Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Hepatitis C Community
This forum is for questions about medical issues and research aspects of Hepatitis C such as, questions about being newly diagnosed, questions about current treatments, information and participation in discussions about research studies and clinical trials related to Hepatitis. If you would like to communicate with other people who have been touched by Hepatitis, please visit our new Hepatitis Social/Living with Hepatitis forum
Do narcotic pain relievers lower effectiveness of interferon?
by bluepeng, Feb 06, 2005 12:00AM
Man, I can't believe I've done four shots. I'm glad I didn't quit without giving some of the side effects a chance to calm down .. MANY did ... and some haven't. I did my shot on Friday night and actually went out yesterday! Of course I crashed when I got home. , but I felt reasonable throughout the day. I owe a lot to the people here for kicking my butt (in a good way) and making me see through the first weeks. I've still got a way to go so I'm not partying yet. My question is this; I've been given a prescription for Norco (hydrocodone) for headaches and general pain from treatment. I don't want to overload on meds, but I especially don't want to ruin my chances of clearing this virus. So, can drugs like this lower my chances of clearing the virus? Has anybody here ever taken pain meds throughout treatment .. either occassionally of consistently? I've been resistant to taking anything while doing tx .. including anti-depressants only because I'm hyper aware of adding more side effects. If I need those at some point, I will take them, but we'll see how that goes.
Many thanks again,
Peng.
Many thanks again,
Peng.
Post Comment
Susan
I hope you don't need to use them too much, but some of the people here also need to see a pain management doctor. I'm sure they will be here shortly to tell you thier story.
Good Luck
I'm not sure what your levels of riba have been for your tx's. Or what your sx experiences have been from it (and they certainly can be brutal). But knowing how much of an important role the riba plays in viral suppression and overall elimination, and knowing how important viral clearance is early on in tx, would it be possible for you and your doctor(s) to consider upping your dosage of riba in an attempt to get you to the point of clearance? If not long-term, perhaps even short-term? Even if you are unable to tolerate such high dosages for the duration of your tx, perhaps you could keep it elevated for a short period, monitor your viral load levels frequently, then back down to a more standard dosing range - hopefully eliminating or keeping the virus in overall check that way.
If you think so, you could print out the study and discuss it with your doctor, with the thought in mind that you wouldn't necessarily need (or want) to be on the levels of dosage that these patients were at, but that this study demonstates that higher doses can be much more effective in viral elimination and still be tolerable.
Another thought along the same lines is that the riba pro-drug Viramidine has been shown in studies to produce less overall anemia in patients than riba, though in this study it was given in more standard dosing amounts (800-1600 mg/day). Perhaps this might be another option should it receive FDA approval.
May God's blessings and mercy be upon you.
TnHepGuy
I just paid almost 100.00 for 2 chiropractic visits with no results. My choice for the pain in my head was one of 2 things, tylenol 3's or a gun. I don't own a gun so I went for the other. I was scared to take them but the pain was unbearble. My dr. said today that I can take up to 4 a day until the pain subsides. It is hardly working but at least I am functioning through my day. I was told not to take advil. It looks like a different story for a different doctor.
Good luck to you