When You Hit A Wall in Hep C Treatment Recovery

Hep C treatment recovery is a bit different for every patient. The patient's liver condition, medical conditions, medications, and other factors play a part in the recovery process. The goal is the same for all patients, to be cured of hepatitis C and regain health and energy. What do you do when you hit a wall and your energy bottoms out?

My experience

In my first week of post-hepatitis C treatment, I didn’t know what to expect or how I would feel. I wished I could leap tall building with a single bound. Can you relate?

Rest

The first 24 hours of treatment completed, I felt a brief, sinking, sick feeling which only lasted for about 30 minutes. It left as it came. Hooray! The first couple of days of recovery, I felt like I was still on treatment. My energy level was up and down. In the following week, I had good energy, but then in the afternoon, I’d hit a wall- my energy bottomed out, so I took a nap. Rest is reviving. I felt wilted, but rest perked me right back up. Rest and iced tea are glorious!

I experienced a few nights of not sleeping well with muscle and joint aches. On days when my energy was deflated and I was dragging, if I listened to my body and was able to lay down and rest, I got up feeling revived and rested. It was the boost I needed. Each week of recovery, I was making progress increasing energy and stamina.

Exercise

I began a modified exercise program of stretching exercises and using resistance bands, then added short walks in my neighborhood. I experienced my energy and stamina increasing, which helped me slowly increase exercise. Each week brought more and more progress.

Hydration and nutrition

I continued drinking 64 ounces a day of pure water to help hydrate and flush my body, which also helped when my energy dropped. I talked to my doctor about what vitamins I could take that would help. He recommended some general vitamins and adding a B12 vitamin, which also helped boost my energy.

Faith

I found it helpful to keep my faith strong. I felt God reminding me to not get caught up with a timeline of how fast I would recover, but be reassured each day was progress despite how I felt at the moment.

Some awesome encouragement came across my path that helped me remember I would get beyond recovery and regain my energy and health.

This nugget is from Max Lucado’s book Traveling Light:
"The bow cannot always be bent without fear of breaking. For a field to bear fruit, it must occasionally lie fallow. And for you to be healthy, you must rest. Slow down, and God will heal you. He will bring rest to your mind, to your body, and most of all to your soul. He will lead you to green pastures."¹

A bump in the road

Hitting the wall in recovery is just a temporary bump in the road. I needed a reminder to cool my jets when I didn’t feel well. Six weeks into my post-treatment recovery, I felt well enough to fix fence on our small ranch and work with our sheep. Progress continued each week.

If you’ve experienced low energy and stamina in recovery, talk to your doctor about your symptoms. Most of all, don’t get caught up with feeling like you’ll never regain strength and energy. You’ll get there.