Flu like symptoms

[Barbiebreath]

Please forgive me if this is a stupid question.

So… on Besremi - can have flu like symptoms. Does this mean you just feel like you are sick or are you actually sick and how can you tell the difference?

It lowers our immune system, right? Are we contagious when we feel bad? I don’t see how you could ever know for sure.

I have been exposed to a couple of sick kids. My throat hurts and I have general malaise. Of course I’m assuming I’m sick.

Am I making any sense?

[Pat032018]

Hi Barbie,In my case with Besremi: Within 48 to 72 hours of Besremi injection, I feel weak and less energetic than usual but my body temperature is normal. So, when I feel this way, I do not perform heavy physical exercise like intense/long distance jogging but I do play pickleball (which is a light duty exercise). All the best for you.

[Aldebaran25 in reply to Pat032018]

Hi Pat, from your comment I see that you are a runner. Can I ask you, apart from the 48/72 hrs impact that you mention, has taking Bes affected your running ? I am looking at going on interferon (Pegasys initially) and wondering how it affects our capacity for cardiovascular work and muscle recovery. I have been on HU for over a year and I believe it is affecting that. Thanks!

[Pat032018 in reply to Aldebaran25]

I used to do a lot of jogging but not in the last year and half as I got engaged in other sports. I used long distance jogging only as an example of heavy physical activity. Apart from the first 48/72 hours, there are not significant things that I have been concerned about. Even the first 48/72 hours were actually fine; and I just have to not be doing intense exercise.

[EPguy]

The immune effect is not well understood, so no easy satisfying answer.

Here is one example in an article about covid:

<<The mechanism of action of interferon is complex and is not well understood>>

<<they boost the immune system response and reduce the growth of cancer cells>>

<<interferon alfa-2b (is) under investigation as potential treatments for people with COVID-19>>

I don't know whether it's working out for covid, seems not since there's few recent articles on it, but this suggests it's not a hazard there at least.

medicinenet.com/interferon/...

INF makes your immune system go on alert, a reason for many of its side effects. In our case INF can make the mutant cells more visible to the immune system so they can be destroyed faster than the regular cells.

From what I've learned, for disease resistance, INF is not high on the list of what makes us vulnerable. Rux for example is specifically designed to inhibit immune system, but even that is not so bad compared to many other cancer treatments.

I've had some minor sore throat on Bes. I don't think the flu-like feelings are actually a flu infection, rather a Bes side effect. Doesn't mean you can't catch something as at any other time and you're right if that happened it could be hard to know which it is. There are flu (or covid of course) tests if you want to find out, but this is low flu season in northern hemisphere so it's less likely flu than in winter.

I had a bit of the flu like esp after the 1st shot, I no longer get that (I have had other things though)

[hunter5582]

It can mean that you feel like you have the flu but do not have the influenza virus. It is, of course, possible to contract influenza while taking Besremi. It might feel pretty much the same. Besremi can lower your level of leukocytes which is why that is monitored routinely on your CBCs. Note that if your Neutrophils are > 1.0 and your Lymphocytes are > 0.50 you should have adequate immune response to deal with an infection.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

[Barbiebreath]

Thank you all my brilliant friends. I’m 90% better today!