severe arthritis during trail

[whatsnext]

I am currently in a trial for Hep C using pegysus and thymosin, the peg is for sure the thymosin may be a placebo. I am in my eighth month of 12 month trial.I felt like I've been breezing through with no major side effects until about 2 weeks ago my knees were sore and it was hard to get up. It has progressed to my ankles, feet, wrists, elbows, and shoulders. At first the doctors thought I had serum sickness because I had taken penicilin 2 weeks earlier for a toothache. I went off treatment while taking prednisone for the swelling of my joints, felt pretty good. But now the pain and swelling is back after 2 days off steroids. I'm seeing the rhumatologist again on Monday. I guess my question is could inteferon cause severe arthritis so quickly? I've read it is a rare side effect, but have also read that inteferon is now used to help people with arthritis, which is it??? Do you know anyone with arthritis from inteferon???

[cuteus]

one of my searches led me to what is termed extrahepatic manifestations of hcv. the virus gives us a head start into some autoinmune disease that might later crop up during tx. do a search on Reactive Arthritis, you will be surprised at the article by an MD on the subject, I left my copy at home so I can't give you the url.  also do a web search on extra hepatic manifestations of hep c to learn what hcv has been doing to our system prior to the tx.
No one can say if what you feel is all interferon or all hcv, it is most likely a combo of both. GL on your quest for SVR.

[DH Bill]

It's kinda like the chicken or the egg  : )

[layla]

HCV can cause joint pain. I had problems with it before tx then it all suddenly stopped two months into tx.That was great until now. I've done 71 weeks of tx. At about month 15 my thyroid got burnt out from the interferon. Well I now have joint pain again. SO HCV can casue joint pain as well as interferon but joint pain can come from thyroid problems too. I'm not sure which mine is from. Have you had your thyroid tested? I'm done tx this past week so I guess I just have to wait and see now. Sorry this isn't an exact answer but you can get joint pain from all these things. LL

[whatsnext]

thanks for the feed back and the good luck wishes! I was diagnosed 2 years ago, did the peg and riba and it didn't work, thats why i'm in the trial now. I guess i should feel very fortunate that this is the first time with any real painful side effects. This is also the first forum i've entered, i guess i need to talk about this crazy disease now that it really is changing my way of life. I can handle the no more drinking, the self injections, the mild sides i've had, but not walking well with this pain is really scary!!! My 8 year old wants his ball playing bike riding mom back

[Amerabrit]

Hey there, sorry to read of your pain and discomfort.  I have no personal experience to share, just wanted to wish you luck.

[DH Bill]

For what it's worth about half way thru my 48 weeks of tx I started to have aches, pains and swelling in my knees, wrist, chest and shoulders. It got so bad at the end it was unbearable at times. I took vioxx for it which helped but the vioxx caused bad migranes so I had to stop taking it and suffer.

Others will also be on here to answer but my opinion is yes this stuff can make one hurt like hell. I'm 10 days post tx and it is slowly getting better already.

It seemed it would pick on a different part of my body each month, when it seemed I couldn't take it anymore in my knee it would move to my wrist. Kinda like ache of the month club : )

Hang in there!