feeling like i relapsed

[JAY0914]

So worried i relapsed due to symptoms lately...i go in this friday for 3 month PCR...Having the burning eyes, achy back, flu like feeling all the time, fatique, yawning alot mid day...these are all the symptoms i had before treatment  anxiety like crazy thinking the worst ...i  really thought i beat this thing with all the great results...my question is if did. relapse       .what are my options now?

[can-do-man]

Jay i wouldn't panic just yet, alot of us have thought the worse only to find out we hadn't relapsed..... Are mind can do crazy things when it comes to this. Hang in there, wishing you the best.

[willbb]

Agree with cando Jay ..... could be anything . Have you had a PCR post tx. yet?
Will

[JAY0914]

I can only pray i didn't...wish i had gone 48 weeks..but due to great results ...they had me stop at week 24 in trial....

[JAY0914]

had a 28 wk post and was und,,,3 month post this friday

[JAY0914]

und at w 4, 8, 12, 24, 28

[can-do-man]

Being that you were und 4 weeks post tx the odds are in your favor, try not to worry.

[nygirl7]

All those symptoms sound pretty darn basic, perhaps you just have a cold coming on. I wouldn't worry necessarily about relapsing just from that - out of all the people I remember who have relapsed I dont remember any of them saying anything of the sort. Hang tough.

[JasmineT]

On week 22. After incivek, my asthma came back. Then I started having the internal itching on my left side and gas I used to have.  I was very worried.  I am still testing und though.  Hoping you do too.

[BigDaddy_59]

Yes, don't worry!

With numbers like those you are pretty sure to achieve SVR!

SVR means you have cleared the virus so it cannot cause any more damage to your liver, but in my mind you can't expect SVR to magically make your liver all better.

When I get my SVR (not if), my liver is going to get better whether it wants to or not!

Breathe, relax, enjoy life...

[JAY0914]

thanks for all the replies...only the test will tell the story..i was in the hospital for 5 days in december with GI issues..could not poop felt bad...had colitis and gastroenergitist bacteria..got out of hospital and felt better until last week...still having the GI issues...on a high fiber diet which seems to have helped but still having pain and burning in stomach...doc says he may do a colonoscophythis flu like symptons been going on a week now...

but if just in case i did relapse anyone have an idea what i should do? retreat? have test to see if mutations were caused by incivek?  my life was just starting to go right and now i feel the dark cloud of failure possibly on me..with no hope

[curiouslady1]

Anxiety can do strange things to people.  For one thing, it compromises your immune system.  A good dose of fear of the the future can make one pretty dang sick.  Try to stay positive and do whatever it is you ordinarily do to reduce stress:  work out, nice meditation tape, nice music, dancing, singing, etc.  

[can-do-man]

"but if just in case i did relapse anyone have an idea what i should do? retreat?"

You keep wanting to put the cart before the horse, your 4 week pcr shows the odds are your going to be SVR............ No need to waste a bunch of what ifs now.

[JAY0914]

sorry its just all the symptoms are exactly like i had before treatment...so its freaking me out pretty bad...ill wait and see

[Advocate1955]

I believe you were treatment naive, no cirrhosis, right?  Your chances for SVR with triple therapy with Incivek are really, really high.  Don't worry.
Advocate1955

[Bali05]

Right now you are the closest to being virus free ever since you got infected.

Cheers
b

[orphanedhawk]

Of course you're freaked out. Its  PTS. Once something happens to us, similar things trigger our memories. Then the mind starts to fret and . . .

I don't think that you can really feel a relapse. I didn't.
That's why hep C can go unnoticed for so long.

Stressing isn't going to help, isn't going to give you the answer and can make you feel worse.
Try to relax.

Good luck
OH

[sandysf]

Jay,  if it is any consolation, I am going through same thing 2 weeks post tx.  I think my hands hurt at night which was a symptom pretx, my eyes are dry, i think my liver hurts.  I am sure, like you, I will SVR.. but the mind plays dirty tricks.  Don't worry and I will do the same.. keep us posted!  

