Incivek Anal Burning

[OJay63]

I'm on my fifth day of Incivek and I'm already considering ending the treatment. The anal burning sensation during and after a bowel movement is nearly unbearable. I'm afraid to eat anything because I know that will cause me to have a bowel movement. It's like giving birth everytime I have a BM. Is this normal? I'm well hydrated and eating fat before taking meds. Any advice on how to make this stop?

[Jenlima]

All these ideas sound good. For me, however, I've had to keep my stool loose. I use a stool softener twice a day and a laxative about every other week. My hemorrhoids and rectal bleeding are so severe that I cannot afford to pass a hard stool... Anacort is a prescription strength suppository which I find much more helpful than prepH.

[copyman]

The trial patients did tell the study centers about this. I was one of the participants and it was well known about incivik and hemorrhoids.  It happens in a large % of people treating with this PI. Some worse then others.  Symptoms  are treatable so don't quit because of it.

If your doctor & nurse are unaware of this side effect then they must not be up to date with treating HCV.

Best of luck

[vasq193]

My husband started the triple therapy program 5 days ago and he has had the hemmarroids for 2 days. Excrutiating pain. You are so right about the trial patients not mentioning this problem. The doctor and nurse we deal with never did mention this symtom appearing, after reading comments on this forum i feel better that he is not the only one experiencing this. Because it wasnt mentioned to us we thought this was an isolated issue.
Thank you, he will try some of the recommended treatments

[vasq193]

My husband started the triple therapy program 5 days ago and he has had the hemmarroids for 2 days. Excrutiating pain. You are so right about the trial patients not mentioning this problem. The doctor and nurse we deal with never did mention this symtom appearing, after reading comments on this forum i feel better that he is not the only one experiencing this. Because it wasnt mentioned to us we thought this was an isolated issue.
Thank you, he will try some of the recommended treatments

[ann61]

Hang in there.  I am almost in my 8th month of treatment and suffered terribly for the entire 12 weeks that I took incivek.  It started on day 2 and I honestly thought I would pass out from the pain.  I tried everything and nothing seemed to help.  The best advice is to keep things clean, take some metamucil or fibercon and I found A&D ointment and immodium helped the most.  Once I finished the incivek things returned to semi-normal.  Good luck.

[stormy456]

Welcome, Nazzman.  Nothing sacred here, so you did just endear yourself.  Glad that particularly fun side effect has gone away!

[nazzman]

First time post to the community. Let me endear myself to all of you by talking about my ***!

Specifically, the anal burning. My experience was the shards of glass thing starting about day 3 or 4. I know a thing or two about pain, having severed my Achille's, but this was heavy duty and I wondered how the hell I could last through treatment. The really painful craps only lasted a bit more than than a week, though -- even so, it was an eternity in my mind.

The anal burning has not returned as of the 4-week mark. I started taking a bit more than the 20 grams of fat and perhaps that helped.

Can't say how typical my experience is. But if you're going through this agony in the early stages, it may get better.

Pointer: Baby wipes, torn in half. Boudreaux's Butt Paste. Ahhh.

[diesel1959]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I understand your discomfort, I finished incevik 5 weeks ago it was uncomfortable to say the least. I did notice eating the fat as instructed did help, but it still burned. I used warm wet wipes to ease pain. I will tell you almost immediately after finishing incevik the burning subsided. I still have a little discomfort but I still have 6 more weeks of Pegasus and ribo. I wlil also tell you I did develop anemia and the Dr prescribed procrit and it did help. I hope that you could do this like the old cliche one day @ a time and finish it will make you stronger! Stay well and god bless  

[stormy456]

15g of water soluble fiber at night ended this terrible side effect for my husband, but there is some other very good advice here as well.

[micheall]

This to will pass,a common side effect with Incevek.I almost quit and I found this forum and it saved me.Keep the area clean and treated after every BM.It should clear itself up and be less painful.Use non-alcoholic baby wipes.

