Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
Hi Everyone! Anyone else here get chapped lips during treatment? I have had them since about 7 weeks into the treatment, and still have them and here it is 3 1/2 months AFTER treatment (Sov/Riba 5-17 to 8-8 this year - Geno 2b, SVR at 3 months post-tx).
Today I finally Googled "Chapped Lips AND Ribavirin" and - oh yeah - Riba is the culprit! I have bought every kind of lip treatment I could find locally, and have also put Triple Antibiotic Ointment (like Neosporin) on it for weeks, and it helps it, but it still isn't totally going away & is flaring back up in the past week or so. Last time it flared so bad, my lips bled ... first time in my life for this one.
I also developed a sensitivity to light that has not gone away, so far.
Anyone who's gone thru any treatment that included Ribavirin over a year ago, please chime in. Do these effects last a long time? I wasn't able to get to my GI doc this month for my 3-month post-tx follow-up & won't get to see him until end of December now to ask & I haven't even seen my 3-month Labs yet, but was cleared by 4th week (& 2b is easiest to treat)... Sigh
Today I finally Googled "Chapped Lips AND Ribavirin" and - oh yeah - Riba is the culprit! I have bought every kind of lip treatment I could find locally, and have also put Triple Antibiotic Ointment (like Neosporin) on it for weeks, and it helps it, but it still isn't totally going away & is flaring back up in the past week or so. Last time it flared so bad, my lips bled ... first time in my life for this one.
I also developed a sensitivity to light that has not gone away, so far.
Anyone who's gone thru any treatment that included Ribavirin over a year ago, please chime in. Do these effects last a long time? I wasn't able to get to my GI doc this month for my 3-month post-tx follow-up & won't get to see him until end of December now to ask & I haven't even seen my 3-month Labs yet, but was cleared by 4th week (& 2b is easiest to treat)... Sigh
Skin is the same knckles and hands connot heal the are cracking and bleeding and REALY sore..Not sure what to do
Here are names of ones I tried on my lips that work best:
I found Dr. Dan's CortiBalm (it's cortisone for your LIPS!) and that sure helped the pain when my lips would get really swollen.
SoftLips Vanilla by Mentholatum works very well but doesn't heal them. It does contain the 4 main ingredients needed to protect lips exposed to excess sun and/or wind&cold. (Dimethicone 2%, Octinoxate 7.5%, Octisalate 3% & Oxbenzone 3%).
Eucerin Aquaphor has lots of interesting ingredients & works very well. I just found my tube of that again this morning.
Kiss My Face(Sliced Peach) work about the best but need reapplication frequently.
I read where it's important to stay away from cinnamon oil (not sure but I think Kiss My Face & Burts Bees use this as a flavoring in some of their lip balms).
OH! and a slice of cucumber rubbed on them 2 or 3 times a day for just a couple of minutes does help Heal them up pretty fast & works best of all (I keep forgetting that one, cuz I rarely buy cukes as they just go bad on me too fast!)...
This had actually cleared up completely for a few days about 3 weeks ago & then I went back to drinking tap water in my tea. Forgot to mention that our water supply gets infiltrated by Ocean Water that flows too far up our Coastal River (which is where we get our water from) during July, and lasts until we finally get heavy rains about late October. I hadn't realized it was tainted again cuz I drink Chai Tea w/Milk & didn't taste that (word I can't think of). Anyway, this started right about the same time as the problem with our water supply. I'm thinking I'll just stay on bottled water for another few months cuz I've heard around our small little town that some elderly have had kidney problems due to the water (? - who knows if true - ?)...
Ah the joys of being 61 and free from HepC Fog, yet still have Fibro Fog, so ooooo... mu uuuuch... fu uuuun!
Bill
mine are always dry not really chapped. I don't know where you live ,I am in Southern Calif, so maybe you are also experiencing winter weather chapped lips?
My skin surgeon is always pushing me to use Aquaphor on everything. I get skin cancer a lot, and after a skin surgery I am told to use the antibiotic for a length of time, then to use Aquaphor. I asked him last month (just had my most recent cancer removed then and it needed a skin graft, after) what is the difference between Aquaphor and regular Vaseline...since it is the same Petroleum ingredient.
after some silence he finally said well Aquaphor is sterile.
