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Care & Attention,
My Fiancee' has been diagnosed with hepatitis C this year 2009 and has also bee diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.
Over the past few years her fibromyalgia symptoms were mainly burning pain in her hips while a sleep at night.
now her hepatitis has become affective after 23 years her fibromyalgia has become far more severe throughout different joints of her body. Would the hepatitis have any reaction on towards her fibromyalgia to increase the spread and severity of her pain?
I live in the UK and she lives in Texas, USA, i shall be travelling back and for to take care of her when possible, but i have to return home from time to time. But i am very concerned about the care and attention she should receive.
being diagnosed with Genotype 1a, Grade 3, Stage 2, From the symptoms of fatigue and the shot of
Peg interferon all she may require is to sleep it off for a few days but there is no one there to encourage her to take addittional treatment, even addittional shots to increase her White blood cells.
Is it safe for her to proceed through this course of treatment from time to time without Care and attention?
What year is the new Combination treatment available in United states?
What does the medication contain in the combination treat altogether?
Many Thanks
The triple therapy is anticipated to become available in 2011. I am familiar with boceprevir, one of the new drugs. It does decrease hemoglobin in addition to the decrease in hgb caused by ribivirin, the helper drug for interferon. Hemoglobin is the red blood cell that carries oxygen, so it's decrease in levels causes exhaustion.
The therapy is hard but not impossible. Patients become expert at building habits to help remember to take meds and setting alarms for taking pills. You might want to help her work out some systematic way to remember to take all of the meds. Once you get entrenched in the therapy it can become an automatic part of your life, no matter how poorly you may feel. Her medical team will alert her if she needs to use one of the helper drugs like procrit for low hemoglobin or neupogen (also comes as Neulasta) to increase the white count and show her how to take those shots and advise her on how often to use them.
Not everyone gets the flu-like symptoms from the interferon shot, but I do believe that most people do (I didn't). The literature says that those side effects begin to decrease after the 2nd or third shot. She will just have to get into the regimen to see how it goes for her. It's awfully nice that she will have so much support from you.
The therapy is hard but not impossible. Patients become expert at building habits to help remember to take meds and setting alarms for taking pills. You might want to help her work out some systematic way to remember to take all of the meds. Once you get entrenched in the therapy it can become an automatic part of your life, no matter how poorly you may feel. Her medical team will alert her if she needs to use one of the helper drugs like procrit for low hemoglobin or neupogen (also comes as Neulasta) to increase the white count and show her how to take those shots and advise her on how often to use them.
Not everyone gets the flu-like symptoms from the interferon shot, but I do believe that most people do (I didn't). The literature says that those side effects begin to decrease after the 2nd or third shot. She will just have to get into the regimen to see how it goes for her. It's awfully nice that she will have so much support from you.
Yes, it's entirely possible that her Hep C is exacerbating her fibromyalgia. It's also possible that she has thyroid issues that may be contributing to it as well. Sometimes the interferon kicks this thyroid issues as well. Not every one develops these issues from thyroid but some do. I would rule it out.
As for her treatment - is she under the care of a good medical team? An experienced hepatologist?
What week of treatment is she in? Has she gone UND - undetected for the presence of virus in her blood - and at what week, if so? How are her labs coming back in that regard?
If she is Stage 3, Grade 2 and she has a fiancee, that would personally motivate me plenty to stick to my dosages - to keep my eyes on the life beyond treatment. The best rule of thumb to go by is 100% of the drugs 100% of the time as much as possible. She can deal with the various side effects that come along in other ways than reducing her drugs.
She should expect to be fatigued. It's the most common side effect of this treatment. She should be prepared to rest up as much as possible so that she has some energy for the important things in her life. There are numerous side effects that come with these drugs and various ways to deal with them.
Does she have any support system at all? If she won't come onto this forum, then I would suggest that you stick around and as things come up for her, you can ask questions and we can help as best we can with answers.
I hope that helps some for starters.
Trish
As for her treatment - is she under the care of a good medical team? An experienced hepatologist?
What week of treatment is she in? Has she gone UND - undetected for the presence of virus in her blood - and at what week, if so? How are her labs coming back in that regard?
If she is Stage 3, Grade 2 and she has a fiancee, that would personally motivate me plenty to stick to my dosages - to keep my eyes on the life beyond treatment. The best rule of thumb to go by is 100% of the drugs 100% of the time as much as possible. She can deal with the various side effects that come along in other ways than reducing her drugs.
She should expect to be fatigued. It's the most common side effect of this treatment. She should be prepared to rest up as much as possible so that she has some energy for the important things in her life. There are numerous side effects that come with these drugs and various ways to deal with them.
Does she have any support system at all? If she won't come onto this forum, then I would suggest that you stick around and as things come up for her, you can ask questions and we can help as best we can with answers.
I hope that helps some for starters.
Trish
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