Wanted to share some info.

[lazman07]

Hello all.  I wanted to share some info. on what not to do with ibuprofun and food.  

I'm a genotype 1b been on peg and ribavirin for 23 weeks now.  Typical side effects; brain fog, dry skin, hair loss, sleeplessnes.  And yes I'm drinking all my water.  

Feeling better lately been able to excercise.   Just got my blood test results and my blood work was all over the place.   Since I've been on the treatment the only real elevated levels was my ALT which has been hovering around 60-80 and of course lower White Blood cell count.  

A couple weeks back I had a wedding for my step son that we coordinated.  Lot of out town guests 4 days of activity first real big weekend since I went on treatment.  To get through the weekend I was popping ibuprofun the entire weekend and eating not so good food, etc.   So, of course what do I do is the day after the wedding I get my blood drawn.

Well that weekend screwed up my blood work.  My ALT increased to 181 the highest it's been since before treatment.  My AST was above the range for the first time, Glucose and Chloride was slightly elevated and Monocytes also.  

So, the ibuprofun was a bad thing.  Way too much causes this issue in Hep C folks.  Will take a couple months to get back to the normal range.   The Choride is from too much salt in my system and Glucose of course the sweets.  The interesting thing on the Monocytes is that is mostly due to ring worm/rash that I since have treated.  

So, moral to the story is don't think one weekend of so called partying (without alcohol) doesn't screw up your system when you system is so screwed up when on treatment to begin with.

I thought it was interesting to see that by taking the blood work up right after the weekend.  

Thanks.

[Marl37]

Can someone explain the difference to me of geno 1a and 1B?

[lazman07]

I was taking about 800 mgs a day for 4 days.  The reality is I over did it.  

I definitley over did it.  I was doing good with my blood work up till that time and thought it wouldn't be a big deal.  Boy was I wrong.  Getting back on my regimen again.  Nice wake up call to have the blood test after that weekend of bad food, stress and too much ibuprofun.  

The interesting thing is I hear tylenol is okay others ibuprofun, etc.  I'm gonna try to go without it unless it is debilitating.  Heck I gave up alcohol, caffeine just need to grin and bear it.

The interesting thing is that after that weekend I have had less aches and pains and fever.  Not sure why.  I'm sure it is not coincidental.  

Going to take another blood test in a week in a couple weeks to see if things stabilized by me going back on my regime.

[SonicBandaid]

Hey lazman07
That elevated ALT MAY not be a totally bad thing.  There has been a suggestion (it hasn't been fully evaluated) that ibuprofen (and the other NSAIDs), like statins such as lipitor, MAY potentiate the effect of interferon on HCV (at the cost of making some sides worse).  If this is true in your case the elevated ALT MAY be because the ibuprofen has increased the effectiveness of the IFN, thus enhancing the immune response and increasing the rate at which the IFN and ribavirin cause clearance of infected hepatocytes (hence the "flare" in your ALT).  It is this late ("phase 2 clearance", in the parlance of the scientific papers) clearance of infected liver cells that is responsible for long term clearance (and SVR) of HCV from the liver.
I don't advocate doing this (but I will uses statins very liberally, although there is one paper that says this approach doesn't work, others that say it may do), but it may explain your tests.
Heres hoping
Sonic

[nygirl7]

Actually the doc told me to only take tylenol during treatment because Ibuprofen can change your blood chemistry which during tx is not a good thing cause you want it to stay the same so the meds work evenly (some stuff like that).

I tried to take as little as possible but at times had to take ibuprofen because it's the only thing that works on my headaches.

It didn't raise my liver enzymes at all BUT I didn't take all that much (maybe one day 6 in that day out of necessity (otherwise it was go to the hospital and have 100mgs of Demerol which I had to think was worse).

How many did you actually take?

[copyman]

sorry to hear that. who would think that one weekend would set you back like that. the pain med you took almost harmed your liver as much as alcohol would have....are you sure someone did not spike the punch? :-)

[GrandmaA]

Thanks for sharing your experience. We will all be more careful now I'm sure.