1st to 27th injection quick summary...(Side effects and general well being)

Where was i?

Yes well, as i said, i didn't feel anything after the first injection and tablets but the next morning i did feel a bit chilly like i was coming down with a little cold or something. It certainly didn't stop me doing my normal everyday stuff.
And as time went on it didn't get any worse apart from maybe having a runny nose some of the time, especially when out cycling in the evening, but it was cold out! And at bedtime too it would run also.
I'd say that after about a month or two it stopped completely, and the cold like symptoms too. During this time also i did loose my appetite. I remember that before i started treatment my doctor said i might not feel like eating much and it was ok to go and eat Macdonalds or KFC just to get the calories etc. And i did for a while until i got my appetite back again. My weight has been almost the same since i started. I do eat quite well i think. Plenty of fruit and chicken. Multi-vitamins too.
I don't smoke or drink alcohol. More about smoking and drinking another time.
So as the treatment went on, going to my Haemophilia center every 2 weeks for blood tests to see that the treatment isn't causing anything bad to happen, i did develop some other possible side effects that may be worthy of note. These next ones all happened from about the 2nd week through to about the 2nd month. Firstly i noticed a kind of tiny lump under the surface of my bottom lip. I couldn't see it but could feel it with my tongue. It wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest, but i had never had one before. I left it and as time went on it got a bit bigger and also became visible to the eye and looked like a tiny little water blister. I found that i could pop it and drain the fluid and then over time it would gradually fill up again. I didn't tell any of my doctors because i just didn't feel the need. Of course i would of if it had been painful or increased in numbers. Fortunately i seemed to forget about it and it eventually disappeared.
The next possibly side effect, (i say possible simply because they could also be from having HIV and maybe the extra stress i may have been experiencing) was a series of mouth ulcers mainly on my tongue. These were very painful indeed and can really get on your tits. I wasn't too worried about why i had them but i did need to treat them. Bongela is ok for small periods of time and small ulcers etc, but i really needed to treat these. I have had really bad mouth ulcers in the past, years ago and remember being prescribed a drug called Thalidomide. You may of heard of it. It has quite a controversial history but someone found out that it treats mouth ulcers very well indeed. It got rid of them then and also this time too! It takes a couple of hours filling in forms and doctors making phone calls to authorize it's use but is worth it in the end. My ulcers went away and haven't come back.
Another difference i noticed during treatment was i had a pain develop under one or the other of my arm pits and was concerned that it could be my lymph nodes or glands. But i couldn't feel any lumps and my temp was fine. It was just painful. I also thought it could be a bleed from having Haemophilia and going to the gym and lifting weights on the shoulder press or something. I went to the Haemophilia Center and they weren't worried and agreed that it was probably a bleed. I cut down on the weights and evetually stopped going to the gym altogether and as the weather was getting better i would just go cycling instead which i had been doing almost every other day since around October 04 anyway and some light weights at home.
Anyway, the pain went away and all was fine again.
Also that might be of some interest, early on i did feel alittle more emotional at times and would even shed a tear whilst watching things like David Attenboroughs 'Planet Earth', and people reading this who know me will be quite suprised. And at times i would feel more moody than normal and want to shout and have a go at someone.
I can't think of anything else really, except for about a month at the beginning i had itchy and dry knuckles and just put E-45 on them and they were fine and went away, so i would say that my overall experience up to now has been quite tolerable. I feel just the same as i did before starting treatment. My hair hasn't gone anywhere as far as i can see. Unlike when i was on a drug called Indinavir for HIV. I had some really nasty side effects on that drug, i will go into that another time maybe. And i am sleeping well despite some very strange dreams, but thats fine, i like strange!

Jason