Liver Pain and Can you smell the meds through pores?

[BronxRican007]

Folks,

I think I'm getting a little wacky but I can swear I smell the meds (medicinal smell) on my breath, skin, urine, etc. I know it sounds nuts. The smell is sickening too! Anybody else have the same crazy stuff happening to them?

Also I have mild (like a bruise pain) but slowly increasing URQ and occasional back pain? Anybody have that?

I'm on week 16 and its kicking my ass; I can't sleep, eat, I'm alsolutely sick of water.

I was undectable less than 600 IU at week 14. I bumped my lab reults at the Janis HCV website...and my blood worrk is low but not to the point of extreme anemia.

Friends

Your thoughts?
A very sick and tired Rican

[beamishboy]

Yes indeed a New York state of mind...You make me so nostolgic for street life,the human condition,but Inna Yur Face.....new yorkers are special people:lotsa energy,great verbal skills......jumping&jiving!!!!,,Gotta luv em.....for a new york minute lol

[cquest]

I live 100 miles upstate from NYC...yes, to me anything beyone the bridge is upstate...heck, get past the Bronx and you're in the country ! I lived in the Bronx for 2 years, my oldest daughter was born at Misercordia (now Our Lady of Mercy)...I sort of miss the city...but of course only Manhattan is considered "the city"...a matter of semantics I guess...aaahh the junkies in our building that were always trying to break in our firescape window...the nosey old ladies watching out the windows...the next door neighbor having an affair on his wife...the fish monger guy that stunk up the foyer...his wife that would hang laundry on the roof in her bra and girdle...the housing cop neighber that though he was a real cop and would hide and wait for alleged 'drug dealers' and frisk them...my friend the junkie mail man that nodded off and dropped all the mail in the hall...ahhhh..the memories....
Cin

[beamishboy]

soo i was right 'bout that downstate thang!--no matter......on takeme as i am you are so right..i yam what yam!!! i guess if we get here at All it's gotta be worth the journey-besides we can't do a damn thing about the past--except try to remember the funny warm,Good parts and  not beat ourselves up.. the same compassionate nonjudgemental courtesy you extend to Everyone else is certainly g

[beamishboy]

soo i was right 'bout that downstate thang!--no matter......on takeme as i am you are so right..i yam what yam!!! i guess if we get here at All it's gotta be worth the journey-besides we can't do a damn thing about the past--except try to remember the funny warm,Good parts and  not beat ourselves up.. the same compassionate nonjudgemental courtesy you extend to Everyone else is certainly g

[NYgirl]

I cop to it..anything north of Te Tap is "upstate" it is true hahahaha.  Isn't perspective funny? When people ask ME where I live I say south eastern NY but on tv oh h3ll no we are "upstate".  

I can relate to the x-boozing/drugging/partying whatever stuff completely and totally.  I never ever thought I would just up and QUIT and never want to "try".  I believe it's a true tradeoff of a miracle = get HCV which is destroying the liver BUT get some sort of miracle shot in as well that makes quitting possible?  Sounds ODD but as Kalio said I never ever will take my health for granted again.

I can't STAND to be around drunk people anymore bluck. I have to remember not long ago that was me and I was just as "not funny, obnoxious, stinking of vodka" etc.  I mean in my head I'm sure I thought I was handling it better but WAS I?  eeeeeeek!

I mean i think it was probably almost 20 years since I had a physical and this popped up...what a DOLT!  Could have caught it so LONG ago if I wasn't uh...busy...corrupting my body and had a clear head!

I guess now i have no excuse for being such a complete and total fool except...it's just me, deal with it or don't. I got bigger fish to fry if you don't like me in life.  Why didn't I think that years ago? Maybe wouldn't have ever started partying you know?

