Side effects of interferon and how to deal with them

  1, flu-like syndrome: patients have fever, chills, general malaise, myalgia, headache, etc. Sometimes, nasal congestion, runny nose, dizziness, urinary urgency, etc., while fever is the most common. Regardless of the application route and dose size, patients can have fever, which usually occurs 2-6 hours after the first injection, and the body temperature can rise to 38-40℃. If the fever is not high, no special treatment is necessary, or drink more water and rest in bed. However, if the fever is high or even high, physical cooling should be given, or ibuprofen 0.2 g orally, and anti-inflammatory pain suppositories 0.5-1 rectally, and the body temperature will drop quickly.  2. Transient myelosuppression: suppressing bone marrow, reducing peripheral blood leukocytes and platelets, leukopenia usually occurs a few hours to a few days after the drug is administered. During the first week of drug administration, the white blood cells decrease to 40%-60%, and then stabilize. (If the absolute neutrophil count is ≤1.0×109/L and platelets are < 50< span="">×109/L, the dose should be reduced and the drug dose may be recovered if the blood cells recover after 1 to 2 weeks of rechecking; if the neutrophils are ≤0.75×109 /L and platelets are ≤30×109 /L, the drug should be discontinued). The main reason is that interferon can reversibly block the release of leukocytes and platelets from the bone marrow. Usually, you can take blood, shark liver alcohol and aminopeptide home and other drugs to raise white blood cells and platelets.  3, digestive system reactions: such as loss of appetite, abnormal taste, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal distension, etc.. The higher the dose, the more frequent the symptoms, but generally no treatment is needed, and the more severe cases can be treated symptomatically. Serious cases should be considered to reduce the dose or discontinue the drug.  4, skin reactions: the most common side effect of the drug for more than 4 months is mild to moderate hair loss, and occasionally more serious after discontinuation of the drug. Papular rash mostly occurs on the trunk and extremities, but is mostly temporary; there is also a potentially idiosyncratic reaction, manifesting as diffuse erythema and urticaria. Mild rash is mostly self-limiting and does not need to be dealt with; severe cases should be considered to discontinue or reduce the dosage and give anti-allergy treatment.  5, renal damage: the most common is mild proteinuria, rarely > 0.1 g / day, and is not accompanied by a decrease in plasma protein. Other renal damage has been reported but is rare. Usually no special treatment is needed, and patients are advised to drink more water.  6, mental abnormalities: manifested as depression, delusions, anxiety and other psychotic symptoms. If interferon causes such symptoms, close attention is needed and interferon treatment should be stopped if necessary. Patients who have a history of depression or psychosis should try to avoid using interferon antiviral.  7, the impact on the endocrine system: 11-hydroxycorticosteroids increased, estrogen levels decreased, high-density lipoprotein decreased, diabetes, increased blood glucose, occasionally see hyperkalemia, hypocalcemia, etc., can also increase the plasma triglyceride content.  8, interferon induced autoantibodies and autoimmune diseases: including thyroid antibodies, anti-nuclear antibodies and anti-insulin antibodies. In most cases there are no obvious clinical symptoms, some patients can appear hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, diabetes, psoriasis, leukoplakia, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus-like syndrome, etc., serious cases to stop the drug.  9, anti-interferon antibody generation: some patients at the beginning of treatment or even without the application of interferon that appear anti-interferon antibody, affecting the therapeutic effect. Estimated and individual differences, and the application of dose, route of administration, the length of time and the patient’s age is not significantly related.  Note: The treatment of side effects of interferon should be under the guidance of a doctor and corrected with drugs if necessary. In serious cases, the dose should be reduced or stopped and used again after recovery, and if the side effects are serious and cannot be corrected, a switch to other antiviral drugs should be considered.