Weird pain and other post

Please feel free to use this post.....

Something really weird going on w/me today.  Started yesterday, a fluttering in my right side and in my back on the right side.  Also having alot of pain there.  I am waiting to start treatment in 30 days, still have to do bx & eye exam.  Waiting on bloodwork to come back.  What is it???  Should I give my doctor a call?  Is my liver freaking out or am I?  It is really a weird feeling and I am not liking the pain at all!  Has Anyone else ever felt anything like this???

GOOD day to all! :)

[LvdByGod]

HI YOU GUYS, I'M MISSING MY FRIENDS HERE...I THINK I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP...I have been taking tramadol for side effect pains for over a year and a half now from tx, (bone pain, joint pain, hip pain, muscle pains, overall pain for over a year now and the tramadol has begun to stop working these last few months. it was working fine for a while... what are your drs prescribing for pain? cuteus does your dr give you a hard time about prescribing the vicoprofin? my LIVER dr prescribed "one" prescription of vicodine and now it has run out and he won't represcribe...i feel like I

[lookupseeblue]

been having pain since last sun.on right side.hurts more when i take deep breaths,doc orderd ultrasound next wed. i will let you know what they come up with. by the way taking  shot 8 tonite,good luck with yours.

[iceboy]

Hi There

I

[jmjm530]

Could it be a muscle spasm? The time just before tx can be very stressful. If it doesn't go away can't hurt to check it out.

-- Jim

[jmjm530]

Is this your test ? http://tinyurl.com/c9fqk
If so, it's measured in IU/ML and 378,000 is a low viral count, not "medium".

But unless I'm missing something, 860,000 IU is an unusually low top number for a pre-treatment PCR. What if you were over 860,00 pre-tx like most of us? If you haven't got the actual lab report, I'd get a copy and check things out for yourself.

-- Jim

[carpedi]

Fisheress - You might want to check and make sure it's not a kidney infection. I just got over one and I had pain in my right side back for several days before I found out what it was.

Question for anyone to answer.....Just got my first 5 week labs back and the VL went from 122365 to 45 - a 4 log drop! Hooray! But, I've been feeling not so great this week, much worse than last in terms of fatigue, nausea, congestion and cough - probably a result of a drop in HGB from 14.2 to 12.3 and WBC going from 10.4 to 3.9. My Abs Neut score is 1.5. My question is, and I know this was discussed before, but I'm darned if I can find it, when are people usually put on medication to increase production of WB cells? Am I anywhere near that?

[Fisheress]

Muscle spasam is a possibility due to the fact I also have a pain down my right arm.  I e-mailed my Dr. at the study clinic.  He said There are several reasons as to why those types of symptoms might be happening and we would have to wait until my bloodwork comes back.  He suggested I see my regular Doc today, let him treat my symptoms and let him know what my reg. Doc said.  Have appt. this afternoon.  I am going to also fill my Doc in that I will be starting treatment soon and would like to start AD's now.  I am feeling weepy..... :{

Fish.....

[jmjm530]

Congratulations on your 4-log drop.

The problem is not your neuts. You're at 1.5 (1500) and neupogen is not indicated until you drop below 500.

I'd say you're feeling lousy because of the rapid drop in hemoglobin. Men, especially if you're over 50, can feel a significant differenc with any drop over 2 points within a short period.

Talk to your doctor about intervening with Procrit. If he won't, insist on monitoring your hemoglobin every week. If it drops any more, insist on Procrit. It can make a dramatic difference in the way you feel.

-- Jim

[iceboy]

yes, thats the machine. Do you see what I mean that it doesn

[jmjm530]

Maybe we're talking about two things here.

What I think they mean is that you're in the middle of the TEST RANGE. Your absolute number (378,000) is a LOW pre-tx viral count.

Still don't understand why they would use a test with such a low top value. Had you had a previous viral load test? Does your doctor  specialize in liver disease?

