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how long does this last

Iv'e been off the treatment for 1 month. Did any one start losing their hair and get real shaky after treatment. I feel like i'm going crazy. The fatigue is horrible.Thanks for any help.
GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU
SCHANTEK
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317787 tn?1473358451
Hi, the shaky feeling could be the hyperthyroid.
No symptoms? I would be getting a new doctor as well sheesh!
I had come back to ask if you were eating every few hours as lack of nutrients can cause a shakiness but I see now it is your thyroid.
I get shaky if I do not eat several small meals a day.
Many people have problems with their thyroid during and after tx.
I think that being hypothyroid after finishing tx contributed to my hair loss for 3 months after finishing tx.  My TSH was over 17.  I was even on Synthroid so did not know that was a problem for months after finishing tx.
Glad you found out as hyper can  add to the hair loss.
So, the tx causes hair loss, the hyper same thing and then the shock of the tx to your system, a triple whammy
Try to keep drinking water, very important.  Again my hair came in thicker than it has been since before I got the HCV.  I became obsessed about my hair, drove everyone here crazy as I lost so much.
Take Care
Dee
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Avatar universal
Thank you both for all the help. I did have a thyroid panel ran and i'm back to hyperthyroid.I was hyper before treatment, got that fixed, now its back.I'm in the process of getting a new doctor.  Mine seems to think there are no side affects that it's all in our heads.I'm doing a bit better as I hope you are. I'm really glad I found you all. Such wonderful people!   Dee i'm so glad your hair grew back! And Scottie(also my sons name) you should be a hep  doc.
Thanks again for caring and all the help.
Take care and GOD BLESS YOU!
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317787 tn?1473358451
Scottie, your answer was one of the best I have seen.
Schantek, I am post  inf, riba, inf.  I agree, time does help, one month away from tx is not much.  You should be seeing some baby hairs coming in and hair falling should taper off over the next couple of months

Water is very important.

I continued to lose hair after finishing tx.  I became obsessed about it.
Too bad I did not realize that my thyroid could have been affected.  I was on thyroid meds so in my mind, how could I have a thyroid problem, duh.  It took a few months before the hair stopped falling and my thyroid normalized.  I think after tx my TSH was 17.
During that time I also found that the stress of tx could cause hair loss much like any other kind of stress on the body from surgery, illness  etc.

You may want to get your thyroid checked, Free T3, Free T4 as well as TSH.  They are important.

Congratulations for finishing tx, that is a big accomplishment.  It will get better as time goes on.
Take care
Dee
Oh, my hair came back in with curls, it is now thicker than before tx.  I assume that is because the HCV is gone and is no longer attacking my body. I understand about the mental part, that takes a while to get back.
Has anyone mentioned that the Riba can take up to 6 months to leave your body?
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Avatar universal
I am so sorry to hear of your difficulties.  The drugs probably whacked your immune system, and it is now firing up against various parts of your body.  It needs to settle down.

Your brain may have been damaged by the drugs during treatment.  google russell blaylock neurologist interferon.  On top of that, your brain now may be getting damaged by inflammatory processes.  If you eat processed food like white bread, and dairy (cheese, pizza), and it makes you feel mentally worse, that's a clue toward inflammatory processes occuring in the brain.  Varying diet could help explain "never know what I'm going to feel like from day to day."

here's an interesting article i just found http://www.wellnessresources.com/health/articles/brain_inflammation_now_documented_in_chronic_fatigue_syndrome/

The parts of the brain discussed in the article are known to be damaged by interferon.

When you say you "feel like you are"going crazy," one suspects depersonalization syndrome.  It's somewhat common and very scary.  It's like you are in a body that is not yours anymore.   Detached.  A different person than you used to be.  It's not depression. It's a whole other animal. Hard this one, if it applies.  It will pass with time - how much time is the question.  

The advice above to eat non-inflammatory foods and drink lots of water is rock solid.  Rock solid. Forget about junk food, cheese, french onion dip.  

I recommend:

1)  Find a doctor (general practice) who appreciates and "gets" what these drugs can do to your body.  There are an ever-increasing number of them.  Stay away from any that doubt the reality and severity of these symptoms.  They're a waste of your time.

2)  Get your blood checked and stay on that for a while - thyroid, liver enzymes, blood sugar, etc etc.  You need to watch for developing damage to other organs, including kidneys.  Very important this.  

