Post treatment symptoms of Pegulated Interferon\Raboviron

[PeggyE]

My wife has succesfully completed 48 weeks of treatment for HepC using the Pegulated Interferon\Raboviron combination.About the secound month of treatment joint pains developed in her hips and elbows.Treatment finished in January 2006 and Blood tests in July indicated no virus detected. She has returned to work in September on a limited basis.Her pain in hands,hips and elbows has been increasing at an alarming rate. She has been in contact with her doctor regularly, who has been very good in doing tests for different arthritis's which turn up non detectable.She will see an athritic specialist in London in November.  To date I have found very little on Post treatment effects\symptoms. My question...does this treatment exaserbate arthirtic symptoms in patients post treatment?

[ricochete]

Even after a single dose of 0.1 MU of IFN-a, normal healthy volunteers report subjectively reduced alertness. A single dose of 1.5 MU results in slowed performance on a reaction time test 6 and 10 hours after injection. Subacute toxicity develops after several weeks of chronic IFN-a therapy and includes subjective complaints of memory loss, depression, lack of initiative, and generalized slowing. This pattern.. .....is indicative of frontal-subcortical dysfunction and consistent with mild subcortical dementia. A similar pattern of deficits has been observed in patients with Parkinson`s disease and multiple sclerosis.... ...... Most studies report the resolution of neurotoxic symptoms within 2 to 3 weeks following the discontinuation of IFN-a therapy. However, some patients develop neurotoxic side effects that persist for months or years after treatment discontinuation, without any intervening change in their disease status or the initiation of other neurotoxic therapies....

Assessment of Fatigue and Psychologic Disturbances in Patients with Hepatitis C Virus Infection
http://www.natap.org/2001/jul/assessment070901.htm
HCV and Brain Dysfunction (report of this study at liver conference 2 years ago)
http://www.natap.org/2000/ddw/rpt_11.htm

[Micro2]

Thank YOU!!!

[Rustycup]

I have just read some of the comments about post treatment symptoms. I went through 48 weeks of treatment for hep C which included having to be hospitalized for shortness of breath and another time for disorintation and extremely blurred vision. Having worked for the first 24 weeks I was then forced to take medical leave. I may also add that during that time my lung capacity had dropped to 68% of normal. These were all attributed to the treatments. Through hard work and exercise fortunatley my lung capacity returned to almost normal.
It has now been 14 months since I finished treatment and had returned to work. I am currently under the care of a Neurologist and also being treated for severe depression and loss of the ability to control my emotions. I went through all the neurologitcal and physchriatic evals and testing. The consensous of all is that my brain function has been severley impaired and this is a result of the treatment from the hepatitis. I was again just placed on medical leave, having been given a choice of that or losing my job. This after 24 years with the same company with nothing but excellent to exemplary reviews. Is this coincidence? None of these issues or symptoms had presented themselves before treatment. Despite having been told that I would most likely not be able to return to work and handle the responsibility and decision making my position required, I fought it and worked hard trying to overcome these deficencies I had aquired. Obviously I failed. No wonder I am struggling to fight depression. Hopefully someday, the FDA will acknowledge the fact that there are more than just a handful of people with long term side effects.

[oanyway]

Is Peg-Interferon/Ribivarin co-treatment also chemotherapy?
I have had people tell me it is like chemo, and others claim
to be on Chemotherapy.  I prefer to be accurate.  Can someone tell me for sure?

[ricochete]

Here's an article re: the treatment in the journal of chemotherapy so I would say yes to the chemotherapy question.


Reversible alopecia universalis during treatment with peg-interferon and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C

TALIANI G. ; BILIOTTI E. ; CAPANNI M. ; TOZZI A. ; BRESCI S. ; PIMPINELLI N.

R

[MyLab]

It is certainly nice to be able to share my experiences with this disease/treatment.  About 7 or 8 years ago I was treated for 18 months with Interferon, but the virus multiplied with a vengence.  I was then put on Peg-Intron for another 18 months.  I've had 0 virus load for about 3 years now.  I'm experiencing so many spinal problems.  I have a herniated disc and several bulging discs for no justifiable reasons.  I tested positive for Rheumatoid arthritis, but the docs think it was a false negative.  I feel like an old lady.  I'm 45 years old, yet my bones feel so aged.

Has anyone been off treatment as long and still experiencing post-treatment effects?