Aa
Athritis all over my body
I have been on medicine for 2 1/2 months for Hepatitis C. At first My knees would get stiff getting up and would take a minute to get going. Then my knees and bottoms of my feet were stiff and hurting bad in the morning and throughout the day as well. The past three weeks it has ventured into the rest of my body. In the mornings my whole body is stiff and hurting pretty bad. Throughout the day it hurts a little less but it's still bad. I can't turn the steering wheel because my wrist hurts too bad, I have to bend over to get my shirt off causeI Have limited mobility in my shoulders. My Doctor say's its arthritis but I am 29 years old why would I have arthritis? Has anyone had this same kind of problems? Please let me know.
Three days ago my back started aching around my spine. I figured that I had just made it sore somehow but since then my back still hurts and my neck now and it's only right where my bones are so definitely arthritis. Now I can worry about my whole body instead of just my limbs yay.
I'm definitely going to check into a rheumatologist. After reading what she said yesterday I wrote it down right away so I can ask my Doctor. From what I can tell he is confused about what the medicine is doing to me since it's not one of the usual more common side effects.
You've gotten lots of good responses already, with a range of viewpoints that sort of match the range of possibilities and outcomes here. From my 2-3 years in this forum I would say that most people feel like crap on interferon and most of them recover fine when its over. Your symptoms sound significantly more severe than most people experience, and since a small percentage of those treated with interferon DO suffer permanent ill effects, I would think with your more severe effects, you just might be at higher risk of being in that group that has permanent damage. It's still probably temporary, but you should know that interferon can and does occasionally cause permanent (or at least long-term) damage. I think this is the first time in all my time here that I've tried to warn someone this way, but your symptoms worry me more than most. I would join Pooh in encouraging you to talk to a rheumatologist in addition to your treating physician. The ideal situation would be for your treating physician to refer you to a rheumatologist on an urgent basis and then the two of them could collaborate on helping you decide what is best. BTW, I always take Pooh's advice pretty seriously. She is an extremely well-informed person with an R.N. who does a good job of reading the medical literature.
That's really reassuring to know that someone else went through this same thing and came out okay. When you get to were you can hardly walk it gets a little scary. It gives me hope that it will be okay. My boyfriend has been freaking out and I guess that doesn't help any.
My Doctor is a specialist and he see's me all the time and does lab work to make sure everything is okay. I read that the best thing for arthritis is to keep moving and to stay active but the more I do the more pain I'm in later so I gave that up. I am a hiker and backpacker so before all this happened I went on four day backpacking trips, went hiking at least every weekend, and enjoyed jogging in the morning but now these things are out of the question. My "walk" has turned into a hobble.
Im sorry your having the joint pain. I can relate as I had severe joint pain while on treatment. It came around the same time as yours. I could barely walk my knee hurt so bad and my fingers, wrist, etc were in very bad shape. Stopping treatment was an option but I kept going because I felt that If I could just get through the last months....Im young enough so maybe the joint pain would go away. I saw a Rhematologist who said I had inteferon induced psoriatic arthritis. After I finished treatment he wanted to start me on Embrel but I decided to wait to see if my body rebounded.
Im 9 months post treatment with no joint pain...at all. It took a few months to start feeling better but Im so glad I stayed with the treatment. I know its a hard decision but if you can...finish the treatment. Like I said...I could barely walk...or sleep for that matter because of the pain...but I stuck with it and am so glad I did. Good luck and God Bless.
Im 9 months post treatment with no joint pain...at all. It took a few months to start feeling better but Im so glad I stayed with the treatment. I know its a hard decision but if you can...finish the treatment. Like I said...I could barely walk...or sleep for that matter because of the pain...but I stuck with it and am so glad I did. Good luck and God Bless.
IfN ruined my immune system. After a few weeks on it I couldn't lift my head off the pillow. To get into the car I had to take both hands to lift my leg in the car. I couldn't get out of a chair without arms. I was taken off ifn and put on prednisone for over a year. All autoimmune markers were elevated. Fifteen years later and I still have elevated ANA and other markers. I can never go on that again.
It sounds to me that you are having a side effect from interferon. Muscle tension is common and what you describe though a bit extreme doesn't sound that odd to me.
Is this doctor who said it was arthritis a hepatologist ? Is this the doc overseeing your treatment ?
I experienced extreme pain in odd places during and for a while after treatment.
For me the best relief was with medicinal cannabis. If you live where there is a dispensary, let them know you want something to counteract muscle pain.
Having said all that it is also very important to keep active, as active as is possible while doing this difficult treatment. Try to take a walk daily. Do some gentle yoga. Take hot baths and use heating pads. Breath deep and concentrate on relaxation.
If you can get a good full body massage, do so.
Good luck.
