close your eyes tonight, is to just acknowledge your nearby back-up and wait to see HOW powerful THEIR influence is. Don't worry they ARE super nice.

Tig, I know you are going to really exhaust me.  I can see we are going to have to go right back to basics. Unlike Lucky, I can make NO promises in YOUR case - but I will try ... Lucky is already on to you - yes, firstly you DO have to take that stupid hat off. Get back to us when you have stopped wearing it, in the meantime (with hat off) I want you to practice this ... lay down at night and pull on your ears gently, but firmly, like you are trying to "open" them up, grab the outer ears and stretch and pull and rotate them so as to feel you are opening the canals, straightening out the route a bit ... this should start to let the evil vapours out and allow some positive flow entry in. We got a long way to go for you. Start there for now.  

C.

 

Hi Tig, yes Canuck seemed to drive away the really bizarre/disturbing dreams so far. Had some wacky stuff for part of last night though. Maybe I should try the tin foil hat. Try taking your tin foil off tonight and I will send you some stuff via telepathy.

Cannuk, it may have worked. Still lots of dreaming, but nothing crazy for three nights.

THAT'S IT! I been ripped off!

 

I WANT MY MTV!

 

hoo-whee!!

Kinda reminiscent of that movie, where that "black widow" type lady (almost praying mantis variety woman) kills off her men after she has her way with them! I can't recall the name of that movie just now - have you seen it, you know the one i mean? 

Oh, ... on second thought, nevermind, don't think about anymore bizzaro movies - you are having more than enough right now, all on your own, without any encouragement.

Keep us posted tho, yours are proving waaaay more entertaining than what you can find on any late night TV!

Seriously tho, aside from PG "rate" scales - have you got a "rating scale" for the "severity of fear" they can evoke?? Are you getting used to these weird dreams or do they succeed in keeping you un-nerved because of them? Do you shake the adrenaline almost immediately upon waking and put the dreams in their place? Or, is having them, concerning you long after you have woken from them? I hope you are OK with them. Do you actually get enough hours of sleep every night? - just curious. Hope your sleep is adequate despite all.

Uuh, what do you mean "the guys" will think you're weird?? Aren't you afraid we will ALL think you are wierd?? hahahaha Sorry, joke at your expense. (I don't think your weird! - AT ALL!!) - the only thing weird, are the dreams!  I do hope you are OK with them. Try this - I am imparting a message "directly" to your subconscience (plug your ears for a minute, while some hokus pokus is being arranged) ... "weird people and circumstance are not going to be allowed entry to your dreams tonight, only ordinary, interesting dreams will be permitted entry!!" ... Ok, unplug your ears now. Have a Happy slumber.   C.

Hi all in dreamland,

Darn it all! I was really hoping they were all floridly lucid libido dreams!! That might have been entertaining for all of us! Sigh, oh well. Either way, it does sound like a lot of overtime you are having to do during your nightshifts!!

Thanks for bringing the subject up in the first place tho, and, for delving into it even further (both you and syd) - very interesting to me are bizzaro dreams (or any dreams, period)!

Ya, me too syd, I was wondering exactly what kinda "memorable" dreams were being had!!

I've had a couple weirdo doozer dreams myself. 2 just prior to treatment. And one or two during my treatment (I'm not on harvoni tho, just sof/vel/gs9857). I guess in my case, one could say they were just stress-induced symbolic dreams, or pass them off as such.

The last one (during treatment) made me lol at myself. It got some points just for bizarro creativeness! .... I had to remain poker- faced calm, polite and complimentary (just like everything was perfectly "normal") while meeting this pretty looking boy and his mother. Forced to make small talk all the while coveting my amazement. "Oh isn't he lovely, how old is he, etc., etc.,....", covering and controlling my shock, surprize (near horror) when I saw his sweet tiny 2 year old's upturned face to us was packing a completely fully-formed set of very large, perfectly-formed, very adult set of teeth contained within his cute tiny little head and mouth !! What a  incongruous, disconcerting picture that was! Still makes me laugh to re-visualize that baby talking with a full set of adult teeth! Oh, isn't that just prime for interpretation. hahahaha Out of the mouths of babes eh?  hohohoho Make of THAT what you will!! Wheeeee!. 

Nighty-nite, hope everybody sleeps well tonight.   C.

