Dizziness

[PhilaGuy]

Hey everyone.  Had what I think is a new side effect crop up yesterday, and continuing through today.  I feel REALLY dizzy and have had to sit down a time or two this morning - it's really rather scary.  I feel kind of anxious and shaky, too.  My first thought was anemia, but those numbers have been OK.  Is this just a sx of treatment?  Let me know what you think.

[TnHepGuy_]

I'm very sorry to hear you are having such tough sx's.

It's certainly possible that what you are experiencing is a direct result of the medications themeselves.

As far as them being related to the anemia, you didn't post what your latest Hg/red counts are .... but, it's possible for these sx's to be from the anemia - even if you haven't reached the 'magic' Hg number of 10 - where most docs will consider intervening with Procrit. Individuals can experience differing degrees of the sx's from the anemia as their numbers trend downward.

In either case, you will want to place a call to your doc's office today and explain what you are going through. It's possible that they may want to have you come in and do some more testing.


May God's blessings and mercy be upon you.


TnHepGuy

[PhilaGuy]

Tn, thanks for your response.  My last (6/28) RBC was 4.61 (4.10-5.60) so taht was normal, but it was 5.08 a month earlier.  My WBC (2.6) and platelets (88) have been low, but I don't think that should make me feel this way.  I'll see what my nurse says (I have a call in).  I had another CBC since 6/28, and I didn't get a call, so I'm assuming my blood counts are stable.  We'll see.  *sigh*  It's always something!  :-)

[Fubarcat]

I had dizzy spells also, but my RBC was way low.  Once I went on Procrit, I got back to normal - whatever that is.  Having dizzy spells is very frightening, especially if you are driving.  I'm glad you called your doc.  I bet is related to low blood counts.  They can drop pretty quickly.  Take care and hope you hear good news from your doc soon.

[donAlfonso]

The definitions used for anemia are, I think, way off, and ideally the numbers should be individualized and based on what they were when you felt well.  I complain of dizziness and shortness of breath all the time.  Doc says I don't meet criteria for Procrit, as 'crit is between 30 and 32 for some time now.  But I know that when I felt healthy, and was bicycling 100-150 miles a week, my hematocrit was in the mid to upper 40s.  I have no doubt that I would feel bette now if I could get my RBC counts up.  This is a case of insurance companies saving money by insisting on very low levels before allowing tx.

Want to add that I've had another blow this week, to follow the food poisoning and frustration from insurance/dr's office miscommunication (I'm trying to be nice, it was a total f*ck up, oops, not nice).  I just got my latest PCR, it continues to fall, from 758 to 140.  Maddening, it just won't go away, and I think tonight will be injection 29.  Anyone ever heard of a viral load going down so slowly, and still resulting in SVR?

dA

[cuteus]

my sentiments exactly about the lack of intervention for lowering Hgb (philaguy, you did not mention what yours was) anything below 12 can be felt big time.

Resistant little bugger your hcv, isn't it? I can picture them down to the last battallion, troops of dead virus strewn about, and this last group is trying to hold the fort....but the door is very weak now...anytime now...POW!

[donAlfonso]

I love the image of the fort.  Tonight my needle will be a battering ram!  I can see the door shatter, INF pouring through the portal, spreading, seeking out and destroying those last viruses hiding in the towers above and darkened passageways and dungeons below.  I will be victorious.  Thanks for the vision.

dA

[jonihs]

What other meds are you on? I know that some of the meds they use to tx. sx. can also cause dizziness.  Joni

[cghamm]

I posted down the threads about watching your Hemoglobin. Dizziness was the ONLY external manifestation of my low Hgb.
Really, it was the only side I had on Tx other than weakness.
We didn't catch it till the Hgb was down to 6.1 and everybody thought I was on the way out. 7 pints of blood and two shots of
Aranesp (A longer-acting version of Procrit) later, Hgb is up to 9.7 and they let me out of the hospital. The Hemoglobin number will trend downward due to the Hemolytic anemia caused by Ribavirin. In some people, it levels out at a decent number and you're okay for the duration of Tx. In others, Procrit is needed to keep the number from leveling out too low. The point is it must be watched carefully and often. Please keep an eye on it, and try to get Procrit if needed rather than lowering the dose of Riba.
May God be with you.
Craig

[Tony-z]

I take a form of milk thistle call Siliphos. I have been using it for about a year. Previously I was taking a large amount of high quality Milk Thistle which did lower my ALT and AST levels.
Since I started the Siliphos my ALT and AST went into the high normal range, the lab were I get my blood work done has a normal range for ALT, <10-58> they were running around 60-75 before and dropped to around 47-51 after starting the Siliphos. Here is what Siliphos is.

Siliphos is a new patented form of silymarin that binds silybin, the key component of silymarin, to phosphatidylcholine, the key component of our cellular membranes throughout the body, making it 10 times more absorbable then other milk thistle extracts.  Research indicates that Siliphos is better absorbed and produces better results than any other form of silymarin or milk thistle.

Here are some links to clinical trails with this form of milk thistle, as you can see one is a government study.

http://altmed.od.nih.gov/clinicaltrials/hepatitis.htm

http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancerinfo/pdq/cam/milkthistle

http://liversupport.com/Ref12P19.htm

          

                          TonyZ

[cuteus]

As I was trying to shake off the morning stiffness, I recalled Dr cecil's answer to my email of months ago, he just recently got to answer me and this is what he suggested if the tx is not working the way it should:
"Ask the docs if they will try 270 mcg of Pegasys per week for a couple
of months, or 210 mcg of PegIntron per week for a couple of months or
15 mcg of Infergen every day for a couple of months."
"Instead of stopping or doing something that is not working very well it
makes sense to change the treatment. Good luck to you. Ben Cecil, MD"
perhaps you can direct your team to his site for a consult....just a thought.

[fellow traveler]

It's been a year almost to the day that I successfully completed 6 mths of tx and I still get dizzy.  I also still get tired and slightly depressed, especially when I'm not involved in some activity like work or a project or something.  If I just sit down and watch tv or don't have anything to do, I feel like I could hang myself if I wasn't so tired!  Kind of exagerating but kind of not.  And correct me if I'm wrong, but most of you who have also successfully completed tx for as long as me also seem to still have lingering symptoms and side effects.  I'm grateful I cleared the virus, but man, if sure took alot out of me!
Jeff