OH
Is this doctor who said it was arthritis a hepatologist ? Is this the doc overseeing your treatment ?
I experienced extreme pain in odd places during and for a while after treatment.
For me the best relief was with medicinal cannabis. If you live where there is a dispensary, let them know you want something to counteract muscle pain.
Having said all that it is also very important to keep active, as active as is possible while doing this difficult treatment. Try to take a walk daily. Do some gentle yoga. Take hot baths and use heating pads. Breath deep and concentrate on relaxation.
If you can get a good full body massage, do so.
Good luck.
OH
It is a 6 month treatment. I've pretty much decided I'm going to suffer through the treatment. I have something for pain but I just really hope I'm not getting rid of one medical problem just to get a worse one. If this will just go away after the treatment is over then that would be great. If not blah
Thanks for your advice I think I will ask my Doctor if he could do an X-ray next time I see him. If I knew for a fact that it's not damaging my body I could suffer through it. This morning was worse than it usually is, I couldn't even walk because of the pain. But as soon as I hobbled into work I took the pain medicine the Doctor gave me and I was fine besides my joints still being stiff. I just can't take the pain medicine and drive so I got to get where I'm going first.
I am 4 weeks into interferon based treatment and I have started having stiff knees. I hear a clicking sound and experience discomfort when I stand up from a sitting position.
My jaw also tends to get locked a times.
I am sure this has happened after starting treatment
My jaw also tends to get locked a times.
I am sure this has happened after starting treatment
This is another example why I dislike an interferon-based treatment. My husband went through hell while on triple treatment and lasted only 5 weeks.
After 2 1/2 months on treatment, I don't blame you for not wanting to stop treatment. But I just want to say that if it comes to that, there is an alternative treatment already out which does not include interferon (already mentioned
above by Pooh). That is a great thing. The side effects are minimal from what I hear - fatigue and headache. You would probably have to wait awhile to start a new treatment but TG you have that possible alternative to turn to.
Hope you feel better very soon.
Nan
Nancy
After 2 1/2 months on treatment, I don't blame you for not wanting to stop treatment. But I just want to say that if it comes to that, there is an alternative treatment already out which does not include interferon (already mentioned
above by Pooh). That is a great thing. The side effects are minimal from what I hear - fatigue and headache. You would probably have to wait awhile to start a new treatment but TG you have that possible alternative to turn to.
Hope you feel better very soon.
Nan
Nancy
A rheumatologist under the circumstances can`t handle pain any better than a GP. As I mentioned earlier a simple thing to do would be an xray.
Let the radiologist take a look and tell Belle and her Dr. that her joints
look fine. At 29 it seems extremely unlikely for any joint damage to
show as well as after only a few months of tx.
It would however possibly ease everybody`s mind which helps a lot
in "sticking it through" as everyone who has been there will confirm
in my opinion.
b
Let the radiologist take a look and tell Belle and her Dr. that her joints
look fine. At 29 it seems extremely unlikely for any joint damage to
show as well as after only a few months of tx.
It would however possibly ease everybody`s mind which helps a lot
in "sticking it through" as everyone who has been there will confirm
in my opinion.
b
Bali - Yes, I agree with you. I realize that the tests would be unreliable during Tx (which is why I waited until 11 months after treatment ended to see my Rheumatologist).
In Belle's situation, her doctor is talking about stopping treatment. Since she is trying to stay on treatment, I was thinking that a Rheumatologist would be better able to manage joint pain and problems than a Hepatologist.
In Belle's situation, her doctor is talking about stopping treatment. Since she is trying to stay on treatment, I was thinking that a Rheumatologist would be better able to manage joint pain and problems than a Hepatologist.
"After only 2 months the virus went from 180,000 to undetectable"
It doesn't sound like you had a RVR so under this treatment it would be very important to do the full 24 weeks for your best chances. Good luck to you.
It doesn't sound like you had a RVR so under this treatment it would be very important to do the full 24 weeks for your best chances. Good luck to you.
A rheumatologist will want to run additional bloods to check for rheumatoid
arthritis. Under INF tx your immune system is "turbo" charged and any
bloodwork would not be reliable.
You can not "turbo" charge your immune system to eradicate the virus
and at the same time expect reliable normal immune response results
in other respects..
It will have to wait until the body has cleared the meds.
b
arthritis. Under INF tx your immune system is "turbo" charged and any
bloodwork would not be reliable.
You can not "turbo" charge your immune system to eradicate the virus
and at the same time expect reliable normal immune response results
in other respects..
It will have to wait until the body has cleared the meds.
b
If you want to clear the virus for good, you really need to do the appropriate protocol/regimen for your Genotype, and that is 24 weeks of Interferon and Ribavirin. At least, that is the treatment that you are on.
