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My experience with pegylated Interferon

Forums General Melanoma Community My experience with pegylated Interferon

  • Post
    eaca
    Participant

      Since I haven't found a lot of information on others using pegylated Interferon on this board, I thought I would just post my experience with starting it on Friday, to share with others.  I'm stage IIb and on a clinical trial combining peg-intron with a peptide vaccine.

      Since I haven't found a lot of information on others using pegylated Interferon on this board, I thought I would just post my experience with starting it on Friday, to share with others.  I'm stage IIb and on a clinical trial combining peg-intron with a peptide vaccine. I give myself Peg-intron injections once a week and the vaccine is given by the Dr once every three weeks, all of it lasting 6 months.  So my first injections were on Friday afternoon and I experienced what I gather are the typical interferon reactions of severe chills, aches, headache and fever starting about 5 hours after the injections.  It was a pretty miserable night, as I kept waking up to more aches and fever or to go to the toilet because I was drinking gallons of water.  I was taking Tylenol and as my Dr said to steer away from Ibuprofen, I was concerned about reaching the dosage limits. The effects were so bad that I really felt I needed more Tylenol after 4 hours, but then if I kept up that pace I would have run out of options before 24h had gone by, so I slowed down a little.  The effects peaked probably around 10 hours after the injections, but I stayed pretty miserable most of the day on Saturday until about 24h after the initial shots.  I had some slight nausious feelings, but by eating small amounts I was able to keep that under control.  Then I finally managed to get myself up and showered and dressed to go see some friends in the evening.  The second night was much better already and the second day has been very manageable, with just a few remaining aches and vague fuzziness in the head.  So here's hoping the coming weeks don't get any worse.  I'm going to ask my Dr about other alternatives to Tylenol in case I need more of something on the first night.  Otherwise, I'm determined I'm going to do this!

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        King
        Participant

          Thanks for the informative, helpful post.  Sharing your experience will help others.  Keep us posted.  Wishing you the best.  You are wise to find out if Ibuprofen can't be used at all.  When I did Intron in 2004, I was told to alternate Tylenol with Ibuprofen.

          Stay Strong

          King

          Stage IV 7/05 Liver mets

          King
          Participant

            Thanks for the informative, helpful post.  Sharing your experience will help others.  Keep us posted.  Wishing you the best.  You are wise to find out if Ibuprofen can't be used at all.  When I did Intron in 2004, I was told to alternate Tylenol with Ibuprofen.

            Stay Strong

            King

            Stage IV 7/05 Liver mets

            JerryfromFauq
            Participant

              Thank you very much for sharing your experiences.  you have reached more people than you will ever know.

              JerryfromFauq
              Participant

                Thank you very much for sharing your experiences.  you have reached more people than you will ever know.

                eaca
                Participant

                  I just wanted to add a quick update on my reactions after 3 weeks of treatment.  After the initial shot, the subsequent two shots have gone amazingly smoothly and I have had very little direct reaction.  No fever, chills or aches.  Just very minor headache for part of a day which was easily treated with Tylenol.  Overall my body feels slightly different than before – a little more short of breath, dry mouth and the need to eat small quantities frequently.  But I can certainly function normally, go to sports, and do my work as usual.  I'll keep a running update here with any major changes to my condition.

                  Elisa

                  eaca
                  Participant

                    I just wanted to add a quick update on my reactions after 3 weeks of treatment.  After the initial shot, the subsequent two shots have gone amazingly smoothly and I have had very little direct reaction.  No fever, chills or aches.  Just very minor headache for part of a day which was easily treated with Tylenol.  Overall my body feels slightly different than before – a little more short of breath, dry mouth and the need to eat small quantities frequently.  But I can certainly function normally, go to sports, and do my work as usual.  I'll keep a running update here with any major changes to my condition.

                    Elisa

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