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Post Treatment Weight Gain
If anyone told me during treatment that I'd have a problem losing weight a year later, I'd think they were crazy.
During treatment I lost over 30 lbs, a lot of it lean muscle mass, and most of it within the first three months of treating. Within three months of ending treatment, all the weight came back but not surprisngly a greater proportion came back as fat as opposed to muscle.
The remedy -- weight work to build muscle mass, diet sensibly with enough protein and calories to retain muscle mass and aerobic exercise to lose the fat. In the past, this has always worked and quite easily. But for some reason the body doesn't want to cooperate the same way after treatment. No doubt my metabolism has changed and not for the better.
CONT...
During treatment I lost over 30 lbs, a lot of it lean muscle mass, and most of it within the first three months of treating. Within three months of ending treatment, all the weight came back but not surprisngly a greater proportion came back as fat as opposed to muscle.
The remedy -- weight work to build muscle mass, diet sensibly with enough protein and calories to retain muscle mass and aerobic exercise to lose the fat. In the past, this has always worked and quite easily. But for some reason the body doesn't want to cooperate the same way after treatment. No doubt my metabolism has changed and not for the better.
CONT...
Yes, only in the stomach area. Seems to be a combination of fat and bloatness. Since I'm comitted to lose the weight, I'll find out soon enough how much is much as I assume the fat will eventually fall off although only willing to drop another ten pounds to find out. Beyond that I'll just be losing too much muscle.
Problem is I'm still in better shape than my doctors who are 15-20 years younger, which isn't saying much -- so when I point out the issue, they just write it off as normal abdominal fat for a middle-aged male which they see all the time.
And you know what it's like trying to tell them that it was different before treatment. It's like they go into a state of unconcious denial that treatment could cause anything :) Well, when I eventually walk in with washboard abs that stick out like a pregnant lady, we'll see what they say then. LOL.
Good luck with your study, but I dobut if too many doctors here are motivated to participate. Their efforts are with the drug company studies for a myriad of reasons, money being just one.
Be well,
-- Jim
Problem is I'm still in better shape than my doctors who are 15-20 years younger, which isn't saying much -- so when I point out the issue, they just write it off as normal abdominal fat for a middle-aged male which they see all the time.
And you know what it's like trying to tell them that it was different before treatment. It's like they go into a state of unconcious denial that treatment could cause anything :) Well, when I eventually walk in with washboard abs that stick out like a pregnant lady, we'll see what they say then. LOL.
Good luck with your study, but I dobut if too many doctors here are motivated to participate. Their efforts are with the drug company studies for a myriad of reasons, money being just one.
Be well,
-- Jim
Hi jim, well before tx, I had a bloatness in the stomach area then I drank heaps of water, couldnt get enough actually, and I lost weight quite rapidly. I was thin for a couple of years, then did the treatment, lost more weight, was a rake. Post treatment the flab began, and has just got bigger and bigger each month, I complained of bloating but got no answer. It all happens in the stomach area, I am fine everywhere else.
It has got to become quite uncomfortable now, sitting down is bad. It is quite depressing as Doubledose says, and the fatigue is debilitating that you cant be bothered to exercise.
I also have the numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. Body balance is out of whack, and I seem to see things different, as in a 3D type of way, hard to explain. Cognitive problems as well.
I agree, we are not told of the possible side effects of treatment, and the drug companies and doctors do have a lot to answer to.
I always tell anyone new starting treatment to wait if they have no stage of fibrosis, that something else will come along in about 5-10 years that is better than interferon. But they dont want to hear it, some of them.
I am trying to get a Post Treatment Study happening here in Adelaide, South Australia, got some chasing around to do, but hey, someones got to do it, and be a pest. lol.
Is their any Doctors/Researchers in USA that would be willing to take up the Study? Maybe you all should demand it over there, and make pests of yourselves too.
Linda
It has got to become quite uncomfortable now, sitting down is bad. It is quite depressing as Doubledose says, and the fatigue is debilitating that you cant be bothered to exercise.
I also have the numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. Body balance is out of whack, and I seem to see things different, as in a 3D type of way, hard to explain. Cognitive problems as well.
I agree, we are not told of the possible side effects of treatment, and the drug companies and doctors do have a lot to answer to.
I always tell anyone new starting treatment to wait if they have no stage of fibrosis, that something else will come along in about 5-10 years that is better than interferon. But they dont want to hear it, some of them.