Thyroid problems esp. common and relatively easy to treat and may partly explain fatigue.

3)  If you get better in a month or two great.   If not, don't delay filing for disability.  You may end up  needing a few years to focus on recovery and your health.   This is why recommendation no. 1 is so important.  You need an understanding treating doc to help with social security.  You may not need it, but better to be ready.  From what I've heard, many SSA judges are more familiar with post-interferon syndrome than the doctors who give the drugs.

4)  If you feel up to it in a month or so and symptoms persist, make a list of problems and take them to your Hep C treater, get the list into your medical records, and ask him / her what to do about them.  You probably won't get a good answer, but these folks need to be well educated about what they are doing.  :-).   Too many don't realize what happens after treatment ends.  Patients don't go back to them for psyche care or arthritis - they see other specialists instead.  You will be doing the next patient a favor.

Also, the drug manufacturers and/or others are probably doing / will probably do retroactive studies.   Researchers need to find these things in the patients' medical records - otherwise they never happened and a false sense of safety occurs.  

5)  I recently read that two-day fasts have been proven to help the immune system "reset" following chemo.  google it.   I had an infection post-treatment that almost killed me. When I got out of the hospital a week or so later and 35 pounds lighter, it was the first time in 3 1/2 years that i felt almost mentally "normal", even though very weak from what had just happened.  I remember very clearly thinking that it felt like my body had "reset" to some degree.  Now I read about this fasting business.  Makes you think.

6)  The docs may want to pump you full of more drugs.  For personal reasons and from professional observation, I think the American medical system and its use of pharmaceuticals has just gone completely, unsustainably, expensively nuts.  It simply cannot go on as it is - we're broke, our premiums are too high, the real cost-benefit outcomes are questionable.   Yet others on these forums take the pills the doctors give them, without question, and seek more.  Your choice.  It's just that biologics for arthritis or fibro are more of the same - drugs that alter your immune system, and they can hurt your liver.  You may need an anti-depressant, too, but "Med Help review" whatever they propose to give you.  Some of them are laden with unpleasant side effects.  

7)  If symptoms persist, get counseling.  I think many people hit hard by side effects develop PTSD.  

I developed body-wide problems - name a system, my body now attacks it post INF / Riba (skin, kidneys, liver, joints, nerves, brain, blood vessels).  One thing that has helped nervous system problems (MS-like symptoms) is sub-lingual Vitamin B12.  It's good for the nervous system.   You want the kind that dissolves under the tongue.  AND avoiding inflammatory foods.

Your symptoms will subside to some degree as time goes on, although they may get a bit worse before they start getting better.  If you find yourself "depersonalized," just hang in there.  Blaylock says a couple years for the brain to heal.  It took me about four, body and mind.  

I wish somebody had told me to apply for SSDI quickly.  I lost my life savings from not working and just basically vacantly staring, dealing with symptoms and sleeping for a few years, not really able to attend to my affairs, not realizing how whacked out I was.  

I am not fully recovered but am a whole lot better, which is why I suggest you too will get better.  You have to focus on lessening inflammation, and finding a doctor who appreciates what has happened to you.

Good luck and my warmest wishes to you.  
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Avatar universal
Hi Schantek, I went through the triple therapy two years ago and the s/o therapy and was finished around 10 weeks ago. I had terrible muscle, joint pain along with really bad fatigue. Most say it takes about six months for your body to spring back.

The best thing I've found is just stay away from things that trigger inflammation and make sure you drink a lot of water and stay real regular..You didn't say how what stage is you are at but the fatigue and aches and pains can come in waves.

You might want to re-post your question on the "Hep C" forum because it seems like not many visit the "Post Hep C" forum. Hope you start feeling better real soon. Take care
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766573 tn?1365166466
I had thinning and gradual loss of hair during treatment with Peg & Riba and then about 30 days after treatment I had PROFOUND loss of hair.

It differs for everyone but do not be surprised if you lose more hair since it has only been a month.
It feels like it takes forever for hair to grow back but it does for most of us. My hair is thick and curly so it does not look like it is growing back very fast but I can feel the fullness when I wash it.
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Avatar universal

I was on pegasinterferon, ribavin, and solvaldi.. The hep is gone, I didn't have it bad. But I never know what i"m gonna feel like  day from day. This is awful.
Thanks for caring.
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Avatar universal
What treatment were you on?
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