[pooh55811]

Just want to add that many of us had those big red itchy circles affter the injections. They stay around for awhile too. You could try some hydrocortizone cream on them to stop the itching but I never put that cream on until at least a week after I had injected at that particular site. You may want to run it past your doctor just in case. It is always best to discuss problems with the doc or case manager.

[pooh55811]

Yes, I think I would agree that it is the Incivek in the feces that is causing the irritation. (Welll, I am pretty sure about that since I have had no problems since being off Incivek.) Howevr, I found that the softer or the looser stools, which tend to be more frequent simply because they are passing faster, are the ones that caused me trouble. As long as I kept the stools form, I was okay and had no problem with the pain or burning. (I was one of the people who had severe internal pain when I passed those loose or soft stools. I thought I was about to pass out each time.)

Someone posted (not sure if it is in this thread) that eating more fat helped a lot to prevent the pain and burning. I know it is a lot of fat, but if it works, might be worth a try.

Of course, Huggies wipes, Prep H supp. and Prep H cream also helped as did letting the shower water run over my behind. Some use butt cream or butt balm (not sure of the name but I did see it in the pharmacy) and others use Baneal (something like that). It is in the pharmaacy too.

There are (at least) two types of problems. One is the burning at the anus but some of us also got the horrible internal pain (like crapping razor blades or shards of glass). They both stem from the feces but the solutions may be different. All the creams in the world did nothing for that shards of glass pain because the cream was on the outside and the pain was on the inside (probably from fissures caused by the burning frequent feces). I had to keep that feces firm.The suppositories helped too.

I hope you can get this under control. If you can figure out a way to stop it treatment will be much easier or, at least, a lot less painful. Not sure I could have stood that pain for 12 weeks solid. So try a few things and hopefully you can get rid of the pain, at least.  

By the way, welcome to the forum.

[joyla69]

I started Incivek on 2/24/12 and have been experiancing severe rectal burning and discomfort, to the point of almost falling to my knees in pain!! I was reading about Incivek product info, and one thing caught my eye, 82% of incivek is excreted in feces, which got me thinking that is possible that the feces themselves are the irratant.Not the consistancy or frequency?Ive noticed that being hypervigilant about peri care helps a great deal, as does warm sitz baths..But even though I clean myself thouroughly after every BM, I shudder to think about resuming my love of the outdoors, and hiking, and fishing. I feel kind of shut in and scared to stray far from home.Also Ive noticed that every site Ive given myself of the Pegasys is red and stays red, and itchy.I have constant head aches as well.And fatigue as well. this Tx is no joke!!

[bivalve]

Don't stop treatment!!!!!! There's gotta be something that will help.

I've had three kidney stones, and thought I knew what pain was, but this was a whole new dimension...not worse, just different. Like pooping red-hot lava. Screaming helped a little.

No interest in repeating that experience, so I'll go to the drug store and try a few things...

[TRI2011]

I am telaprevir+riba+interferon treatment, week 8.

Also had the firerrhea. It was so painful at first that I did wonder how I would make it through the entire treatment. It got better, still itches at times, but not this unimaginable shards of glass feeling everytime I have a bowel movement.

I agree, the key is to keep your stools regular, not too watery, not too hard. Steroid and zinc ointments didn't work for me, made it worse. Bag Balm works wonders, I put a little in the morning and in the evening, seems to keep things at bay. Not completely itch free, but not crazy-can't-stop-itching-there state.

Good luck!

[Hepcwife926]

My husband has the same problem - on his 5th week and has found Desitin ( the diaper ointment we had in for our son) works great. He says it's the most unbearable part of this treatment. We are hoping it ends when he is done the incevik

[1msmagnolia9]

Hydrocortisone cream 2.5% .  after EVERY movement wash with Aveeno body wash, put on cream back there & when things calm down you can use Tucks.  Also no straining & no soft stools..watch diet.  These things worked well for me.  Cleared up completely after 6 weeks........hang in there  --  there are so many more interesting things ahead.  Seriously, it will all be fine ....just a little "bump" in road...............Get well..........

