Interferon Survival Techniques

Read here for the brutal truth that is treatment with Interferon. Interferon is immunotherapy used to treat certain types of cancers. My experience lies in its use to counteract skin cancer. How the doctor will prepare you for this treatment is likely to fall short of the preparation that you really need.

Be prepared to feel sick every day that you receive the high dose of the drug. You will feel like you have caught the flu, over and over again, after having the large doses. Depending on the distance you will have to drive to receive your dose, you will need someone to come with you. I recommend not going alone for any drive over a half hour. The reason is that the side effects such as chills, aches, and high fever seem to start within that first hour. The reaction time is unique to the individual however, and you can adjust your plans to fit.

Don’t go it alone. You are dealing with something that is known to cause illness, depression, and in some cases psychosis. Some things you don’t mess with and this falls in that category. If you live alone, either arrange frequent daily visits to your house, ask someone to stay with you, or stay with a relative until the high dose onslaught is over. There will be a need for help because you just won’t have the energy to do the things you need to do.

Anti-depressants are not a sign of weakness. As I listed just above, this drug causes depression and psychosis. That means the drug caused it, not you. So do your self a favor, make a pre-emptive strike and ask for an anti-depressant. You’ll be thankful that you did. It’s better to take the drugs before you need them than to suffer these side effects and have to wait a month for the drugs to kick in later.

Fight for your appetite. As you step down from the high dose to the low dose you may have a slight recovery of your appetite. The odds are that this little bit of ability to eat will quickly fade away. Remember that you are taking an immunotherapy, and that it makes sense for it to help you to the fullest potential, you need to feed your body the energy it needs to fight.

Experiencing anxiety is another common and frightening side effect. The anti-depressants mentioned previously will certainly help with this, however you may still require a little extra assistance. Ask your doctor about drugs such as Xanax or Attivan. Keeping your anxiety under control will help you to keep up with the treatments.

These are simply the things that I’ve noticed in hind sight that could help make the entire ordeal more tolerable. Remember that it is imperative that you take care of yourself first. Two reasons you must take care of yourself are first that keeping your body in the best shape you can enables it to use this medicine to its best ability. The second is that when you do all that you can to minimize the side effects of the drugs, it is more likely that you and your body can tolerate the treatment for a longer time which in the end benefits you.