Syd, Here are a few, since you asked: In one, the team that I managed at the time was stuck in a subway tunnel under the ocean, and the tunnel collapsed around them. Spent hours trying to dig them out and trying to figure out ways to pull the crushed tram out backwards. Finally awoke in a cold sweat after I realized it they were totally doomed. In another, a friend and I were virtually stuck in the movie "I am number 4," and were chased around all night by very tall aliens with gills in their necks, trying to avoid getting killed. Once again, finally woke myself up when I could no longer withstand the terror. On the positive side, two nights ago my best friend gave me a device that looked like an air horn, which would make me levitate and fly when I pressed the trigger. My wife soon woke me up, as I was moving around and laughing so much. Had a few different dreams about going back in time to high school, dating beautiful girls in my class, and establishing awesome relationships; awaking way too soon in these situations. In another bad one, I was on a plane and found several snakes in my carry-on bag, which soon took over the plane. My wife woke me up when I started stomping on the snakes in my sleep. I could go on and on. Wonder what tonight will bring... Good or bad.

Okay Syd, you asked for it! Sit back and enjoy this example of the perfect night. I had to hide it for those sensitive to such pleasure..... 

I warned ya!

Spoiler

Wendy, that's a bummer about the insomnia. I had that with my two previous treatment regimens and it sucked. Not sure which is worse, as both are exhausting. Hope things get better!

My sleeping habits did not change at all while on Harvoni.

No vivid dreams, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Signed,

Timothy Leary

 

Tig56, Gracie, smlj1960, Syd, JimmyK, LKY2BALVE, and Cinnamon Girl, your kind words are a blast!!!  I have come to enjoy the nightly adventures, and while I'm not suffering fatigue at work or play, I'm never enthusiastic about answering the alarm. I slept till 10 Saturday, perhaps a lifetime record. If the nightly adventures continue post-TX, LKY2, I'm okay with it!  

Went for my quarterly with my endocrinologist about the diabetes, and did the five week bloodwork (required for the third month of treatmetn).  I'll let y'all know.  I came off as a big gloater about the Fibroscan, and I apologize for that.  My lifetime "addiction" has been endurance athletics/triathlon, and although that's wound down to daily walks with three dogs, weekly runs, and surfing whenever the opportunity arises on the Gulf coast, Cinnamon Girl and my doc agree that lots of exercise may underlie a relatively healthy liver that maybe ought not be.  

Perhaps we're on to something! A $1250 a day sleeping pill that provides a bit of excitement at slumber time. I could use some of that lucid dreaming myself! 

 

Tom wrote:

---

  Four liters of water per day!  I'm losing some sleep heading to the bathroom.

---

 It's worth it. Adequate sleep is important but adequate hydration is more important during Tx. I had increased dream activity also, and also in a good way. That's excellent news on the fibrosis report, or rather the lack of...

 Here's a solution you can try if you like:

 If your like me, when I wake up at night, if I stay awake more than 3 or 4 minutes it's sometimes hard to go back to sleep. Also, being a double amputee, I keep a seal-able urine bottle next to my bed, 2 of them actually, since a trip to my bathroom is time consuming and can be dangerous for me when I'm still half asleep during the middle of the night. Give it a try if you think it will help (and you don't even have to tell us if you do ).

 Keep up the good work Tom. Harvoni fixed me and your turn is coming.

Hello Tom, your fibroscan result really is amazing after being infected for 41 years, you must be very happy with that!

I`m sure luck does come into it, but also I`m guessing that apart from your regular moderate alcohol intake, you`ve kept yourself fit and active during that time.  There`s still a lot we don`t know about how this virus affects us, and why some people progress fairly rapidly to advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis, whereas others are lucky enough to still have a comparatively healthy well functioning liver after decades of infection. 

Sounds like you`re doing great!  Keep drinking the water, and enjoy your night time adventures! 

 

 

Hey Tom,

That's great news! After 41 years, that's an unusual bit of luck. We know that some people avoid certain aspects of the disease while experiencing others. Missing out on the advanced fibrosis is beyond fortunate! I'm sure you're thrilled, I would be. 

Having the fatigue and headaches is common, but you're taking the right approach. Hydration remains the key and will reduce the severity. So keep up the good work, you're doing very well. Enjoy those dreams and if you can sleep in, I'd take advantage of it! 

