Interferon side effects and common treatment methods Early adverse reactions, mainly manifested as flu-like symptoms, most patients have fever, sweating, muscle pain and weakness, a few patients have chills, headache, very few patients have nausea, vomiting performance. Some patients may experience gastrointestinal symptoms, skin “allergy-like” symptoms or psychiatric symptoms such as loss of appetite, belching, nausea, vomiting, lack of concentration, dizziness, impaired judgment, drowsiness or insomnia, or even psychiatric symptoms such as pessimism and anhedonia after one month of use. If the patient has a history of pre-existing depression or mania, the original illness may be aggravated or relapsed. Some patients may experience hair loss after two months of medication, which may occur earlier with high doses and after three months with low doses, and is more pronounced in women than in men. In addition, it may lead to myelosuppression such as transient proteinuria and decrease in the number of white blood cells and platelets, and individual patients’ existing diabetes and heart disease may be aggravated. Specific side effects of interferon: 1. Influenza-like syndrome: Patients have fever, chills, general malaise, myalgia, headache, etc. Sometimes, nasal congestion, runny nose, dizziness, urinary urgency, etc., and fever is the most common. Regardless of the route of application and dose, patients can have fever, which usually occurs 2-6 hours after the first injection, and the body temperature can rise to 38-40℃, reaching a peak in 6-12 hours, but it can all subside naturally within 24 hours. Symptomatic medication can be given within 2 hours after interferon injection NSAIDs (NSAIDs are divided into three categories: namely, acetyl salicylates, including aspirin; non-acetyl salicylates, including magnesium salicylate, sodium salicylate, magnesium choline salicylate, diflunisalicylic acid (diflubenzilic acid), bisalicylate; non-salicylates, including ibuprofen, indomethacin (anti-inflammatory pain), flurbiprofen, phenibuprofen (oxybuprofen, naproxen, nabumetone (naproxen), piroxicam (inflammatory pain xicam), pautazone, diclofenac, fenoprofen, ketobuprofen, ketorolac, tetrachlorfenac, sulindac, tolmetin, etc.). 2, hematopoietic system changes: inhibit the bone marrow, reduce peripheral blood leukocytes and platelets; leukopenia usually occurs a few hours to a few days after the use of drugs. In the first week, leukocytes decrease to 40%-60%, and then stabilize. When the drug is discontinued or intermittently administered for more than 5 days, the leukocytes can recover rapidly. The main reason is that interferon can reversibly block the release of white blood cells from the bone marrow. Long-term application can lead to hematocrit anemia, causing immune-mediated hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, but it is rare. If leukocytes and platelets continue to decline during treatment, closely monitor blood changes. When the white blood cell count is <2.0×(10-9)/L or platelet count is <40×(10-9)/L, the drug should be discontinued and closely observed. Symptomatic medication: leukocyte-lifting drugs (including: recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; recombinant human granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor; vitamin B4; luciferin; bitter vitamin; aminopurine phosphate; shark liver alcohol) can be given to raise platelets, and recombinant human platelet thrombopoietin can be given to raise platelets. Treatment can be resumed when the blood picture recovers. 3, liver function damage: in the initial use of the drug a few days after some patients may appear liver function damage, which is related to the application of interferon dose. For patients with higher doses of interferon, liver function should be rechecked once every half month. If the patient has III degree liver function damage (refers to transaminases greater than the normal high limit of 5 to 10 times) need to suspend the use of interferon, symptomatic medication can be given to protect the liver and lower enzymes drugs (commonly used to protect the liver and lower enzymes drugs are mainly five categories: 1, anti-inflammatory liver protection drugs: glycyrrhetinic acid preparations, including strong nin, glycyrrhetinic acid and glycyrrhetinic acid sweetener tablets, as well as the beauty can (compound glycyrrhetinic acid tablets) and isoglycyrrhetinic acid magnesium,; 2, liver cell membrane Protective agents: polyenyl phosphatidylcholine (EzanFu); 3, detoxification and liver-protective drugs: glucuronide (hepatolactone), glutathione (guladin, alto-moran), thiopronine (Kesilai), etc.; 4, cholestatic and liver-protective drugs: adenosylmethionine (Simethicone), ursodeoxycholic acid; 5, enzyme-lowering drugs: pentamidine (bifidone)). For patients who develop liver function impairment, interferon therapy can be applied again when liver function returns to below the high limit of normal. 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. Generally no special treatment is needed. Severe cases can take oral vitamin B1, vitamin B6 and other drugs to reduce symptoms. Skin reactions: The most common side effect for those who have been on the drug for more than 4 months is mild to moderate hair loss, occasionally more severe after stopping the drug. Papular rash mostly occurs on the trunk and extremities, but is mostly temporary; there are also occurrence of potentially specific reactions, manifested as diffuse erythema and urticaria, etc.. Usually no special treatment is needed. 6, 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 rarely seen. 7. Effects on the endocrine system: increased 11-hydroxycorticosteroids, decreased estrogen levels, decreased HDL, diabetes, occasional hyperkalemia, hypocalcemia, etc. It can also increase plasma triglyceride levels, but has no effect on cholesterol. In addition, neurological and psychiatric symptoms such as drowsiness, mental confusion, abnormal peripheral nerve sensation, as well as effects on cardiovascular and bone marrow systems and inhibition of growth may occur. People who should not be treated with interferon: 1) Patients with severe liver disease. 2) Patients with white blood cells below 2.0×(10-9)/L and platelets below 60×(10-9)/L. 3) Patients with a history of autoimmune diseases. 4) Patients with a history of psychiatric disorders, epilepsy, depression and other central nervous system disorders. 5) Patients with severe heart disease or other serious illnesses that prevent them from tolerating the adverse effects of this drug. 6) Patients with severe loss of hepatic function. 7) Infants and children infected with hepatitis B virus in utero or during delivery. Contraindications to interferon therapy 1. Absolute contraindication. The so-called absolute contraindication is to encounter the following circumstances, absolutely can not use interferon for treatment, once the hard treatment may lead to serious consequences, and even threaten the life of the patient. During pregnancy, patients with a history of psychiatric disorders (such as major depression), uncontrolled epilepsy, uncontrolled alcohol or drug abuse, uncontrolled autoimmune diseases (such as dry syndrome), decompensated cirrhosis (advanced cirrhosis with complications such as ascites and upper gastrointestinal bleeding), symptomatic heart disease, pre-treatment neutrophil count <1.0x10^9/L and pre-treatment platelet Count <50x10^9/L. 2. Relative contraindications. Relative contraindications are the use of interferon treatment may aggravate the original disease, so when encountering the above-mentioned problems, must be cautiously engaged, non-antiviral treatment, can be preferred to nucleoside analogues. Thyroid disease, psoriasis, previous history of depression, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, uncontrolled hypertension, total bilirubin >51μmol/L especially those with predominant indirect bilirubin.