numb finger tips

[brn i'd grl]

I am 3 months post interferon treatment for hep. c which now is undetected in my blood. Recently my finger tips have been feeling numb. Could it be from the treatment or did the treatment bring on a neurology problem?

[Quixotic1]

We recently had a poster here that complained of the same thing, numbness after being on Interferon for Hep C. It is well estblished that  Hep C by itself can cause peripheral neuropathy.  Also untreated Hep can be devastating if not fatal.

I looked at some of the literature.  I found two recent studies that claim to show that Pegalated Interferon is not neurotoxic.  Here are those links:

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/67/5/781

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/545275

However, some older articles report the onset of neuropathy with Interferon treatment.  That does not mean the treatment caused it.  In some cases the symptoms improved when the interferon was stopped.  This suggests, but does not prove that the med was to blame.

I don't know the answer.  It is apparently still a controversy.

I hope this helped, but it probably didn't.  sorry Quix