-- Jim

[dendel]

When you go outside in the sun and go back inside the spots you
see.  Well that happen to me this morning but I wasn't outside.
It was weird.  It lasted a couple of hours.  Another side effect.
Has this happen to anyone else?  Dendel

[iceboy]

this is my first test.(just got diagnosed 2 months ago 1b) there is no other quantitive measurement over here. They are supposed to be leading top doctors over here and high standard. Mine specializes in infectious diseases.

are you sure this is just the test range. The lab was also warning me about there where also different IU standards! Thanks for your time jmjm

[iceboy]

when I said thanks for your time, I didn

[jmjm530]

LOL. No, I didn't take it that way, just didn't have anything new to add. I was under the impression that "IU" by definition was a single standard, so wasn't sure what your lab means by "different" standards. I'd call them on it -- maybe speak to a supervisor.

If the lab can't help you maybe someone at your doctor's office can. Tell them you'd like your PCR results in the "IU" we use here. BTW where is your lab located?

[iceboy]

No that

[jmjm530]

I'm speculating that it's an older test based on the low upper limit and the high lower limit. Unless the IU's are really different over there, you appear to have a low viral load even though it may be in the "medium" part of this particular test's range. That is good news.

And since you're an "obsessive" character, following through with Roche is a good idea if you have the time. Find the closest web site on the Roche site and give them a call or email. Then let us know what the story is. You could also try calling another local lab that does the same test. Maybe someone there has more precise information. You also might want to ask your doctor what he means by you're in the "middle". Tell him you're under the impression that low is <800,00 IU, or whatever the number cited on the Janis' site.

In any event, let us know how it all turns out including your biopsy and treatment plan. We're always curious what's happening at the "end of the world." Just kidding. LOL.



-- Jim

  

[scruffy]

Sorry about the pain Sandi. No ideas though. I will say a prayer for your recovery. frank

[Califia]

Oh no!  That's just terrible.  Sandi, I had no idea you've been at it this long.  Especially given the length of your tx, it's outrageous that a doctor would be that unfeeling.  What, he's afraid you'll get addicted to normal functioning as a result of decent pain management?   Whatever happened to the promise to "do no harm?"  

Three things come to mind:  (a) Is there another doctor you can explain your situation to?  (b) Are you in a cannabis-friendly state?  and (c)   What about SAME-e to take the edge off a little bit?  I know you're not a complainer, and to hear you like this I know it must be agonizing.   I'm sending lots of healing energy your way, and a nice little barracuda to bite that idiot doctor.

[cquest]

The doc probably doesn't want you hooked on the pain meds which can be a nightmare of it's own...have you tried biofeedback type therapy? I have to tell you guys, when I was 16 I had my tonsils out. The older you are, the worse it is and for me, it was the first experience I had finding out that my body is super hyper sensitive to surgical pain. I take much longer than the average person to heal ( had carpal tunnel surgery that took 5 months to heal instead of 3-6 weeks). Anyway, I was a health food freak at the time so I didn't want the pain meds but I couldn't sleep, eat, talk, nothing worked. I finally got a book called something like "pain relief without drugs' and it describes how if you are racked by pain one thing you can do is lay on your back, arms folded or whatever...then you start relaxing every muscle in your body, inch by inch starting from the top of your head to your toes. Sounds easy but it is not at first, you don't realize how tense your muscles are until they relax, especially your face. If you are truely relaxed, your eyes hang slightly open, you mouth is slack, you feel it just slip away from you and pretty soon, the pain might not be so bad and you fall asleep. It used to take me 45 min to achieve full relaxation, now it takes me 5 minutes. I use this technique when I can't fall asleep and it am out in 15 minutes. You can visualize whatever you need to, babbling brooks flowing over your body, feathers brushing away the tense muscles, whatever, and it eventually becomes second nature. Not to diminish your pain, believe me, I suffer from herniated discs that crush me sometimes but at least this is a small technique that gives me some relief so I can sleep at least. Hope you feel better Sandi!
Cin

[cuteus]

