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red blood count

I am currently being treated for hcv, and I'm experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath. The lit. I recieved with the meds warns of these symtoms. what options do I have other than stopping treatment?
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729288 tn?1251254433
I too was feeling a bit of chest pain. Like someone had their hand wrapped around my heart and squeezing. I just had an EKG last week and everything is fine but Ive been having a lot of gas and acid due to taking so many pills a day. For now Im writing it off as that.

Talk to your Doc. Bill knows what he is talking about
Helpful - 0
87972 tn?1322661239
Meakea said “Don't ignore your chest pain.  Call your doc.”

Excellent advice; don’t be afraid to use ER if you suspect any heart issues!
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87972 tn?1322661239
If you think your red cells are low, you should look for the hemoglobin results from your last labs. You generally want to stay above 10.0 g/dL to avoid intervention; if it gets much lower than that, your doctor will usually take action. Your options are to either dose reduce the ribavirin or begin Procrit (epo) therapy. If it becomes *too* low (<8.5, generally), they will transfuse as an emergency intervention.

The best scenario is to request Procrit if needed. Try to maintain full dose ribavirin for the best shot at eventual SVR. Do you have a history of cardiovascular disease? If so, your doctor might want to exercise additional caution.

Best of luck to you—

Bill
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Avatar universal
Have you told your doc about these symptoms?  Shortness of breath is quite common on treatment.  I've heard of others having chest pain while on treatment but that's something you should definitely tell your doc about ASAP.  It could be nothing or it could call for a heart work-up.

If your symptoms are from anemia (low red blood count) then there are things they can do other than stopping treatment.  They can give you Procrit (another injection to try to raise the RBCs) or they can reduce your ribavirin dosage.

Don't ignore your chest pain.  Call your doc.

Helpful - 0
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