[beamishboy]

You folks consider Upstate anything north of theb Tappan Zee bridge--admit it!!!While we folks truly up state call Syracuse-downstate-all too relative...The Booze: i still have alot of "friends" who like a little drink,a snort,a puff--i am developing coping mechanisms ad infinitum for these goodtime charleys...My thresold of suffering fools gladly is hitting rockbottom....i don't wanna deal soo i don't.Sunday i visited w fam& friends--one x-boozer,one x-smoker(cigs),one x-smokr(pot) someone said--hey we hav all given up our biggest crutch?handicap:& never had a better time together...!!!Strength in #'s !!!!!!!!i am finding,rediscovering the people in my life who truly care& consequently matter--IT"S All Good

[NYgirl]

My mom was an alcholic too and I remember all the situations that you've described so much it just brought me totally back big time.

I was never anywhere NEAR my mother in any respect but I like to drink WAY too much (you see when I couldn't have drugs (any kind of downs) I self medicated with the booze.  I guess I'm an addict all around.

I tricked myself for YEARS saying oh I broke my back I need these things to sleep, feel good etc.

Woke up one day and took a look at my brother who does the SAME things exactly and said PITIFUL what a LOSER and that was that.  Found a doctor that week who put me on Suboxone (like methadone but you get a months prescription at a time) and straightened out slowly but surely.

The sad thing and point here is while I wasn't insane like my mother (who has been sober now 25 years or so) my KIDS are going to remember all of the SAME THINGS.

How dare I do that to them after what was done in my childhood.

I am SO glad for you that you've not fallen victim to that same path of destruction.  Enough is enough isn't it!

Debby the other NY'er
(PS I am one hour north of the city exactly - what is considered "upstate") I mean if you can get more SOUTH just about let me know...but yeah we call THAT upstate LOL.

[cquest]

I live in NY too, but upstate.

I think the smell was burned in my nostrils because my mother was an alcoholic. She was tricky but I knew all her tricks...I actually caught her once refilling the Vodka bottle with water so my dad didn't know how much she drank that day! In Kansas City where we lived, the drug stores carry booze...they will even deliver...my father would call them all and tell them they better not deliver anything to her anymore and she would just find somebody else that would do it. Years later, the guy from the local liquor store would ask me how my mother was doing...he knew all about it...If my dad gave me money, he said 'don't let your mom have the change, even if she asks you for it' because he knew she would use it to buy booze. Then she checked herself into rehab and in about a week they were going to release her...I called the doc and said that's stupid, don't you know she is playing you so she can get out and drink? And they accused me of not being 'supportive'...well they let her out and she was drunk the next day! I never drank because of all that which of course really helped me keep my liver in tact, thank God! And I have a sixth sense about alcoholics now too...I can spot em a mile away! The drinking ultimately lead to her death because she was too drunk to realize she had cancer...by the time they found it, she was way past any help... and that smell is also burned in my nostrils...
Cin

[AK - Hepper]

Dr. Peach at Internal Medicine Associates.

I wouldn't recommend him, though. He's a really nice guy and all that, but he seems to spend most of his time out of state. Not very convenient for ppl on tx.

They have other HepC docs there, too, but it takes forever to get in to see someone.

[AK - Hepper]

I had URQ pain from the ribavirin. Doc gave me Vicodin.

[cquest]

Low back pain eh? That explains it! I started tx, stopped in 5 days...one of the things that really got me was at night when I took the 3 Riba's, I had the most intense low back pains...very close to labor pains they were so bad...all I could do was whimper and beg my husband to rub Tiger Balm on me...very unpleasant..very...
Cin

[ificu1st]

I feel and taste the meds all the time.  I have days where my whole body is on fire and all foods taste nasty.  If anything has salt I can't eat it.  I am on the daily shots of infergen since last March and it has kicked my ass. lost 40 lbs.  I want to quit but only have 9 weeks to go

[NYgirl]

boy oh boy talk about weird I never realized that even though I chewed gum and ate mints that as an alcoholic/addict people could REALLY smell me!

I try to say to myself now...smelling like the meds isn't that bad I suppose - at least people don't look at me and go wow what an Intronaholic she must be!  :)

Given one or the other....every time someone smells like booze around me I have to laugh and figure "well they ain't smellin' my pee" (I sure hope hahaha).