[crossroadsec]

It's ez to worry some days when you get a trigger to remind u you're treating. I can feel so good I have to set alarms for reminders, and a week later sleep 10 hours a day! Today I got a paper cut at a workshop n didn't notice til someone pointed out blood all over my papers. I'm on Promacta n waited to bleed to death internally. Lol now. But I had to work hard to snap out of it cause I had to present in front of 400 people. Taking drugs can really be scary.
Keep fighting. Fear is our real enemy.
Karen

[DoubleDose]

Don't worry yet!!!  I was SURE I had relapsed after tx...my symptoms were worse after tx than before.....only to find that I was totally undetected on every interval test....3 months...6 months...1 year,....2 years...5 years...and 9 years!!!  The downside to that may be that you may have some post-tx sx for awhile...hopefully not long!  Mine got nasty about two weeks after ending tx, and have more or less remained in the 'nasty' category over the years.  

This pattern of feeling like you have relapsed after tx is very common...and many have found that their post-tx symptoms seem to have NO correlation whatsoever to being SVR!!!!  In fact, I will bet you big odds that you are indeed SVR!!!  Relax, and feel confident!  No reason to worry yet.  Hopefully your tests will confirm the SVR.  I hope your sx also fade quickly.  Good luck!!

DoubleDose

[Dee1956]

This is the best group of people ever!!
Thank you so much for always being there when someone needs you.

@OH I really liked your comment about the mind fretting, mine frets all the time, I get really scared about many things as I am sure everyone does
Curious Lady, you are so right about anxiety and what it can do.  

@ALL You are all wonderful and have been more help to me than any family member with the exception of my poor husband who has stuck by me through all my sx
Is clumsy on the list?...or is that just genetics?  I want to make sure who to blame. LOL

[DoubleDose]

Just a PS to my post above:

I think your symptoms are very much in the post-tx, after-effect category.  Your immune system has been over-revved, and does not stop immediately after stopping the drugs.....The drugs DO actually leave your system fairly quickly, contrary to what many think...but the systemic after effects can remain for varying periods of time.  The interferon makes your immune system go hyper, and that really takes time to iron back out to normal.  You are feeling the symptoms of an ongoing immune system lashing out, so to speak....it will insure the complete destruction of any stubborn HCV virions hanging out...but also will cause lots of funky symptoms...especially the extreme anxiety....fatigue, burning eyes....joint pains...etc.  They all are symptoms similar to a 'lupus-like' auto-immune blitz...and are part of the post-interferon syndrome.  Keep the faith...I bet you are good to go.

BTW, my anxiety attacks were horrendous the first year or so after ending tx.  I did not understand any of it back then, but in retrospect, I see where it all came from.  I became panicked about many odd things....thought I ate poisoned food a few times....worried about a terrorist attack for no good reason...had a number of unreasonable huge fear attacks that each lasted for days to a week...all due to the post-interferon buzz.  Also, lots of rashes, deep joint and back pains, vision issues, deep fatigue, etc.  For most SVR's, these issues should clear our fairly rapidly...or even in months.  Stay healthy, eat well, exercise, and keep optimistic!!!

DoubleDose

[nygirl7]

I think your problems might be the same non-hepc related problems you were having before treatment.  Just because you treat the HCV does not mean that your GI problems will go away, they could and probably are two separate things completely and totally.

Especially colitis - as far as I know that has nothing at all to do with HCV.

[DoubleDose]

But Jay's initial comment at top was that the problems involved:  flu-like feelings, achy bach, fatigue, and lots of anxiety....the colitis was a separate issue.  I still think the symptoms are very typical of post-tx or 'post-interferon' syndrome.  Its expected for most people, and goes away fairly quickly in most treaters (so they say).   My post-tx problems began about 2 weeks after ending tx, and I saw a slew of specialists over the next 2-3 years trying to sort it all out.  Net result:  interferon after effects.  Still SVR though...and approaching 10 years.  

DoubleDose

[nygirl7]

these are all the symptoms i had before treatment"  

If he had them pre-tx then they were not post-tx symptoms was my only thought, I doubt he has relapsed a lot of people feel punk during and after treament but he had these symptoms prior (although they dont necessarily relate to HCV relapse at ALL),