I am trying to get a Post Treatment Study happening here in Adelaide, South Australia, got some chasing around to do, but hey, someones got to do it, and be a pest. lol.
Is their any Doctors/Researchers in USA that would be willing to take up the Study? Maybe you all should demand it over there, and make pests of yourselves too.
Linda
I've got the same problem and its getting really depressing. My weight is now 20 pounds over my 'normal' weight, and most is belly fat, and flab around upper chest. I can't seem to lose a pound, and I get discouraged much more quickly now than ever before treatment. I have a very hard time getting motivated to exercise, and I have much lower tolerance for exercise. I seem to crave food, of all kinds, at all times, and I really am having problems saying 'no'. As I have stated recently, I am full scale into the metabolic syndrome, and for the first time in my life my BP is regularly elevated. I feel sluggish, tired, and I have to really push to get started in the mornings. My limbs and head often feel numb or have mild tingling, electrical sensations.
My balance and coordination are both really 'odd' now.
All this, and three and one half years SVR now, and still plagued with a variety of after effects. The weight thing is getting scary, and I am not sure that I have it in me anymore to both diet seriously, and exercise regularly. Before tx I went to the gym three to five times a week, for at least two hours per session....my body was tight, muscular, and I had stamina. Now, I feel like more of a flabby, achey, zombie! If I run or treadmill for long my lungs burn, and I feel either dizzy or just fatigued.
To anyone that thinks this tx does not have significant after-effects for many of us....I could tell you a few things...and probably not too politely.
I think the interferon has altered my system, metabolism, cardio and hormonal system....and I am going to find out what the answers are for these problems one way or the other! I really, truly believe that the Hep-C doctors owe their patients more than just getting them the SVR and then shaking hands and telling them to enjoy their new life! It does not end at the end of tx, by any means....and maybe we need a new medical discipline to be developed:
post therapy recovery and health!
Don't you think maybe Schering or Roche might want to sponsor some studies?
Don't you think they might want to help us fix any problems that may have been caused by the drugs that we used? II bet if they only knew what was going on they would jump all over these issues....... Yeah, I bet!
DoubleDose
My balance and coordination are both really 'odd' now.
All this, and three and one half years SVR now, and still plagued with a variety of after effects. The weight thing is getting scary, and I am not sure that I have it in me anymore to both diet seriously, and exercise regularly. Before tx I went to the gym three to five times a week, for at least two hours per session....my body was tight, muscular, and I had stamina. Now, I feel like more of a flabby, achey, zombie! If I run or treadmill for long my lungs burn, and I feel either dizzy or just fatigued.
To anyone that thinks this tx does not have significant after-effects for many of us....I could tell you a few things...and probably not too politely.
I think the interferon has altered my system, metabolism, cardio and hormonal system....and I am going to find out what the answers are for these problems one way or the other! I really, truly believe that the Hep-C doctors owe their patients more than just getting them the SVR and then shaking hands and telling them to enjoy their new life! It does not end at the end of tx, by any means....and maybe we need a new medical discipline to be developed:
post therapy recovery and health!
Don't you think maybe Schering or Roche might want to sponsor some studies?
Don't you think they might want to help us fix any problems that may have been caused by the drugs that we used? II bet if they only knew what was going on they would jump all over these issues....... Yeah, I bet!
DoubleDose
Web,
I know it will be hard -- maybe impossible -- but try and keep the "pig out" stage to a bare minimum or just about every pound you lost could come back as fat around your abdomen in less than 90 days.
Mre,
It's been a year, but hopefully, hopefully, my body will realize it's no longer eating itself like during treatment. I'm probably a bit older than you (60) which probably doesn't help either. Still, I've always been able to get into fighting shape when motivated, until now. Starting to empathize with all those people who complain how hard it is to lose weight. Frankly, always thought they were either lazy or unmotivated, but now I realize it's not quite that simple.
-- Jim
I know it will be hard -- maybe impossible -- but try and keep the "pig out" stage to a bare minimum or just about every pound you lost could come back as fat around your abdomen in less than 90 days.
Mre,
It's been a year, but hopefully, hopefully, my body will realize it's no longer eating itself like during treatment. I'm probably a bit older than you (60) which probably doesn't help either. Still, I've always been able to get into fighting shape when motivated, until now. Starting to empathize with all those people who complain how hard it is to lose weight. Frankly, always thought they were either lazy or unmotivated, but now I realize it's not quite that simple.
-- Jim
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