I used coconut oil and sometimes sweet almond oil on my lips during tx.; which worked for me.
I do have the chapped lips and I wear a healing lip balm every day, putting on several times.
I go through stages depending on weather. I did my best in Cancun with all the humidity.
I think I will suffer side effects for a long time from the interfeuron and now the Riba.
My enzymes were both down to only 13 - SGOT and the other one
, (best I have ever been).
I still drink tons of water and fluids. I have even added Gatorade or juices to my regime.
I was great in the summer, but here it is winter cold.
Good luck - I have always had dry, dry skin all my life.
since my memory sucks but I am positive I read about this, multiple times, that some products sold to relieve chapped lips actually contain an ingredient that worsens chapped lips.
if you are curious, you can do online search.
for my skin in general I am lately using natural things such as coconut oil and olive oil.
because the later does not exactly smell like a beauty product, I put a little bit on my skin (lips , hands, body)...then add a bit of lotion ; whatever I have on hand.
the lotion helps the oil soak in better. Trust me, when you combine one of these oils , with a bit of cream or lotion the two together work fabulous.
makes skin so soft. I used olive oil last night, since I bought a new bottle to cook with as i have some left in old bottle that is expired. so i make use of the expired oil this way.
I know cinnamon is not good for skin. Because I used to work in a donut shop and when I put the cinnamon/sugar on donuts my hands were constantly in a state of irritation and pain.
my brother in law too, had many problems with it. He made the donuts.
but seriously sometimes I feel I need to make a folder to contain all the skin and supplement info you share, as I cannot seem to retain it in my old head.
it seems like what you do with Vit E oil is similar to my olive oil + lotion thing.
Still chapped, still a daily struggle, still finding that Dr. Dan's CortiBalm and Soft Lips is working best. Cucumbers just rot in my fridge, cuz I can't eat them, forget they're there.
The coconut oil was one I saw on all the research I did some months ago (I was a researcher in a former life as a Paralegal, by the way).
Now I'm dealing with skin stuff - bumps popping up on my mid-chest (one I've had there off&on for a few years, cuz I remembered having DermDoc tell me that they'd keep an eye on it after I think they did a biopsy in 2011 or '12.
Anyway, I'm far behind. I am still cleared, had my 3 month follow-up a month late (due to weather here, we can't get over the mountain pass sometimes). I'm in SW Coastal Oregon, 6 miles from the CA border. We're in the Banana Belt of Oregon, one of many in the PacNW - we get mostly 45 degree nights here & 48-60 degree days during Winter (mostly 55), so it's nothing to do with weather. I think what happened was when I got overly exposed to the Sun before the 1/2 way mark when I got "chicken skin" on my elbow cuz of my daily walks & gardening, it also affected my lips.
Just a big sigh on that one!
.I am almost3 wk post tx lips are still bad . The dry skin on my hands and chicken skin all seem to to be starting to clear up a lot in the last week or too
lips are still bad ..but our weather is cold here in Canada and the indoors air is so dry.
I bought a humidifier today so hoping this might start to help both the skin and desert mouth in the night ..
I am anxiously waiting to get my 4 wk past tx labs the first week of Feb I also start all my annual series of tests/scans/Mri's for post Cancer . .but I am starting to get more energy back and a tiny bit clearer with the brain fog .. ..its a start .
Yay my eot labs had my Liver enzymes well down into normal range ...
glad to see people are still here
I'm just curious, how are your AFP doing? that's Alpha Feta Protein. I ask this because you're a survivor so just in case nobody wrote you a script for this blood test, ask for it. Because as you probably already know, one has to be vigilant when it comes to liver cancer even after and especially after becoming SVR. All the best to tou and everyone else in here too!
good to see you ..I am going for a whole slew of tests in the next month my 4 week post TX then my colonoscopy liver scan and Mri and a huge bunch of tests .so I will make sure they put that one in there ..
I have been NED since April last year fromc CRC and longer for the HCH Im feeling good .all considered what my body has had to go thru in the last 3 1/2 years
How are you doing ..enjoying life better now ..hope you are
Jan