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Hi Beaches

Reborn indeed!

I still have a little bit left … but the majority of the fog has lifted. The fogginess has only really affected me over the last 10 years, and progressively became more noticeable over the last 5 years. Over the last 2 years, it’s been like I’ve been dyslexic at times, forgetful, and frequently lost my train of thought mid-sentence on bad days. I became skilful at hiding it, however, those close to me noticed it.

It was really worrying me. I started to think that I may have early onset old-timers (Alzheimer’s). I’ve always had a fairly sharp mind, and good memory, despite suffering a major head injury in my youth (which took many years to fully recover from). Now, I’m starting to realise that I’ve got nothing to worry about … the fog is almost gone, and I’m thinking a lot more clearly … it’s the new normal …

Cheers
GT2

Very much how I felt over the last 10 years GT2 including the early onset fears.

I seem to be firing on all cylinders now.

Hi Gaj

Glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one fearing early onset old-timers … and that now you’re firing on all cylinders …

It was like the bolt locking my distributor in place was loose, and I was slowly retarding over the years …


I’m not sure why the cartoon (above) didn’t load … it read:

Clairvoyant: “For Merv Schwermble, I access the akashic records [whatever they are]
Merv: “Who was I in a past life?”
Clairvoyant: “You were a Village Idiot”
Clairvoyant: “Well, you’ve made some progress since that lifetime …”

Hi GT. I've been relocating to another state with intermittent wifi so I seem to catch up with posts in batches now. Great to see everything is going so well. I loved your cartoon (well the words anyway). I felt as if I was reverting to the Village Idiot at times with the brain fog. I had a very stressful job/career which I loved but in the end it got a little sabotaged by the virus. I imagine that in big and small ways it has impacted on our lives for good and bad.

Having said that it made me take a break and make changes that are turning out for the better anyway. I love having a clear head and energy again. Ready to take up another position in the Village.

Hi Coral

Thanks for the update. I hope that the move is going smoothly. As they say, everything always works out for the best. I found that high stress really made me worse, so I too made lifestyle changes ... and I never look back ... might walk into a post or something.

I love your comment about taking up another position in the Village ... on reflection, I think that a lot of us will.

Glad to hear that you too have more energy and clarity.

Warm Wishes

GT2

Hi GT2 and hello

'akashic' that's a word that I haven't seen for many years!
your signature reads well, it's a wonderful, awesome, great feeling heh!

Hi Pat

I've never heard of Akasha in my life ... I'm not into all that mumbo jumbo ... but being curious, I looked it up:

The Akashic records (Akasha is a Sanskrit word meaning "sky", "space" or "aether") are collectively understood to be a collection of mystical knowledge that is encoded in the aether; i.e. on a non-physical plane of existence.

Yeah, way out dude ... I'll have some of what you're having ...

Good to hear that you're feeling great!

Cheers
GT2

Loose bolt on the distributor? wow...that takes me back...do cars even have distributors anymore? I can remember twisting the ones around on slant six dodge darts and plymouth valiants, back when I could pick up a decent used one for $250.00...good analogy though (as long as the reader knows what a loose distributor does)

Hi 2b

I was waiting to see if anyone got that one ... definitely one for the old backyard mechanics.

For everyone else, you twist a distributor to change the timing of your motor ... twist it clockwise, and you advance the timing ... twist it anti-clockwise, and your retard the timing ...

Therefore, a loose distributor will move ... and either advance or retard your motor's timing ... in my case I was being retarded

Next lesson ... plugs and points ...

Hi-five fellow fixhepc forum fanatics

I start my third and final bottle of generic SOF + DCV tomorrow. I’m amazed at how quickly the time has flown and how much better I am feeling. HCV RNA was Not Detected after 29 days of my treatment. This news made me feel even better and put a spring in my step. The resulting reduction in stress, after hearing this good news, no doubt enhanced my feeling of wellbeing.



I have lost 4.5kg over the last 8 weeks. I have progressively lost weight and felt better from the start. However, I have plateaued over the last week or so. I think that I may have reached a new steady state for the time being. Thankfully, most of the weight loss has been around my mid drift. Hopefully, I’ve lost some of the visceral fat around my liver that was noted on my ultra sound prior to treatment.



My eyes, skin and thinking are a lot clearer. I think that it is due to the reduction in the viral load, regular exercise, and drinking plenty of water. For anyone interested on how beneficial exercise can be after the DAAs have worked their magic, now that you may have energy to burn, click on the link below to see how you can get fit in 6 minutes.

www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4319131.htm



The above link is to a Catalyst episode called “Fit in 6 Minutes a Week”. Like everything in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. As it turns out, the six minutes is of intermittent fast paced exercise mixed into a 20 minute workout, otherwise known as interval training, which fires up your mitochondria and improves your health and fitness very quickly. Most people think interval training is sprinting flat out for a minute or so, rest, then repeat. This works fine for athletes, but for us mere mortals it can increase our heart rates to dangerous levels.



At 18:25 in the video, Assoc. Prof. Boutcher from UNSW discusses his program for menopausal women where they pedal fast on an exercise bike for 8sec, pedal normally for 12sec, then fast for 8sec … repeated over 20mins … results in participants pedalling fast for a total of 8mins. Apparently, this is all that is needed to fire up your mitochondria. You can adapt Boutcher’s program to suit your level of fitness ( e.g. 30sec/60sec/30sec; 60sec/120sec/60sec … etc) on any cardio exercise equipment (rowing machine, cross-trainer, spin bike … etc.). Boutcher’s easy version, however, is perfect for otherwise sedentary people recovering from HCV.

Moreover, Boutcher discusses visceral fat, how it inflames the liver, and why it is thought to be one of the major drivers of type 2 diabetes. Interval training helps to reduce visceral fat resulting in an array of positive health effects.



At 16:30 in the video, Professor Mark Tarnopolsky discusses the beneficial effect endurance training has on your skin.

“We took sedentary people over the age of 65, we did a skin biopsy from the outer butt cheek to avoid the sun before and after three months of endurance training. Biopsies of the active elderly participants improved to the point where they were indistinguishable from younger skin under the microscope. They looked like a 20- to 30-year youthening, if you will, of the skin after just three months of endurance training.”



I hope that this information helps those thinking about starting to exercise now that they may have more energy to do so for the first time in many years.

Yeah, I know … there’s always an excuse …



On reflection, after 8 weeks of treatment, I feel as though I’m running at 80%. I guess that the last 20% will be achieved in the months after EOT when the DAAs wash out of my system and my body continues to heal itself. I’m not there yet, but like a good little nomad I’m well on my way …



Take care and, above all, take it easy ...

GT.....good stuff, man. Loved the 102 excuses....still chuckling.....e.

Thanks for sharing your good news and all that information GT2, I'm really happy did you.
When I was first diagnosed, apart from feeling sorry for myself (pity party for 1) my biggest worry was that I'd infected my partner and kids. Fortunately I had not.
I've also found weight loss to be a tiny bit easier in that my body seems to be responding more normally to my food intake. Previously it wouldn't fkn well matter what I did, my body was totally weight loss resistant and it was a constant grim struggle to not become a biggest loser contender. Hopefully this will continue to improve over time.

Hi re_roll

Good to hear from you … and good to hear that you got a chuckle … and not a belly wobble …

Hi Beaches

Same here for the last few years … no matter what I did … I still had that belly … everyone falsely assumed that it was a beer belly … thank god it’s shrinking.

Glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one that was weight loss resistant …

Thanks for sharing