Muscle & Joint Pain

[Mollyrae]

Hello, My name is Mollyrae and I was infected with Hep C sometime back in the early 80's. I have undergone treatment 2'c and am considered a non-responder. The last treatment landed me in the Hospital for a week with MRSA being that my immune system was so low. I was sick all the time, not to mention the sides from the tx. My question is, has anyone experienced severe muscle & joint pain as the viral load increased? It has been a yr. since my last treatment and as time goes by, my body becomes more painful each day. I am geno 1a with a viral load of 2 mill. .........

[Mollyrae]

Thank You Fretboard. I appreciate your response. it has helped a great deal. I am in such excrutiating pain all the time and escecially when I lie down or get up in the morning. Take care, Mollyrae

[fretboard]

I have extensive pain, but I haven't gone thru tx yet.  I'm scheduled for an ultrasound on 7/31 and should start tx soon afterwards.  I have advanced osteoarthritis in my upper back and neck, my VL is at 4.5 million and I just went thru a two month period when I was in excruciating pain.  One of my doctors a couple years ago told me that my pain was a direct result of the HepC.  The doctor I have now doesn't agree, but I go with the opinion of the first doctor as all the studies I've read show a connection.  Wish I was still seeing the first doctor as the one I have now flip-flops on alot of things related to HepC.  The only good thing he ever told me was that I would be seeing someone else for tx, thank God the worst thing someone could do is let a doctor tx them who isn't totally focused and this doctor has his head in the wrong place.  Sometimes he seems to be on my side and sometimes he don't, It's strange.  I thought we got passed all that, but nope he still thinks that I will agree not to tx.  Doctors like that should be regulated to filling out paper work as they aren't any good working with humans, maybe he should have been a Vet.  LOL   See the study below, it's still in the works, but there are plenty of others on pubmed.  God Bless

A closer look at pain and hepatitis C: preliminary data from a veteran population.Silberbogen AK, Janke EA, Hebenstreit C.

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System, Psychology Service (116B), 150 South Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA. amy.***@****

An association between the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and various pain diagnoses, including arthritis, fibromyalgia, and peripheral neuropathy, has been reported. In this article, we review the literature on the relationship between HCV and pain, highlighting current knowledge as well as methodological issues that exist in many studies. We also present preliminary findings from a survey conducted at two Department of Veterans Affairs facilities to assess the scope and impact of pain on functioning in veterans with HCV. Our results indicate that pain is very prevalent within this population and that HCV-positive veterans who experience persistent pain have significant depressive symptoms and engage in high-risk behaviors, such as cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Finally, we draw upon our review and preliminary results to propose areas of future rehabilitative research and to address the implications for clinicians working with patients with comorbid HCV and pain.

PMID: 17551875 [PubMed - in process]

[Cheesegrater]

Yes, my joints are sensitive my knees hurt when I go up the satirs sometimes. My lower back is almost always sensitive. I get hip and shoulder pain when I lie down for 20 minutes on one side sometimes. Wrists, neck....

Head aches,  sweating, nausea, insomnia, annoying (debilitating) intestinal and immune effects   itchy eyes that nothing helps
there's more....

Welcome to the club.

[Mollyrae]

Is it a common side effect? Does someone know