However, if you cannot tolerate the Interferon and Ribavirin, then you do not have a lot of choice but to stop it. That decision would have to be made by you and your doctor.
However, if it was me, I would see a Rheumatologist ASAP on an urgent basis. The Rheumatologist could test you and probably give you a more accurate diagnosis than your hepatologist or your GI doctor can. Getting a timely appointment with a Rheumatologist might be a problem, however, since sometimes it take a long time to get an appointment with a Rheumatologist.
One thing to keep in mind is that there is a new drug regimen that was approved for Genotype 2. It does not include Interferon. The new drug is Sofosbuvir and it is given in combination with Ribavirin for 12 weeks. That regimen has many fewer side effects than the 24 week regimen with Interferon and Ribavirin and the treatment time is shorter (12 weeks). So if you have to stop the Interferon treatment, you should be able to do the 12 weeks treatment with Sofosbuvir and Ribavirin in the near future. The drugs are on the market now.
However, if you cannot tolerate the Interferon and Ribavirin, then you do not have a lot of choice but to stop it. That decision would have to be made by you and your doctor.
However, if it was me, I would see a Rheumatologist ASAP on an urgent basis. The Rheumatologist could test you and probably give you a more accurate diagnosis than your hepatologist or your GI doctor can. Getting a timely appointment with a Rheumatologist might be a problem, however, since sometimes it take a long time to get an appointment with a Rheumatologist.
One thing to keep in mind is that there is a new drug regimen that was approved for Genotype 2. It does not include Interferon. The new drug is Sofosbuvir and it is given in combination with Ribavirin for 12 weeks. That regimen has many fewer side effects than the 24 week regimen with Interferon and Ribavirin and the treatment time is shorter (12 weeks). So if you have to stop the Interferon treatment, you should be able to do the 12 weeks treatment with Sofosbuvir and Ribavirin in the near future. The drugs are on the market now.
You could get a simple x-ray of your hand , knee or wherever you feel the
most pain.The results will at least put your mind at ease that there is no joint damage occuring.
It is very common with INF tx to experience this sort of symptom/side effect and everyone is different in terms of intesity.
It should go away when you stop tx, until than my only advice would be
try and cope with it (warm baths , stretching ect...)
b
most pain.The results will at least put your mind at ease that there is no joint damage occuring.
It is very common with INF tx to experience this sort of symptom/side effect and everyone is different in terms of intesity.
It should go away when you stop tx, until than my only advice would be
try and cope with it (warm baths , stretching ect...)
b
Genotype 2b
Medication is Pegasus interferon 180ml and ribapak
I had no joint problems before I started the medicine but I had only been on the medicine 3 weeks when the problems started they were mild at first but they just keep getting worse. My Doctor gave me pain medicine and said if that didn't help he would just have to take me off the treatment. After only 2 months the virus went from 180,000 to undetectable but I want to finish treatment to make sure it's gone. It just really worry's me to be in this much pain because I figure that it must be doing something to my joints. My Doctor is a specialist but I'm not sure if he's telling me exactly what he thinks.
Medication is Pegasus interferon 180ml and ribapak
I had no joint problems before I started the medicine but I had only been on the medicine 3 weeks when the problems started they were mild at first but they just keep getting worse. My Doctor gave me pain medicine and said if that didn't help he would just have to take me off the treatment. After only 2 months the virus went from 180,000 to undetectable but I want to finish treatment to make sure it's gone. It just really worry's me to be in this much pain because I figure that it must be doing something to my joints. My Doctor is a specialist but I'm not sure if he's telling me exactly what he thinks.
Welcome to the forum.
If you can tell us a little more about you and the treatment you are on it would be helpful in responding to your posts and questions.
What Genotype are you?
What medications are you one?
Did you have the pain prior to treatment?
When did the pain start?
Hepatitis C can trigger joint and/or rheumatological problems. Sometimes interferon can trigger arthritis and/or other joint and connective tissue problems. If the joint problems started after starting treatment, it is possible it was triggered by Interferon. We have had people on the forum who developed joint pain during treatment and then the joint pain disappeared following treatment.
It would probably be a good idea to see a Rheumatologist about your pain and joint problems.
Best of luck.
If you can tell us a little more about you and the treatment you are on it would be helpful in responding to your posts and questions.
What Genotype are you?
What medications are you one?
Did you have the pain prior to treatment?
When did the pain start?
Hepatitis C can trigger joint and/or rheumatological problems. Sometimes interferon can trigger arthritis and/or other joint and connective tissue problems. If the joint problems started after starting treatment, it is possible it was triggered by Interferon. We have had people on the forum who developed joint pain during treatment and then the joint pain disappeared following treatment.
It would probably be a good idea to see a Rheumatologist about your pain and joint problems.
Best of luck.
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