less or no fever with pegasys?

[rexx73]

hello dear community,
last night i started my theapy with incivek.
so i made my first shot of pegasys,i expected to become fever or flu symtoms,but this didnt happen.
on my last therapy with pegintron i had after every shot flu symtoms or fever.
i know that some people say pegasys has milder sides,but is it normal to have no fever specialy after the first shot?

[pooh55811]

As long as the medication (interferon) went into your skin then you should be okay. You just want to be sure it does not go into the muscle. The medicine needs to go under the skin but not into the muscle.

Here is a link to some information and a video that may help.

http://www.pegasys.com/patient/tools-resources/videos/index.html

[rehan_shah]

Yesturday it was my second peginteron shot and first time i tryed myself injecting. Medice was nicely i got in sringe but while i inserted medicine around half my skin went down my fingers i never hold it again. And i am not having fever this time. Is it ok or something is wrong?

[rexx73]

thanks a lot for your wishes.today seems to be a bit better.i think my problem is that i already felt sometimes nausea before i even started therapy.
but i have to go on, taking day by day and hope the next will be a bit better.
im very happy to have this community here.
@spectda,
im on incivek,here in europe its called incivo.

[Advocate1955]

Best of luck with your therapy Rexx73.  My husband has noticed that the mild flu/cold symptoms that he gets after his shot tend to decrease week by week.
Advocate1955

[starshine1ca]

Hoping day two is a little easier for you and congrats on starting tx.  Wishing you success through this tx!  You have great support here!  Blessings to you, Starshine

[spectda]

Sorry your feeling so lousy, hopefully next injection will be easier. Are you taking Vic or Incivek? I thought the last thread you started you said you were going to use Incivek but your last post you mentioned Vic.

Good luck with your tx,
Dave

[rexx73]

the first 2 days were really bad.in the evening the fever came back and stayed all night.took again 500 mg dafalgan,but didn't help much.
I hope the next shots are a bit milder from the sides.today morning as I took my vic and riba I felt I have to vomit,could not eat much just half a yoghurt and some fruit.

[christinaf28]

Me too after the Injection I feel so crap .. For the next two days !! I can't do much it's only as the week progresses that I start feeling better but then it's time for injection again.. My first shot was far the worst .. Now it's mild flu symptom that I manage to sleep off ..and next day I feel very chilly and weak .. But some weeks are far better than others it's never really the same sometimes I can forguet that Iam on treatment other times I feel so bad !!

[belle19]

i never got a fever this whole time on soc and pi's.  i got a body ache a day or 2 after my shot but that's about it.  good luck to you.  belle

[slideman]

My first time I used the old 3 time a week interferon, I dont recall the name. Then 5 months in to tx once a week int became available, so I switched to that. Here again I dont recall the name of the int, someone here will maybe remember. My point is I am now done with shot 24 with Pegasys and I can tell you for a fact though its not all roses, its much better than the old stuff. I have injected on Fri and been crappy Sat and Sun. Mondays are better, usually by Thurs I dont feel to good again, but its better than the wknd. Seems we all have the common thread of feeling under the weather, but it varies some with everybody. I do have a couple friends that did tx with no sides at all, one of them got SVR, the other tx'ed twice and is stage 4 now. The tx for him was so easy he said he would gladly do it again, but the Doc's wont put him through it again. I have not talked to him since the PI's came out, anyway once again we are all individuals who will react to tx a little differently.
Godd Bless

[desrt]

My only experience is with PegIntron, but I've always thought that the slower onset and generally milder side effects of Pegasys have something to do with the type of Peg molecule it's bonded to. Pegasys uses a branched Peg molecule bonded to its IFN - much larger than the one PegIntron uses. I believe this is what gives it its longer half-life and probably slows its absorbtion rate.

[pooh55811]

I should add that I do take one 325 mg. Tylenol about a half hour before my injection and another one about an hour after my injection. I also usualy take one the next morning and one the next evening. The Tylenol keeps the headache feeling, the temperature, the body aches and other flu like symptoms better controlled. I think I would feel worse if I was not taking that Tylenol.

I know Tylenol is not liver friendly but my doctor said up to 1000 mg a day total would be okay.

[rexx73]

Thanks a lot for your responses.
I took 500 mg dafalgan and the fever decreases.but i don't like to take paracetamol as its not liver friendly.
it feels so good to have all your people here.who have to fight the same enemy.

