Anyone else have joint problems 10 year post Hep C treament?

[bs1111]

I was on "experimental" Interferron and riboviron treatment for 2 years in 1999-2001 and now have no cartilage in my shoulders and have chronic joint pain.  I need bilateral shoulder and hip replacements and have acute lower spine pain which causes bilateral sciatica. It seems strange all my joints are breaking down at once.  At 55 years old, my Dr's comment I am young to need joint replacements.  My Doctors don't seem to know what has caused this condition and one said it was probably congenital???  I think it is related to my Hep C treament because that made all my cartilage and skin hurt at the time.  Has anyone else had these symptoms?  FYI no evidence of virus for 10 years now even tho my chemo treatment was called a "failure"

[linda880]

I just finished treatment thru clinical study with SOC and 7977.  I am about 11 weeks post tx and
I have pain in my spine which started while i was on tx. It went away and now it's back.  I also have  muscle pain and other joint pain.  I never had problems with my back or muscles untill I started hep c tx.

[AjaLee]

I was on triple therapy until 7 months ago and have had awful pain throughout my body, particularly my knees. In addition, my cholesterol went through the roof and I was put on a statin drug. Apparently it's very common for cholesterol to rise after SVR.

So I ended up in physical tx and it turned out that I had runners knee from being so inactive for so long and then overdoing it when I felt better.  Still hurt everywhere else tho.  Finally went to the dr 4 days ago and she said it was a very common side effect of statin drugs and to stop taking it for 2 weeks. As of today, pain gone!

So I'm not saying that there aren't lingering interferon issues that people have, but that's not ALWAYS it. And even if I had had to live with that pain, I still would never regret doing the treatment.

[orphanedhawk]

If the US government took responsibility for the treatment of hep C it might also have to admit and take responsibility for the thousands of people who contracted the virus while in military boot camps from air-jet gun inoculations.
The costs would be staggering.

[HEPCwontleaveme]

I completed an unsuccessful regime, for nearly a year of Ribavirin and Interferon therapy. With regards to post treatment symptoms, I do believe I am suffering from related symptoms similar to others discussed here. I have had chronic neck stiffness and pain. The pain does not feel like it is muscle related as I do not feel fatigue in any of my neck or back muscles. It honestly feels like my spine is stiff and movement of my head aggravates it. Though it is typically in my neck between my shoulders up to the base of my spine, I do occasionally have similar issues in my lower spine. Having experienced muscle fatigue in my lower back while much younger, before therapy, I can honestly say that the symptoms I am having today do not feel related to my muscles, but again as with the upper spine, it feels like the spine itself. While I wouldn't say the pain is totally debilitating, it is difficult to live with and severely restricts my range of movement especially when driving and needing to look laterally. Had my treatment been successful, I would definitely accept these symptoms, however they are real and I do not believe they are a result of anything besides the therapy itself.
As a larger issue, considering the advances being made in Hepatitis C treatment, which was my cause for therapy, the government here in the USA needs to be subsidizing care plans to help confront and eradicate this virus. The expense of tackling this ailment are enormous to those with marginal to no insurance and even with decent pharmacy coverage, the medication can be prohibitively expensive. The US and the CDC should get serious about helping people with this and other related viral problems, especially since much of its spread and proliferation can be attributed to blood supplies and medical procedures, which the CDC and WHO are well aware of, this despite there earliest assertions that IV drug users and sex fiends created this disease and are/were responsible for its existence. Neither of these categories satisfy an answer for myself, as I have fallen into neither category. In truth I most likely received my viral infection from the USAF, though time and circumstance would require lengthy and expensive litigation to prove it so with only a slim chance of proving it. At any rate, the point I am making is that in the case of Hepatitis C (and other viral problems), being my specific situation, the spread of this virus was primarily the result of ignorant medical authorities, who while honestly attempting to do a greater good, allowed this and other viruses to affect millions of lives. Given this as fact, there should be government subsidized programs in place to help affected people get the treatments and therapies they need. I see now that some communities have taken the lead in helping to provide clinics which specialize in the treatment of Hepatitis C, though in my opinion this needs to be happening at a Federal level with a serious investment. I would encourage everyone to write their congressional representatives to inquire about serious government support in combating this and other such ailments. I know  I am not alone in my given instance and others have similar stories. With medications that run near 100k $ and effects that can be seriously debilitating as a result of therapies, the government needs to be involved to carry a serious portion of this financial burden. Too many people who are suffering from such problems are marginally employed and financially restricted. The government is aware of the problem, it is high time it stood up to assume the responsibility to its citizens and take serious measures to battle these diseases.

[maybe368]

I spent three years on interferon, reba and combination therapy in 1999-2003, with a 1 year battle with lymphoma in between. I was lucky in that all of the effects eventually went away. Problem was the hep-c didn't, but that is why I am doing triple therapy. What I want to say is that I was told before my radiation treatment for my cancer, that the treatment causes cancer. I did it anyway knowing that it may buy me some time. Every individual is different and will have different responses, side effects and results. I highly recommend a book by a very well respected cancer researcher named David B. Agus, called "The End Of Illness". While he doesn't talk about Hep-C specifically, he talks about how little we know about how the body reacts, to drugs, vitamins, or how the vitamins relate to each other. It is a good read and well worth it. I hope everybody lives the best life that they can and I do know from experience that the placebo effect of a positive attitude is real, good luck...Mark

[rivll]

For what it is worth, I have severe pain at times with my muscles and tendons and the cartilage in my knees is going. I have had HCV for at least a few decades but this joint and muscle pain is relatively new ( a few years) and came with the other symptoms like bleeding, rash and fatigue. It is only now while on the oral meds (study) that i feel the symptoms easing up. I figured that these problems are related to HCV.
I never took interferon, I honestly believe I would not have tolerated it. But of course one can never say for sure.
I don't have much knowledge on this but it may be worthwhile to look up septic arthritis-I read somewhere people with HCV sometimes get a sort of infection that affects the joints. I will look into it more too.