Is it OK to take your weekly shot a day early?

[hepcgirlfriend]

My bf would like to take his interferon shot one day early on a Thursday for the 4th of July holiday which falls on a Friday.  Has anyone done this on ocassion?  Will it mess up tx?  He's 13 weeks in, type 2, and just got his interferon dosage reduced from 2 shots to one (thank God!)  What a difference, he was going downhill fast.

I posted last week regarding neuropathy, which we thought he might have but turned out to be a disk problem causing sciatica, just bad luck and unrelated to tx....so they say. Very bad to have sciatica pain on top of all the side effects of this treatment.

Comments and advice appreciated!  thanks:)

[semosig]

I have  been on tx, Rib and Peginterferon for 18 weeks and recently found that I was UND.  The meds make me extremely nauseated most of the time.  I for the last 6 months have been too fatigued to work without resting at least 3 or 4 hours a day.  Lately I can get by on an hours rest.  Anyway my point is that I asked my doctor in an email if I could miss my meds for a day.  I had forgotten one morning to take my ribivarin and felt much better and then realized when I was taking my night med I noticed it.  My doctor is board certified internist, board certified gastrointerologist, teaches liver disease as part time professor at Baylor College of Medicine, presid of liver foundation of TX and Harris County   Med Association.  My point is he is one of the best in the Country.  I have an opportunity to go get an award in Chicago, all expenses paid and I really want to do it so I asked him.  This is exactly what he said from his email to me....

TS,
You are safe for a variance of a few days as the medicines you are on have a significant intracellular pool and effective half life.  Part of the strict scheduling we begin with assumes that our patients are less than perfect by events or practice.  We all shoot for exact perfection however you can still be successful with limited varriance, especially with good compliance otherwise.
Have a good time & best wishes,

That being said, I think you should do what YOU are comfortable with.  I believe my Doc is the best in the Country and when he let me know that I had become UND he was almost as excited as I was so I feel if he felt I shouldn't do it, he would say so.

Good luck.

[hepcgirlfriend]

thank you all for the info, you are the most helpful group of people:)

Interesting, so many variations and different views on changing your shot day.  After reading your responses, he has decided to leave well enough alone and stay the course.  We will pass on our invite to the Cape and and watch the Boston Pops and fireworks on TV.

[Jeff88]

when I needed to change from Friday evening to Thursday evening, I did it in two weeks.
First I moved it to Friday morning, then to Thu eve. I went back to Fridays also in two steps.  Jeff

[meki]

I moved mine up once and down once because they changed my schedule at work with different days off.

I talked to my GP and GI and Hep. So they all concurred it would be alright.

I think it would depend on what your doc says.

Meki

[Trinity4]

Recommendations vary from doctor to doctor however, the standard is you can inject a day early but subsequent injections should be given 1 wk from that day so his new day for injecting would be Thursday. Personally, in the big scheme of things I doubt it matters a great deal but I do know interferon is given a 1 wk "shelf life" in the body after injecting.  I even think I read something where interferon is really most effective within a 96 hr period.  After that, it starts to diminish.  I'm sure he'll be fine either way.
Trinity

[Andiamo1]

The published blood levels of pegylated interferon show a tapered drop off over a week.  Pegasys seems to be a bit more level than Peg-Intron, but fairly close.  I haven't looked at this for a long time, so things might have changed.

It seems logical to me that Marcia's comment is probably accurate; if you move the shot up a day, you will not experience a trough lower than the recommended dose level.  If you extend beyond a week, you run the risk of lowering the level of interferon beyond the recommended dose.

I know that when I stopped treatment, I began to feel better on the eighth day.  Just a guess on my part, so perhaps the experts have more accurate information.

Eric

[Trish77]

I'm newly on treatment, at Week 15 .. all I have to offer you is that my doc's nurse told me my leeway was any time on the same day.  So you can see there are variations on the information.  Where he's been at, I wouldn't want to mess with anything too much and that's my personal opinion. I don't have any concrete data to offer you and on something like this. I'd check with the doctor.

[Marcia2202]

I have read that it is okay to do it, but he should stay on Thursdays after that and not set it back to Fridays. I might be mistaken though.

I think he should talk to his doctor about it, as he has had some changes with hit treatment.

Marcia

[CMcH]

My NP said it was OK to go a day forward or back for special occasion but I am 1a and on for 48 weeks.