I have a very good internist as my PCP that has been prescribing the vicoprofen for years, he does not want me to get addicted but he also does not want his patients to suffer and become bedridden with the pain. Drs don't understand the anatomy of pain.  When meds are used correctly to treat pain, there is no addiction, there is dependance to the drug to obtain relief, it is not the same as addiction. Maybe you can find the study done on that? It is only when meds are used to get high in the absence of pain that the body becomes addicted. You have to insist and perhaps state that you will contact the medical board if they choose to ignore the oath taken.
  Are there any pain management specialists in your plan? I am going to one next week for my back/buttocks pain due to pinched nerve.  The vicoprofen plus extra ibuprofen helps a lot. You have to explain that as long as you have a condition that is not curable (ie arthritis or such) that is causing pain that is measured over 5 in the Baker_Wong scale, you need intervention.  When they discover the cure for all the joint pains, then you will stop the meds.

[Fisheress]

Hey........Went to Doc yesterday.  Yea, it may be phycosematic (spelling).  Doc thinks I have a pinched nerve somewhere causing the fluttering and pain in shoulder and back right side.  While he felt around my stomach area I was VERY sensitive.  I also have had some Epshogus problems (real bad spelling today!)feels like a softball in my chest, hard to get my food down, so he put me on Acidpex 2x a day for a week and said I was most likley getting anxious about treatment therefore went ahead and started me on Lexapro.  Yes, I think my nerves are getting to me and starting all this gastro stuff.  I am going to wait untill Monday to start the AD's due to the fact I have to be out on the docks today showing boats and not sure how the AD's will affect me.  It's hot out there!  So just hanging and waiting and trying to keep my mind focused on work.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for your responses.  I'm off to go SELL A BOAT! $$$$$$  WOOHOO!

[Califia]

I still think you should go back and "reason" with that doctor.  S/he could definitely learn a little something from you.  Yes, it's humiliating to be treated like that and it's really not good medical practice, either, to just arbitrarily end pain management while the patient  is still in distress.    I'd like to know what the rationale is.

About that herbal recommendation of mine:  Yes, cannabis can be  tricky.  You have to treat it just like any other medicine and carefully control the dose.   Too much and you're floating in the hover craft over that gorgeous Emerald City of yours (LOVED that description), but one tiny inhalation from a vaporizer takes the edge off the pain quite effectively.  It works better than Phenergan for nausea, that's for sure.   But let me tell you, California is no free haven.   The citizens of this state approve of medical marijuana but the DEA does not, and there have been many raids of late.   There's no question we need better controls on pot clubs, but federal prosecution of patients with MS is the height of folly.  Sez me, at least.

Sandi, keep up those lovely daydreams, and dream a little dream for me, too, while you're at it, ok?

[cquest]

Funny you mention the Emerald City... you must be using your mental powers allready because I was born where they filmed the Wizard of Oz and they call it the Emerald City now as a tourism gimmick...odd coincidence...start clickin your heels girl!
Cin

[LvdByGod]

Frank, thank you and the others so much for the prayers! after i posted this my husband informed me there was a last min family gathering on his side of the family...cause his sister came into town...and we had to go. so i couldn't get back on until this morning...but, i did feel better for awhile while i was there...and it could have been "YOUR" prayers...thank you soooo much, it got me through the evening and i thank you...

Califa, Amen!!! after being turned down for a refill, (((very embarrassing by the way))). i said to the nurse that i would just apreciate one more prescription and i would make it last until october when i get off the tx...you know only take it if i feel the worst of the worst or to get through a particular activity...the answer was a resounding "sorry, no!" our policy is one prescription per patient......oh gee thanks for the great month!!!...now, what was the point of that???  uuuggg! that really got me. how stupid! one pain free month per patient only!

now shall i dr shop??? hmmmm... just kidding! i know they're worried about addiction and i would never want that either...but this pain is not funny...what are you suppose to do? there really are no great pain killers these days that are safe and work...

Pot Calif HMMMM... it's still illegal in my country...is Svaartzinhagger country allowing it now??? shall i pack my bags,:O) and see ya in the morning??? i'd love California!!!

