Hi Brad, when I was about to start tx my nurse advised me to try to avoid crowded places while on tx because of the increased risk of picking up other infections, although I know it`s not always easy to do.

You are also at more risk of getting tooth and mouth infections when on tx, so it`s best to take extra care with those areas.  Use an antiseptic mouthwash if you start getting mouth probs and see your dentist asap if you develop a tooth infection. 

None of this is much fun but it`s only a matter of weeks out of a whole lifetime, and it will be so worthwhile in the end.

Take care, Jill  

After I finished treatment in 02 I came down with MRSA..fairly quickly. My immune was not built back up yet.

Many people just with hcv for years find their immune system is not normal.

I believe that was because our bodies were under attack every day every minute, trying to fight the replication of hcv cells, therefore it is overwhelmed, and can't keep up with everything thrown at it. However that is just my theory, as to why we get sick more easily than others, as the disease progresses.

Be Careful, treat everything seriously.

I had a Pilonaidal sinus which turned to abcess in 2 Days!

Hospitalised, surgery the whole nine yards.

Took a Month of daily dressings to close hole enough for me to do daily activities, that was march 2011, wound still weeps and bleeds.

This should improve as my health improves on finishing TX.

Take care out there.

Steve.

It's been my experience that no, interferion does not protect us. Yes we are more at risk. Our white blood cells are down = immune system. I don't hang out with my elementary age step-kids, for just this reason.

Catching an illness could be a disater while on treatment. Plus it makes it hard to tell what's a side effect, and what's an illness.

They told me when white blood cells went down, that if I got a urine infection, or some other I might not know, till I had a temp.

White blood cells = immune system, might not give us the normal warning signs..like if you got a splinter, it might not turn red, or get puss..which would be our bodies normal way of trying to clean out the infection, and let us know something is wrong.

Hi everybody.  I have studied this TX, and disease for hundreds of hours, but have found little on our susceptibility to other illnesses.

The nurse at my infusion svcs. said to be careful when she learned there is a 2 yr old in the house.  She said it was possible to catch the actual disease from the child's vaccine.  Polio was her example.  Although that would be impossible with a killed virus vaccine, I suppose it's possible with a modified live virus vaccine.

I know that the triple TX (can) ravage our immune system. But, I also know that interferon can increase our ability to resist infection:

"Interferons are named after their ability to "interfere" with viral replication within host cells. IFNs have other functions: they activate immune cells, such as natural killer cells and macrophages; they increase recognition of infection or tumor cells by up-regulating antigen presentation to T lymphocytes; and they increase the ability of uninfected host cells to resist new infection by virus."

So, What have you folks noticed about colds, flu, etc?  My girlfriend has the sniffles, and I am starting to feel bad (OK worse ;) 

 Does the interferon/riba protect us from some, not all viruses?

Are are there any really bad complications to people on TX getting sick with other microbes?

I would LOVE to hear any info, experiences, etc.

Thanks in advance,

Brad

-- Edited by krowdog on Tuesday 15th of November 2011 02:45:02 AM