[BigDaddy_59]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I start Tx in February with a four week lead-in and then the Incivek. After reading all this, I can hardly wait!

On the subject of fiber, I have diverticulitis and IBS like symptoms and I have found that taking fiber twice a day has kept my symptoms away.

The best fiber I have found is Heather's Tummy Fiber. It is not gritty and has no taste and doesn't bulk-up while still in the glass so if you have trouble swallowing this really helps.

The cheapest I have found it ($10.95/lb)is at iHerb and shipping is free in the US for orders over $20.

Here is a link:
http://www.iherb.com/Heather-s-Tummy-Care-Acacia-Senegal-Tummy-Fiber-Organic-16-oz-453-g/16509

With the diverticulitis/IBS I am VERY familiar with the 'burning shards of glass' feelings and since I have been taking this EVERY DAY, no problems.

Thanks again for all the tips and I have bookmarked this thread for easy reference and good luck to all!!!

Chris

[pooh55811]

I am sorry your husband is having this problem. Several of us ghave had it.

I found that keeping the stool firm was the key. It took me some trial and error to figure this put because firm stools seems counterintuitive when one has hemorrhoids. It really  need to be firm, not hard as  rock, but firm. If it gets soft or loose then the pain is really horrendous. To keep the stools firm I used Loperimide at the first sign of a soft stool.

I also kept the area super clean with Huggies baby wipes with aloe.

At night I put in a Prep. H supp.

I also used Prep. H cream and some prescription xylocaine with hydrocortisone cream for the outside and the hemorrhoids.

I am now off Incivek and the internal rectal pain is totally gone, has not reappeared. The outside is irritated now (excoriated and itchy) (never healed up from the Incivek burn) and now I am using Desitin cream (40% zinc). That works like a charm.  I should have got some of that sooner, lol.

It will get better if he keeps the stools firm, I think, and after Incivek is finished it should go away.

For the nausea have his doctor order something. I waited too long and was really sick. Once I got on Zofran 8 mg. every 8 hours (took about an hour or two before my Incivek dose) the nausea cleared up and I felt considerably better. If Zofran does not work, the doc can order some other antinausea med.

I wish you the best.

[JustLeslee]

My hubby says it's like pooping a mixture of peanut butter and turpentine.  He's on week 3 and was doing great until about 5 days ago.  Between the trowing up and painful poops I feel sick for him.  I got him Prep H and Hydrocortizone and so far I think we need more.  I think we will try the diaper creme.  I got "Female" sanity wipes and those seem to help a tad. He also said his hemrhoids are the size of his butt cheecks.  I guess I am just letting ya'll know that you aren't the only ones and if we find something  will definately be back to let ya'll know.  Hang in there!! Think about the other side of this.  It'll be worth it!

[Advocate1955]

I posted suggestions from everyone on this forum over the past few months regarding this side effect in my journal:  
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/333064/Incivek--Ideas-for-dealing-with-anal-rectal-pain-or-bleeding
My husband suffered with this side effect, which for him also included bleeding (probably from internal hemorrhoids).  
Advocate1955

[FoxLair]

the number one thing to get rid of the burn is DIAPER RASH OINTMENT.  Put a dab on everytime you go, and take immodium....end of problem

[needlaughter]

CALMOSEPTINE is 8dollars you can get at Walgreens. It really works for an over the counter med to relieve the pain. As far as the shards of glass= I don't think anyone can truly understand unless they experience it. It is quite unbearable and makes me cry but after 10 mins. the pain lessons and I can lie back down in bed. Unfortunately I haven't been able to stop the diarreha but keep on trying. Really too tired to think about it a lot of the time. Too busy throwing up ha ha.
Try it and see if it helps a little. Good luck.

[working dog]

mine came on early like that and was gone for the most part by end of week 3....good luck....billy