....i did have the most interesting day dream about it!!! it was the greenist field just out back, hidden behind the line of trees!!! hahahaha!!! i was out in my garden field picking these sticky pine scented flowers, and then it suddenly turned into the brightest red poppie field, blowing in the wind...i rolled around in the midst of them and dozzzzzed off in sort of a wizzard of Oz induced sleep amoungst them!!!

painless of course!

hey Cin... that could be my "thought" as i try that relaxation technique you suggested!!! what do you think??? no law broken there...just a field of poppies, overlooking an emerald city!!!

i got to keep my sense of humor in all this...if i'm going to stay sane...which as of late has been a concern...pacing the floor in a circle and moaning isn't good for you i'm thinking...you know... mentally!!! in a straight line back and forth is much safer!

i'm just goofin off of course about the pot, i really haven't been on those kind a drugs since i became a Christian in 1983. but if a doc prescribed it LEGALLY, and it was LEGAL, i just "might" lite one up at this point to see if it would help! but i don't remember them killing the pain...perhaps it was more about "forgetting" the pain....

even when i used to smoke pot in the days that got me into all this mess, it just caused me to become a total burn out anyway! i was just a dazed and confuzed kiddo!  
....."wow man, i forgot to pay rent this month....ohh bummer man!!!!...better lite up a joint and forget about this for a while!!! OOOHH, AAAHHH!!! sooo much better!!!!
...what rent???... rent...rent...reeeennnt.... ~:0} say that ten times in a row fast as you can...rentrentrentrentrent...sooo funny, heeheehee....then a profound thought enters my enlightened brain...(((save up money))) ohhhh yaaaaa, save up!!! for what again??? ohh yaaaa, my next lid!!! :0) hahahaha, i was definately in la la land!!!

hehehehe!!! oh well, it's so good to laugh!!! but, the sad thing is those stupid "funny" daze got me into all this mess...now that's the BUMMER MAN!...

Cutie pie!!! funny thing about pain killers is that when your in actual "pain" they have the oddest way of "JUST" taking away the pain, "IF" your lucky, no high included of course... so much for that floating feeling....let's just be able to get out of bed and venture downstairs!!! shower perhaps? get dressed?

Calif, i'll be sending you that drs address....

....nice little barracuda!!! ...one with SHARP teeth!!!

   ><(((

[LvdByGod]

i agree that they should utilize the pot that God created,if it is good for patients with medical issues...THOSE POOR MS AND CANCER PATIENTS!

i never understood why pot is so differently looked at compared to opium...both are from plants...yet they have no problems making medicines from the poppie plant...it's silly.

biblically, i don't want to break the law...so i don't smoke it...plus it turns me into an idiot...

but if a certain medicine is safely formulated from an herb and it is safe within drs orders and watch care, and legal of course...what's the difference between it and other forms of man made medicines? silly...not that we are ok to eat all God created...(there was that issue with the fruit on that tree at the beginning...heehee).

you know like if you eat some mushrooms etc...you can die...eating some other things he created can put you in the ground fast too...so it has to be studied and carefully monitored...etc...proven to be safe...blah blah...

but here's the kicker...how is pot more dangerous than let's say opium from the poppie? which is used for the use of many drugs...right? i'm not understanding something here with the pot issue...there acting like the properties in pot are more dangerous than those of the poppie...

the addiction problem seems to be the problem with the opiates, but pot isn't even physically addictive...or are there new studies on that? i'm not sure last i heard it fried your brains out like that egg in the pan...:O) remember that commercial? THIS IS YOUR BRAIN...THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS! though i wish i had paid attention to that! i would not have hepatic c today...perhaps it would have been a better add if they had said...this is your liver....this is your liver with hepc...don't do drugs!

i know that no drugs are the best for our bodies if possible for anyone...they are hard on the liver and kidney's to detoxify in the system...and some have horrible sx as we know...but if it is necessary and if deemed safe and ok by drs/scientist...if it helps a person and does not hurt them...then why not? perhaps it was given to us for a reason.

there must be something i'm missing in this whole medical marijuana debate...isn't the dea against herion too...yet they allow the certain pain killers to be made from opium poppies...

