Interferon, Worse Than Hep C!
October 17, 2003

Lloyd--

Thanks for your site.  It makes me feel better about my plight because I've been afraid to talk about it because I don't want to discourage anyone from seeking some sort of treatment. 

I had a really bad time of it on Intron A back in 1991.  Despite the fact that I have been PCR negative and had unbelievably low ALTS (between 5 and 12), I feel that I'm still continuing on being sick.

Anyone who saw me on Interferon wouldn't ever take it and my slew of doctors agreed they had never seen anything like it.  I had acute hepatitis C in my last year of grad school and they gave me a year to live without therapy (I didn't even know I was ill).

On interferon, I totally changed.  I developed severe endometriosis (which I also didn't know I had-- I believe it was caused by Interferon) and was in screaming pain a lot of the time.  On one emergency room visit, the doctor nearly threw up doing the exam and said it was the worst he'd ever seen.  I ended up sterile with poly cystic ovaries and a lot of pain after therapy and had to get a full hysterectomy.  I had deep depression
and my GI doctor told me I was just feeling sorry for myself and I should get a little
job.  I couldn't do the simplest things and got disoriented trying to get home from work and had to have someone get me.  I didn't know what town or state I was in.

They then started trying me out on antidepressants, all of which I became allergic to. They tried estrogen for the endometriosis and I became allergic to that.  They gave me darvocet for the pain (which I had taken many times before the hep c) and I became allergic to that.  I have these drug allergies to this day.

My psychologist recommended a doctor friend she had to see me.  This doctor determined that I was developing allergies to anything taken by mouth.  My mental state worsened and I developed severe anxiety (my insides itched and I wanted to take a knife and cut myself open and rip my guts out), I developed suicidal thoughts, severe short term memory loss, disorientation, severe rage, all things I hadn't had before.

They persist to this day and now I'm being treated as a bipolar-- even though I wasn't one before.  I seem to have major medical problems every year-- four teeth just shattered and I had to have a bunch of lymph nodes removed (the doctor said they were burnt out from the interferon), pneumonia, meningitis, and I just got some abnormal
blood results today (TSH, potassium, esonphile, etc.).  I'm only 39 but the
dementia and bipolar stuff just keeps getting worse and my liver seems weaker and
weaker.  I've put on about 40-50 pounds all in the gut and my iron was high for years
(I think it was ok on this one).

Anyway, if my experience can help in any way, let me know. I was given interferon despite the fact I had a head injury and history of depression.   Is anyone suing these guys?

my name is M. Thanks again!

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