Hi Tom,

I am looking forward to seeing your signature. Interesting to hear about the dreams on Harvoni.

Take care,

Syd

Keep us posted!

Hey Tom,

You are experiencing something that has been mentioned time and again. Something about Harvoni has caused the dream machine to go wild! Many mention the return of sleeping like a baby or someone that has drank themselves to oblivion, take your pick. I think the baby wakes up feeling a little better however. I like the lucid dream idea too. I could have some fun with that.... 

As SF mentioned, it may calm down once you've had time to adjust to these medications. They are powerful and affect every single part of your being. You can expect things to be a little haywire for a time. If you can figure out how to control those dreams though, I'd want to hang on to the possibility for awhile! Good luck and keep hydrating!

Hi Tom.

I had read about these prior to starting my treatment as well and in particular about Gracie sleeping very well. I have not slept well in at least 20 years so that was a side effect I was almost hoping for. In reality, my eating, sleeping habits have not changed at all. You are correct though, if you could lucid dream it would be a hoot. I used to be able to when I was a teen but cannot anymore. How much fun is it to be able to control what is going on in your dream and wake up if you choose. Those side effects could also go away since they say it takes about two weeks to get used to this.

I hope you will sleep better soon one way or the other so you can feel better during the day. Honestly, I got used to not sleeping well and can cope with it although not really feeling the best I could. It does however catch up to me and then there are those right off days.

 

Keep well

SF

** BTW I am on day 66 of Harvoni so 18 more to go.

I take my pill in the morning as well, and I've also been having weird dreams that seem real. It seems to have settled down a bit this week, I'm on week 4. Sleeping very well, so well I don't want to get up in the morning, and I'm a morning person. 

Exercising helps for sure - maybe not with the actual side effects, but it makes me feel stronger and not mind them as much.

Odd is a perfect word for how I feel. 

.... Still way better than incevik ... :)

 

 

I have just started the Harvoni program and am on day 12.  Up until 2 nights ago I had no side effects. However, on day 10 I experienced frightening nightmares.  The actual content of the dream was not the frightening part, just frustrating situations with various people in my home who wouldn't leave. However, in the dream, I became more and more agitated with the circumstances but would finally wake up. But, in fact, I didn't wake up. In the dream I awoke but then found the circumstances unchanged. This continued through several cycles until it got to a point where I couldn't tell what was reality and what was the dream. That was the frightening part.  When I finally awoke for real, I was screaming "I don't know what's real".  My wife finally calmed me down and assured me that, in fact, I was awake and this was reality.

I was fearful of going to sleep the next night but reminded myself that is was probably the drug causing this and I would just deal with it. But, in fact, I slept like a baby, had no dreams at all, and woke up feeling refreshed. Last, night I slept well again. Who knows whether this will occur again but if it does, hopefully I will somehow be prepared for it and be less frightened.

Having read this forum I now realize that I've been experiencing some fatigue during the day as well which I will continue to monitor.

I appreciate knowing that I'm not the only one with this experience and hope we all get through it with as little stress as possible.

 

You are experiencing the exact same feeling that I experienced on Sovaldi/Olysio. The pathways that these drugs block will change your brain chemistry. In fact, I will postulate that billions of biological/ neurological and psychological processes used these blocked pathways along with the hepatitis c virus. Your altered state of reality will get a little better BUT mine has not gone away even 6 months after EOT.

If it gets too bad Valium did wonders for me, but be careful to not get addicted to it. 

Hi WW,

The dreams you describe have been mentioned by several people on the Harvoni and Sovaldi protocols. It's not unusual and while it's easy for me to say, do your best to understand it's not going to last. Several of our members have also expressed that they have never slept sounder or deeper, but had weird dreams. The nightmares and crazy dreams wouldn't be my idea of deep restful sleep either. The fatigue you mentioned is another common side effect too. If exercise helps, by all means, do it in moderation and go with the flow for the remainder of treatment.

I have a suggestion. When you see your doctor/nurse this week, describe these issues and see what they think about changing your dosing time. You may notice some improvement by changing it up. I think it would be at least one consideration worth trying.

I think you're doing well and am anxious to hear the results of your upcoming tests! Keep up the good fight, you're getting there... Good luck!