so strange...

keep it all illegal, that's great,and fine with me!...it's better that kids cant' ruin thier lives with the drugs as easily as if they were legal like cigarettes and alchohol...like i did. but at least let them make medicines out of it if they work and are made safe and monitored by a doctor...and let those who need them be allowed to use them...what's the problem with that?

and like cuteus is saying...there is also a big difference between proper safe use and abuse! i'm  betting that because i leveled with the drs and told them of my past...long past, drug abuse, this is the reason for the one time only use...1983 was a long time ago! over 20 years...i've done alot of growing up sense then...ALOT! but now i'm again paying for that past...

well, i guess they finally let you use them when your going to die...i'll just have to wait till then... :0} unless they think i'll go through withdrawals in heaven...i would not want that!!!...i don't even think they have toilits up there...

feeling a bit sarcastic at the moment...i'll get over it though...ODE TO PAIN!

WOOPS, I MEAN TO "JOY"!!!! ;o)

[LvdByGod]

cutie, as you said, "there is dependance to the drug to obtain relief, it is not the same as addiction". you know i tend to agree with you on this...i'm aggravated that they cut me off of functioning well and feeling great, but i'm hardly bending over the toliet...and i've been taking them for one month straight now according to directions only!...

but, i can appreciate their concern as it is one of mine too...no one would ever want to be addicted...that thought has always scared me to death. that's why i never did heroin more than a few times, even as an old druggie...the thought freaked me out! no, i owe my hepc to cocaine use...thank you very much! guarenteed not to be addictive physically by my teenage "doctor friends"...oh brother...huh?

but i thought my idea of one more refill and using it only in emergencies until october was a reasonable request. i told them i would tapper off, and make one more prescription last the last few months etc...but nooooooooo! surely that one more perscription would have done it i guess...

i see the dr tomorrow so i need those baracudda there...nooo, i'll be nice...you always get more with honey than vinagar...

i'm actually feeling a bit better today thank the Lord!!!

nice to talk to you guys...i'll let you know what the dr says...he's usually understanding and kind...he's also a smart cookie...i'm sure he's worried about possible drug dependance...i will assure him that i don't want that either if i get up the nerve to even ask...i'm afraid i'll feel like a druggie on the street corner with my tin can out!...

i think alot of my feelings were of the shock of being back to the pain overnight!...it's setting in again like an old enemy now...but it's still hurts...meouch!!!!

[Fisheress]

I think most of my pain is related to nerves, anxiety and the wait to start treatment.  I am trying to get my ephogus healed before treatment starts which I think is all from nerves.  Bascially I think I have read to much although how would I know what to expect had I not read this forum?  I am on day 2 of AD's (lexapo), yesterday was a bad day of anxiety and pain although today seems to be much better.  Hope to hear from the study clinic by the end of the week so I can get started and stop all this uncertainty!

As I stated before, just going to keep my mind on work, excercise (by the way the Pegassist web site has a great journal, excercise regiman, appt. calender, and lab result history page that is excellent)and practice drinking my gallon of water a day!  (my eyeballs are floating!)  As far as excercise goes, I walk the docks here at work, walk the dog around the neigborhood then do 10 laps in the pool.  Going to try and keep that up all through treatment along with gardening in the spring.  

My best to you and all!
Fisheress

[Moeymitt]

Hi, after deciding to start tx in Sept (I mad the decision 6 months ago) I, also started having pain in my right side. Sharp pain on deep breath, pain in back down by kidney, and a fullness under right rib feeling,  Went to 3 different Gastros to help me but all of them said the same thing, not related to hep C. So, they did a ultra sound, neg. Cat scan. Neg. Had another liver bx ( second one in 3 years) same as 3 years ago. Decided to wait on tx. Not start in Sept. Pain went away.  Go figure. Its been 3 weeks now and I am symt. free.

[fresnoborn]

I too have been having alot of pain under my right rib and in my back on the right side. i sleep every nite with a heating pad on my back and it helps some. maybe it's the liver maybe not i really couldn't say but it is scary. i completely understand