Do the side effects go away after treatment?

[julu49]

Last night I posted that most of my sides were gone or manageable. Wrong. neuropathy and calf cramping are back with a vengance. I've been reading about all the people who have finished tx and still have symptoms. I sure would love to hear from someone who had symptoms and had them disappear after tx.
PLEEEASE someone tell me this goes away. 
julu

[Lynn K]

it depends if you are talking about side effects of medication or symptoms of an illness.

Yes side effects should go away almost immediately after discontinuing a medicine. I had anemia from ribavirin the was almost complete back to normal just 10 days after stopping the ribavirin.

But I have liver cirrhosis and for example I have some amount of edema in my lower legs I will likely have to live with that for the rest of my life or at least likely for many years.

I get killer leg and foot cramps but that is for me another symptom of my cirrhosis.

Basically if a symptom of an illness it depends if you can resolve the illness the root cause of the symptoms then yes the symptoms of that illness should also go away.

What medical conditions do you have do you have cirrhosis?

I see in other posts you said you have diabetes. Unfortunately from what I have read peripheral neuropathy is a common symptom of diabetes you should discuss with your endocrinologist how to best manage your neuropathy symptoms.

http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/diabetic-peripheral-neuropathy-symptoms

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a condition caused by nerve damage. Patients sometimes report painful symptoms and other times minor or no symptoms at all.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, between 60 and 70 percent of people with diabetes have some form of neuropathy.

Best of luck to you
Lynn

[julu49]

I have severe atrophic chronic pancreatitis, because of this I also have diabetes but this is a new development and it's under control with insulin. This is my main problem due to the constant pain. My liver panel never went much higher than maybe 10 over what it's supposed to be. I've had hepC since 1967. Long time. I was hospitalized for over a week, completely orange, but young and at that time of course, no test. I'm stage 3 liver damage according to fibroscan and ? was at a little over 1 mil. Most here are way higher than I am. Sorry for the simple language but I'm not used to all the technical jargon yet. I'm so glad you have kicked this in the butt. You've had a long hard road. Thanks for the link on neuropathy. What I'm experiencing seems much different than my husbands.
Congratulations on your victory!
julu

[Lynn K]

Thanks and good luck to you on your journey. Yours sounds time a long hard road to travel

But they say we aren't given any burden we are not up to the challenge to carry we just have to rise to that challenge.

[byebyeC]

Hey Julu,

I'd guess you're going to have to wait till several months post tx to find out if you're experiencing diabetic peripheral neuropathy or hcv related peripheral neuropathy or cryoglobulinemia vasculitis...

We're amongst the first slew of patients becoming free of this virus. Scientists are just putting together that there're so many folks with hcv having this issue. Early results with the hcv related issue, are looking good for many of these issues self resolving after SVR. Yay! We'll have to be diligent to report what happens to the drug companies and FDA...

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2012/236148/

Here's to hoping we all get some relief post tx!

Marianne

[julu49]

Hi bye bye.
Thanks for the link. Yikes! I'm pretty good at medical terminology but this is way over my head. I was able to pick out what I thought was the jist and I guess what they are saying is that it could be hepC related, eh? I didn't have this before Harvoni but stranger things have happened. Do you have this too? You're right. We'll just have to wait until tx is over to know if it will go away. I sure hope so. I paint and I can't imagine having to sit while I do this. I'll have to train myself all over again. Oh well, thanks to Harvoni we'll have some extra time to do just that. Nice to hear from you   judy

[byebyeC]

Haha Judy

Very heavy on the medical-ese! I just got the jist as well... The whole "white matter" bit and crossing the blood brain barrier kinda freaked me out ;/

I do have the hcv, non-diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Mine is made worse by cold, so at the very least, it's likely cryoglobulinemia due to the hcv.

If you didn't have it before, it prolly isn't either of the two suggested, merely a lovely sx present. I believe Kimintheforest has had this Harvoni side... I could be wrong. But, I believe she's saying lately, that it's getting much better

Cheers to us all putting hcv, tx and it's sides in the rear view ASAP!

Good to hear from you too,
Marianne

[julu49]

Hi Bye,
I didn't have this before so I'm hoping it's a side. The pain in my belly is mostly relieved by staying upright and in motion, like a shark swimming around but now my legs cramp and feet hurt. After seeing my husband go through this it was the last thing I could imagine happening to me, but....here it is. I really hope it's from the tx and goes away. Maybe since you'll be free of the hepC, and our livers do regenerate yours will go away. I surely hope so. You're too young to have this. You need to be out dancing and not in pain.I'll have to read Kimi's posts. Do you still have yellow eyes? aren't your doctors concerned? Here's to the rear view mirror!!!

[byebyeC]

Not that young, but I'd like to get older and dance Judy! I hope so for you too

Let's just go with that! Our sx's pre and during tx will go away post!

Still have light yellow eyes. Feel anemic and last labs concerned my Dr. enough to make me go back for more tomorrow. We'll see. I'm on the highest, that I know of, riba dosage, 1200 or 6 pills a day. Prolly the culprit. Philly had the same tx as me (less riba cause she's smaller, my guess) and she had it through tx. Gone once she got done with meds...Feel like warm death. But, I do know, if I can feel at all, I haven't made it there

Cheers!
Marianne

[KimInTheForest]

I do have the hcv, non-diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Mine is made worse by cold, so at the very least, it's likely cryoglobulinemia due to the hcv.

If you didn't have it before, it prolly isn't either of the two suggested, merely a lovely sx present. I believe Kimintheforest has had this Harvoni side... I could be wrong. But, I believe she's saying lately, that it's getting much better

I don't think I ever had peripheral neuropathy or cryoglobulinemia, if that's what we are talking about. But I did have cramping in feet and calves and hands a bit during treatment, and then during my post-treatment problems. And Julu mentioned that problem of cramping at the top of this thread. I decided the cramping in my case was most likely due to low potassium or magnesium. So I tried to increase my intake of foods high in those things, and each time I did, cramping seemed to disappear. I had a great deal of trouble eating during and post-tx. I had major appetite suppression. So I think I was getting a bit malnourished on top of everything else.

best,
kim

[julu49]

Hi Kim, Yes I think you're right about the cramping and lack of nutrition. I'm there too. Because my pancreas is hurting double time on the Harvoni, I'm eating only yogurt if anything. Think I'll try and eat something tomorrow.
Thanks for the tip!
julu

[perineuro]

Regarding "Do the side effects go away".  I really thank you all, I just started this forum tonight and I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me.  I have been spinning around all of these same issues...  I have non-diabetic peripheral neuropathy, anemic, extreme aching shots of pain throughout my frontal lobe and jaw line, breathing difficulties, muscle spasms that go from my shin up to my thigh and over to my next leg, screaming in side and trying to get out of bed, and not able to... temporarily paralyzed to the point where I have to try to slowly lay back down and try to make it through until it passes...  and with ever growing OAB I just lay there and thank god I had put on an incontinence brief before I went to bed...    still dazed but not alone, thank you all.