[frijole]

Well darn, so much for that theory.  I hope you can take something to keep the fever down.
frijole

[frijole]

rexx - this is from a thread a few months ago when I was trying to understand which was best.

Pulling apart the IDEAL study which was funded by Schering Plough (makers of PegIntron) (presented 2008) – there were 3070 treatment naïve patients –genotype 1--

  Overall – SVR – Pegasys 41%,   PegIntron (1.5mcg/kg/wk)  40%

   For patients >80% adherance , SVR – PegIntron – 70%,  Pegasys – 61%

   Relapse -  Pegasys 32%, PegIntron 24%

Italian Study –  included all 4 genotypes

  Overall SVR – Pegasys 68%, PegIntron 54%
                                  Genotype 2-3 – Pegasys 88%. PegIntron 75%
                                  Genotypes 1-4 – Pegasys -55%,  PegIntron 40%
                                   VL 600,000  Pegasys 68% PegIntron 65%

The PROBE study –(Italy & Germany)(presented 2008)    7445 patients of which 1341 were geno 1,treatment naïve       - seems to be mostly a study about factors that predict SVR , only 1 of which was Peg INf a-2a or 2b

    SVR in Geno 1 - Pegasys 41%, PegIntron 34%              
    
  
COMPARE study –(2004) no ribavirin

     No SVR data

The German Study – PRACTICE (2000-2007) (sponsored by Roche makers of Pegasys) – retrospective observational study

     SVR – Pegasys 52.9%, PegIntron 50.5%
         Geno 1  Pegasys -48.7%, PegIntron 44.1%
          Geno 2/3 Pegasys 78.7%, PegIntron 76%

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Pegasys-v-PegIntron/show/452190

This is a pretty good thread from 2008 – one comment by desrt is poignant to me.  It is regarding retreating with Pegasys every 5 days after relapse with PegIntron

“interferon has never been dosed by what's effective - it's dosed by what the human body can tolerate”. So I would take what I could tolerate.

[willbb]

Possibly the slight fever is a good thing after 1st shot Good luck going forward..
Will

http://www.multiwebcast.com/aasld/2011/thelivermeeting/12850/doctor.hwalih.han.oral.temperature.changes.after.initial.peginterferon.alfa-2a.html


Temperature increase after the initial injection of PEG-IFN is closely associated with interferon responsiveness, reflected by the correlation with serum IP10 increase, virological decline and IL28B genotype

[flcyclist]

Looks like I was wrong.the fever now just kicks in with ague.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry to hear.  Hope you have an easier go of it for this round.  

My experience has been similar to frijole's with Pegasys.  After the Friday shot, feel fine Sat/Sun, then feel crappy for the following few until the next.  Best of luck to you.

[frijole]

congratulations on getting started, Rexx.  I did Pegasys first time and the PegIntron this time and definitely think the sx are worse with the PegIntron.  I have never had a fever with either.  I had no day after shot effects from Pegasys -- in fact for the first 12 weeks or so I had amazing energy day after shot.  Not so with PegIntron.  I have to take tylenol  to ward off background headaches and some joint aches. Shot 16 last night.

I think the track record for Pegasys is excellent.  Good luck
frjiole

[rexx73]

Looks like I was wrong.the fever now just kicks in with ague.

[indy531]

I've had flu like symtoms from PegInteron from 1st shot; I can take Tylenol b/c I have no liver damage, as per my hep doc. I bought myself some very comfy pj's and use weekends to hang,rest, deal w/sx. The sx have become a little better- nausea remains a hit or miss.

[pooh55811]

I had mild flu like symptoms after my first inj of Pegasys and still have mild flu like symptoms after the inj. but somewhat less than at the beginning. I don't get anything done the first couple of days after the inj. I have zero energy or motivation and I feel fatigued. I do not plan anything for those first couple of days. I just rest. As the week wears on, I feel a little better each day. Then it is time for the next inj, LOL. I have just decided I probably won't get many concrete projects done until I am off these meds. (I will do shot 11 on Monday.)

[suezeeque]

I had zero side effects from Pegasys the first shot.

Now, I'm trying to figure out how I'll get anything done on weekends (Friday shots).  I just had shot 18 last night.