Debby

[cougareyes]

I have a tremendous amount of aches and pains. One thing to be aware of is if the lower back pain is coming from the kidney area. These drugs can have an effect on the kidneys. Peace

[BronxRican007]

I just woke up from a much needed 10 hour sleep. Yesterday I was in a zombie-like state all day. I was hurting and dead tired. Nothing 3 jugs of Gatorade, 2 tylenol and an Ambien couldn't cure.  

When I do have a few "un-brain-fogged" moments and I can concentrate; wheb I'm not smelling ****, curled up in a fetal position in pain, or nauseous ....

One of the things that gets me through the weekends is good stand-up comedy.

Laughter really helps!

Thanks for the advice!
br007

[beamishboy]

good morning,glad to hear your feeling better....Now,your assignment 007,if you accept it(oops that was frm mission impossible) beat the **** outa& send mr. Virus packing..Meanwhile getting all the laughter,joy & extra-curricular pleasure outa life you can! 10 hrs sleep gotta be one bigtime point in your favor--Alright!!!!!  good luck

[cquest]

I can't comment on the meds smell but I can tell you I smell alcoholics that's for sure...they have a certain odor that oozes from their pores...and people with cancer have an odor too...don't ask me how to describe it but there is a definate smell...my Mom had it (she died of cancer) and now when I'm up on the cancer ward in the hospital, I smell it...creeps me out...
Cin

[fresnoborn]

i personally have not experienced that but i have heard that it happens. my gi told me to expect it and that it was very common for people on tx to experience odd smell. i waited for the smell to come but it hasn't so far. i'm into week 21 so let's see.

[beamishboy]

i did a summer of radiation trx yrs ago & the samething happened then--we r so familiar w/ our own personal scent that any significant change stands out..i was quite bothered by the alteration then& now,but i think it's rather subtle and certainly to be expected...I mean if a few spears of aspragus can do it,why wouldn't a toxic overload of anti-viral chemicals signature a change in our basic body fragrance---Ewww de interferon--by Schering..............i am also xperiencing sum lower back pain,not unlike an ache frm too much draft beer in the long ago -i went &got myself a vgirous massage on friday,helped all kinda ways,stimulateing,but lower backpain returned pretty darn quik!!-i guess we could liken it to the itch of healin skin?or maybe just further sx of these stinkin drugs?--Have a reasonably tolerable weekend!!!!!!!!!

[mistybean]

Hi, I can't smell the meds.  I can smell the procritt.  I remember being on shot 16 and that is a hard time.  Are you anemic?  I did not take pain killers but have taken 2 ativan a day.  I take them to sleep and they work.  Ask the doctor for some sleeping pills or ativan to take the edge off. Good luck and hope you feel better

[friole]

Me too.  Not all the time, but I smell something weird - especially in the urine.  I know someone else posted about that awhile back and Eisbein posted that she smelled on Peg Intron (I think) but did not notice it on Pegasys.  I am on Pegasys and have just been starting to smell something.  Maybe it is related to the water thing.  Since it has been getting cold, I find it a lot harder to get my 85-132 ounces in a day ( I want to get at least 85 but try for a gallon), so maybe the meds need more dilution.

Chev - that's me, patient stinky

frijole

[GoofyDad]

Try eating asparagus - no more med smell in the pee!

[NYgirl]

Man oh man that drove me CRAZY the first couple of weeks during treatment especially the day or two after I did the shot.

I was like oh my GOD can everyone smell me like this?  It was so horrible I couldn't handle it.

I thought that it went away but the more I think about it...I've probably gotten USED to it now and don't notice it. I mean I am doing the same shots so yuck thinking of it now is making me gross out.

It came out of my pores, breath, pee (bad) and I guess it still is.

Aren't we lucky....we could recognize one another from 50 feet probably or something.

Debby

[lackalustre]

you are not nutty.  i had to change my sheet s    very often during tx. as my this medicine was coming out of my pores or changing my body chemistry as to not smell good.    i couldnt stand the smell of my sheets  after a few days.  yes it seemed metallic or just like an old persons skin.    sure glad that is over with.