POST Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin side effects?

Hi there,

I hope this isn't a duplication but I would like to put this question out there to anyone with knowledge or experience pertaining to my question

I am a 36 yr female who was on this treatment about 7 yrs ago.  Id like to think of myself as a well grounded spiritually healthy individual.  Unfortunately I've been dealing with some chronic issues for the past 3 yrs and new issues keep arising.  My internal med. Dr. has since retired and my family Dr. has no clue as to why Im feeling the way I am (chronic pain)  on top of that I've been recently diagnosed with Endometriosis and Interstitial Cystitis.  
Upon doing much research I've found my symptoms to be gearing in the direction of Fibromyalgia but my family Dr. said he won't diagnos me with fibro and wont send me to anyone who will.  He doesn't want me to label myself as a fibromyalgia suffer (I believe he has good intentions)  He said we will treat my difficulties as they arise.

Because of my pain and discomfort I've been doing a lot of research to find answers which is why I am now here.

There seems to have little or no research studies regarding Post Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin related side effects and so I put this question out to patients who have done this treatment.

Any information on your experience, quality of lifestyle or any information would be comforting

Best Regards,
Sarina :)

[DoubleDose]

Hi and good to hear from you.  Sorry you are having problems, and as you will find, your situation is not atypical.  Rather than try to capsulate what has been expounded upon on this forum many many times in the past, I will just ask you to go back through past threads looking for titles like Long Term Interferon Side Effects,  Post Interferon Side Effects,  etc.  There are many threads, each with many, many posts on this issue.  You will find me there among many of the threads, and many others from the forum.  Please do some thorough reading when you have some time, and also note links at bottom of a thread, to "similar" threads.  You will find lots and lots of detail, and much of what has been written may provide clues into your problems.

In the interim, please do provide some more detail on your own specific health problems, etc. so that it can be shared among forum members.  As you will see from old threads, I am close to 10 years SVR, and my problems seem to keep getting worse, and more diverse.  I could write a laundry list, but all of that is contained in the old threads.  Many others share similar experiences.  No one knows what the percentage is for those who have treated, and I don't believe the medical community, or the drug companies really want to find out.  I have found NO solutions, and have been to many, many medical specialists over the past years.  Its frustrating, and painful, and very frightening.  Interferon is a pretty powerful drug it turns out, and for some of us, can do severe damage.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

DoubleDose

[hondapatches]

I did that treatment twice the double tx, now I am doing the triple tx. it wasn't to bad but after about 6 months I did get to feeling pretty bad. I had to take off work because my blood work always had my red blood cells dropping. I was very tired and my family freaked out because I was so pale. I did get anemia. After 10 months of that I had to stop, my viral load was neg, but after a month of being off the meds it came back. You really should do the triple treatment. I have been undectable at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks. God Bless.

[leoell]

I recently was on peg-ribavarin and iincivik. My count dropped to negative but when the incivik ended the viral count increased so I was told to stop inteferon and ribavarin. I don't think I will try any additional medical experimentations as I have all types of issues as a result of the treatments. Oh I forgot this was my third attempt at treatment for the hep-c' nAs a rewcovering addict I am going to resolve to accept that I have an incurable strain of hep-c and decxline any further experiments in my body.

[willbb]

Sorry to hear you had a "breakthrough while  doing HCV therapy with Incivek.

As a multi -time "non responder" it would seem evident that your lack of response to Interferon ,which ( still plays a big part in overall success) could have a lot to do with your results.

You would more than likely have a better response with some of the new combo's being experimented with currently in trials without  Interferon.

Try to stay as liver healthy as possible and hopefully there will be a modality that is succesful for you in the future..
Best to you..
Will

[willbb]

As a rewcovering addict
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meant to add....Congrats on this ...

Will