Rosacea and HCV

[jmjm530]

I had extremely mild rosacea prior to treating -- hard to say what the rosacea was doing during treatment as I had so many layered skin problems -- but definitely had a significant flare of rosacea post treatment as I've never had before. 16 months post treatment the rosacea is not as mild as before treatment but well under control.

I mentioned the rosacea/treatment issue to a well known hepatologist who said he never heard of the connection which doesn't surprise me as so many doctors seem to underestimate what tx does to us.

Anyway, here is a recent article which may explain why rosacea IMO is tied to interferon treatment.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Dermatology/GeneralDermatology/tb/6348

[niceguy2007]

jim,

i have exacerbated psoriasis on my scalp and hairline, and behind one ear after tx.  Although it isnt noticable until u look really close, i can tell its from the tx.

My single eye blepharitis also persists, although teh multiple styes and chalazion are gone.

[jmjm530]

Whr: GI doc has given his input that the meds will not affect my SVR but the rheumy is cautious to give the same reassurance.
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That's par for the course. All my doctors (except for my hepatologist) are caution about anything they give me, including a glass of water :) Not surprising because itr's hard enough to find a GI who knows much about HCV, not to mention any other speciality. My GP seemed amazed that I did my own peg injections. LOL. My hepatologist -- and another consulting hep -- both gave me the green light to get on with my life as if I never had HCV, without of course abusing my liver as for instance heavy drinking, etc. I wouldn't lose a minute of sleep over reactivating your virus cause it won't happen now that you're SVR and nevertheless life is a matter of priorities and you know what you have to do with your PA. Only doc I know in sunny FL is Schiff but I'm sure you're aware of him as well.

Glad you're feeling better and enjoying your SVR. It has been a long way, baby.

-- Jim

[Whrose]

LOL............you are welcome to the dirty thoughts coming your way, may they continue till your 64! aha and longer!!!!!!

i am SVR determined undetected 6 months after tx.  within 1 month after EOT i began an odessey of acute tendonitis/ joint inflammation progressing. i held out with aggressive tx because i wanted to give my body/ immune system time to recoup and to hold on to my undetected status. unfortunately i had to take measures to stop the progressive arthropathy and started TNF meds in april. i did have a 8 month pcr prior to TNF meds to get undetected confirmation. GI doc has given his input that the meds will not affect my SVR but the rheumy is cautious to give the same reassurance. i feel like it is a risk but quite willing to take it as the PA sx are much worse than the hcv ever was and much more disabling. time will tell and will have another pcr drawn in november. good response from the TNF meds though if ya thought the SAE from IFN are scarey these ones are not for the faint in heart, but nothing like that treatment induced haze and hematological sides!  am now back working and playing full time and loving every moment of it.

your worsening skin sx during tx sound quite tough but glad they have remissed and improved. it certainly is related to your determination to tackle the problem head on. may this always be true! funny how i have PA with no skin sx but not unusual from my reading. also interesting that people with psoriasis do not always progress to arthropathy. more interesting is that IFN/riba while stimulating your skin sx did not induce arthropathy and tx did not provoke skin pathology but arthropathy in my case. i was hoping that i had hcv arthritis but my sx are so textbook PA that even i can not deny. it would be far fetched though to confuse PA with the hcv arthritis as these sx improve after tx and certainly do not cause joint pathology. i would lean to any sx you are having post tx to be just as you described and cerrtainly do not sound like PA. my heartfelt wishes you never have to enter this arena!

i am located in sunny fla but will decline your offer for another doc connection. dear me i love them and i hate them (although i work with em) and do everything possible not to have to make another apt..pooh, wish i could leave them all in my zest for living a full life!
we have come a long way baby ;) at this point i am enjoying SVR and hoping it lasts.
hugs

[jmjm530]

Whrose: i have long been one of your admirers... but also because of your perspicaciousness!
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Just love it when women talk dirty to me :)

Seriously, thanks for the nice words and good to hear from you again, albeit under different screen guise. I do remember parts of our conversation under the haze of the tx drugs but forgot your screename there. How did tx go for you? Did you SVR?

