TOPIC: Joint stiffness during treatment?

I'm on day 19. Mostly uneventful, as I'd hoped. A few headaches sorted with lots of water. I'm exercising daily, eating all healthy organic foods as I always do, etc. The one nagging thing is joint stiffness. I had a tiny bit of that in my right thumb a couple weeks before I started treatment. Now it's full on trigger thumb, where it locks in the straight position and hurts when I try to bend it. And some other fingers are a little sore now too, and my ankles and top of left foot when I run. I looked all over the place on the internet to see if this joint pain/stiffness is a side effect of HCV or of the treatment, or just the virus getting stirred up on its way out or what. And I can't be sure, because there are lots of people with lots of conditions, pre-existing conditions or other ailments during treatment. So it's just a sea of misinformation out there. And I just want to know if this is a normal symptom of treatment, or if there's something I should be doing for this nutritionally or otherwise. I do ice massage when my thumb hurts a lot, and that helps. I just want it gone like everything else that's not the way it's supposed to be.

Any insights?

Hi Erica,
You had high iron levels in your blood for a long time, in that situation joint-stiffness is possibly hemochromatosis induced arthropathy. Best to check with your physician, but others on this site may have other advice.

It is so good to read about how well you're looking after yourself with nice food, good hydration and regular excercise. It is inspiring! Keep on keeping on.


Mnem*(*

Yeah it's true about the iron levels. Just the timing is weird. I just started getting therapeutic phlebotomies right before treatment, which is lowering my iron levels. And I've been specifically eating foods which aren't high in iron, not eating anything which increases the absorption of iron, etc. So if that were the cause then it should be getting better. But it almost immediately got worse when I started the treatment. So that's the confusing part. I need to identify the cause of it so I can fix it. At 4 weeks I'll be getting more blood work done. Perhaps that will shed some light on this. I wish I could afford to just test like EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD. haha. Those fancy nutritionist blood tests are expensive! I'll be getting health insurance in November, so then I can go crazy on the blood tests if I want to.

Hello Erica,

Yes it is probably the medication, given the timing.

There is a lot going on at the beginning of treatment and things usually settle.

It is probably gout. Although the big toe is the common joint it can affect any joint.

Getting your uric acid levels checked would be a good idea.

Non steroidal anti inflammarories would be worth trying. Voltaren is my go to one.

James-Freeman-facebook wrote:
Thanks so much, Doc. I think I'll just wait and see what those 4 wk test results look like first. Most of the foods I'm eating for high iron are the same for gout anyway, so that works out. I'll eat some cherries. More soon.