A New You After Hepatitis C Treatment

When you’ve been sick with the hepatitis C virus for years, it can affect how you think about your body. I know that once I found out that the virus was in my blood, I felt so infected. I looked at my toothbrush like it was a weapon of mass destruction. I became compulsive and began hand-washing rituals. By the time I got my first "undetected" blood work, it seemed a little better. But the truth is that I could not wait to be cured of the virus once and for all. When it did, I felt brand new.

The new you will act a little differently after you finish treatment

You will be more careful about how you use your energy. You won’t be wasting a lot of time staring into space. Instead of being too zapped to move, you will get outside and go for a walk. You may sit in the yard and enjoy a sunset.

You’ll look up some old friends and reconnect with them. Your interest in being with others may have gone away. Once you feel better, you’ll be interested in hearing what your friends are up to. You may want to plan an outing with them!

A fresh start

The hobby that you once enjoyed just might make a comeback. Dig around in the closet and revive that project. Throw out any items that aren’t usable. For example, if there is a bottle of dried up paint keeping you from finishing something, throw it away. Go buy some more. Get busy using your creativity.

Tinker around with your car. I remember how awful my car was when I finished treatment. I got out the cotton swabs and cleaned my car so good. I took the mats out and washed them. Maybe you can let it air out and then put in one of those air fresheners. I got an oil change and felt like my car was brand new!

Clean out the bill box. This one may be hard. If you’re still making payments, just stick the important ones in an envelope. Pull up a trash can next to your chair and start with the pile nearest to you. Take a hard look at every piece of paper. Make some new stacks of things to keep, but get rid of as much as possible. When you close up that trash bag, I promise you will feel brand new.

Go through the pill bottles. It may not be time to throw stuff out yet. I know that I hung onto the ones that were not expired. Maybe you can put them into different containers. One is for current meds and the other is for the ones you are finished with. I admit to hanging onto my interferon for over a year. I even kept Ribavirin until after my transplant. It felt so good to purge some of that old stuff.

It truly is a feeling of losing some of the old baggage that you were carrying around. It’s time for the new you to emerge. You’ve done it! You’ve finished the hepatitis C treatment. It’s time to begin living like the new you!