Not sure if discussed over at Janis, but tx did flare my psoriasis from almost nothing at all (pre treatment) to a major case of guttate (back, neck, arms); plantar pustular (feet and hands); and plaque (face and chest); and inverse (armpits and some other places left to imagination). That a constant rash on neck for 54 weeks, and layered seb dermatitis on chest, face and neck. I was pretty much a mess and did UVB Narrow Light Treatments 2-3X a week for the guttate and X-Trac laser for the feet and hands. As treatment ended, the guttate and plantar pustular disappeared and now one year post treatment, psoriasis-wise, I'm back to where I was pre-treatment, possibly even a little better. The rosacea, however, still persists a little but definitely under control. Still not sure if the rosacea started during treatment and I was unaware since it may have been layered under the other conditions or if it popped up as I came off the treatment drugs.

Sorry to hear of your diagnosis of PA. I know little about it other than it can be a result of the kind of psoriasis I had, but even that I'm not sure of. It is interesting though that you mentioned you didn't have any skin issues and perhaps some of the joint pain people have here may indeed be PA. In fact, something I may look into at some point as I've had some muscular/soreness issues lately but not ready yet to blame it on anything other than exercise and age, possibly hastened a little by the interferon.

I sympathize with your frustration on finding a doc to understand the connection between treatment and all these things. If these docs exist, they are few and far between -- most don't even seem interested. What part of the country do you live in as I may know one or two who may be interested.

All the best,

-- Jim

[Whrose]

i want to pop in and give you my best regards. we have spoken before at Janis site and i have long been one of your admirers not only because of your kind giving nature but also because of your perspicaciousness! i am happy to know you are soundly in SVR land and wish you long years of liver health and well being. my sig here is different but perhaps you remember i was the girl dx with PA during tx(no skin sx) who questioned the accuracy of the dx. sigh....i was wrong. the PA became quite acute post 3 months hcv tx and i am now on TNF inhibitors to control and possibly arrest progressive joint damage. none of my docs can connect the dots with this arthropathy and hcv infection including exacerbation of sx after IFN and riba. but at this point i am convinced of the immune connection. knowing you also have come a way with psoriasis i am in great wonder that tx did not worsen your sx or progress to arthropathy but am glad for you that it has not!  i suppose immune factors to be not only a complex topic but individually determined by genetic disposition.  
in my research i have read that PA arthropathy can be induced by bacterial and or viral infection but lol, try and find a hepatologist to agree with this. at this point it is academic for me (althought i am fascinated by this research) and my focus is on dealing with the spinach on my plate that is.  

i found your rosesea comments quite interesting and may explain some of my post tx rosey cheeks. not complaining because i like the blush. i have been long away from sun exposure since i treated, but after EOT i have noticed an unusual blush to my pale skin. lol i thought it might be from my healthy diet but it could be immune related? interesting thought. now i will have to have a glass of red wine and observe the effect. not complaining though as i like the glow.
hugs...stay well my friend.

  

[jmjm530]

I'll take an unresearched stab at this. As the name suggests, the redness of spider *veins* are more defined. Rosesea, on the other hand can be very diffuse, somewhat like a permanent blush. In fact, rosacea often starts as a frequent blushing response to either exercise, heat, embarassment, etc. Later, the blushing stays longer and longer and finally permanent. Rosacea also is often (but not always) associated with acne, i.e. rosacea was once called "adult acne". For that reason, antibiotics are sometimes used if this type of rosacea gets bad. My triggers post treatment were the sun, exercise, and heat. Alcohol -- esp red wine -- is a very common rosacea trigger. Happy to say that this summer my rosacea is well under control, even when out in the sun. Of course, I wear sunscreen, hat, shades, etc, but last summer it was a big problem even with all the precauctions. According to this article, it's possible that my immune system needed time to readjust itself from the interferon. Once the immune system got back in whack, the rosacea got better. Speculative of course, but the article seems to give this theory some basis.

-- Jim

[debnevada]

the difference between rosacea and spiders?  That might be dumb but ....