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    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

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Dr. Pridgen's 9 different cocktail mix patents & research under Dr. Carol Duffy name

m1she11e

Senior Member
Messages
333
Location
Florida
No... I am finally getting on Klimas' protocol to work out.. and I could not find a ME/CFS workout partner. I started the group yesterday and 180 people joined and they are buzzing around with what they have learned to do do cope with sneaking in safe exercising... I AM SO IMPRESSED with them... my heart ejection fraction dropped 5 points in 5 years and then another 5 points in ONE YEAR.... so even with ME/CFS and POTS, I was advised to do something... It is a great POSITIVE group of people.... join if you think it will help you.

Do your links mention the dosage? I can find the combination of drugs but have seen different information on the dosage. Some place here I read it is quite high (like 800mg) on Celebrex (and other proposed COX 2 inhibitors). Also have heard it is high dose for a short period of time. That is the part that concerns me. I want to take enough to be effective but not so much that I hurt myself. I want to get better but not knock myself lower than I already am in the process.

Im gonna have my doc contact Pridgen. Maybe he can get some info??

Thanks for info on Facebook group.
 

m1she11e

Senior Member
Messages
333
Location
Florida
@globalpilot
thanks

that's a high dose?
think a few doctors been having patients start lower.

Valcyte almost killed me after a few pills. I never had one single side affect from Acyclovir. Since anti virals don't kill virus' a die off really makes little sense. I believe Valcyte's negative effects are the harshness of the drug on the body. I did start off with half the dose just in case because I was so scared after Valcyte. I ramped up within a month or two if I remember correct. Never one single side effect.
 

m1she11e

Senior Member
Messages
333
Location
Florida
I found the dose in the acyclovir thread. It is 800mg 4pills/day, 2 at a time.

For some reason my doc said with food made the Acyclovir get absorbed better. It wasn't to avoid stomach upset. He was very specific on the effectiveness if taken with food.
 

Jon_Tradicionali

Alone & Wandering
Messages
291
Location
Zogor-Ndreaj, Shkodër, Albania
For some reason my doc said with food made the Acyclovir get absorbed better. It wasn't to avoid stomach upset. He was very specific on the effectiveness if taken with food.

Your doctor is right. However, he was not specific enough. It is FAT in particular which, when taken with drugs, will increase absorption. 40g is ideal.
 

leokitten

Senior Member
Messages
1,542
Location
U.S.
"The big difference between the three antiviral drugs for herpes (Zovirax - which is acyclovir, Famvir - with is famciclovir, and Valtrex - which is valacycovir) is how often you need to take them every day.
Zovirax was the first antiviral available for herpes, and you needed to take it something like five times per day. It was effective, but the drug didn't stay in your system very long, so you needed to take it often.

Famvir was next, and you needed to take it less often than Zovirax, but still more than once a day.
Valtrex is advertised as "once-daily" Valtrex because they finally got the time-release stuff good enough that you only need to take it once per day."

Though my specialist said Valtrex was better than Acyclovir for ME/CFS. I hate codeine. "but no means a cure."... your right... in our lifetime NO cure is expected... we are just dreaming for help, relief, quality of life with a little space for happiness... with ME/CFS. I use LDN for my pain and that fixed it just fine...
Francesca

I apologize for being so blunt, but everything you pasted here is completely incorrect.

Valtrex (valaciclovir or valacyclovir) is just a prodrug for Zovirax (aciclovir), it rapidly gets converted to Zovirax (aciclovir) in the body and was developed because Zovirax has poor bioavailability (15-20%) i.e. it doesn't get absorbed very well. Valtrex has a bioavailability of 55% and therefore for the same dosage as Zovirax yields much higher levels of active aciclovir in the body. Otherwise Valtrex and Zovirax are identical.

Famvir (Famciclovir) is a prodrug for penciclovir and was also developed because penciclovir has terrible bioavailablity. Famvir gets rapidly converted to penciclovir in vivo.

Both active drugs, aciclovir and penciclovir have essentially the same extracellular half-life in vivo, something around 2-3 hours and in general the extracellular half-life of a drug governs how often you need to take it. The somewhat special case with penciclovir is that it has a much longer intracellular half-life than aciclovir and therefore reaches higher intracellular concentrations for the same dosage but this is totally offset by the fact that the penciclovir molecule is much poorer at getting initially phophorylated by viral thymidine kinase compared to aciclovir. So clinically they essentially have the same efficacy

Unless a person cannot take Valtrex there is no reason to take Zovirax, Valtrex is superior because it's the same drug and gives you much higher concentrations for the same dosage. Usually if you cannot take Valtrex due to allergic reaction or similar then you also won't be able to take Zovirax.

Both Famvir and Valtrex have to be taken 3-4 times/per day and at fairly high dosages to maintain effective steady state concentrations to reduce viral replication and they must be taken for a very long time. Killing herpes viruses is a long-term battle and you must maintain constant high concentrations of the antiviral for many months to years. But they do work, I know this personally I've seen my antibody titers go steadily down by taking such drugs.

Famvir has one advantage over Valtrex in that is does not cause the crystalluria at high dosages. You have to drink a lot of water when you take high dosages of Valtrex.
 
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leokitten

Senior Member
Messages
1,542
Location
U.S.
I know that this subject has been touched on before but Montoya no longer uses Valcyte for any of the Herpes virus' as far as I know.

I'm sorry but this is a huge :( pet peeve of mine, people just putting out misinformation. I know you put "as far as I know" but that isn't enough disclaimer and people tend to just read and believe what you say as fact.

I've never read or seen anywhere that Dr. Montoya has stopped using Valcyte. In fact he like many other ME/CFS doctors and researchers have been learning that it has additional mechanisms of action along with its antiviral capabilities.

Valcyte is not only a potent herpes antiviral put also a potent microglial cell inhibitor (reducing neuroinflammation) and also an immunomodulator.

Where do you know for sure that Dr. Montoya doesn't use Valcyte anymore?

In fact just a cursory search through this forum and you can find people who just saw him a couple months ago and are on Valcyte as well as other drugs, e.g. http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/interesting-visit-with-dr-montoya.28534/
 
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m1she11e

Senior Member
Messages
333
Location
Florida
I'm sorry but this is a huge :( pet peeve of mine, people just putting out misinformation. I know you put "as far as I know" but that isn't enough disclaimer and people tend to just read and believe what you say as fact.

I've never read or seen anywhere that Dr. Montoya has stopped using Valcyte. In fact he like many other ME/CFS doctors and researchers have been learning that it has additional mechanisms of action along with its antiviral capabilities.

Valcyte is not only a potent herpes antiviral put also a potent microglial cell inhibitor (reducing neuroinflammation) and also an immunomodulator.

Where do you know for sure that Dr. Montoya doesn't use Valcyte anymore?

In fact just a cursory search through this forum and you can find people who just saw him a couple months ago and are on Valcyte as well as other drugs, e.g. http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/interesting-visit-with-dr-montoya.28534/

So sorry about your pet peeves. As you said, I said "as far as I know." You used the words "for sure." That is information I have obtained from people posting here and my own doctor who is in contact with Montoya. I never said I knew for sure...as you stated. I sure wish I knew something for sure when it comes to all this!!!

Because we are all out here on our own trying to figure things out and no one is an expert that I am aware of, all of our experience and knowledge is equally valuable. If I find anything out FOR SURE that is an absolute fact about this illness I will be sure and state that when posting. Would be GREAT if such information actually existed.
 

Jon_Tradicionali

Alone & Wandering
Messages
291
Location
Zogor-Ndreaj, Shkodër, Albania
So sorry about your pet peeves. As you said, I said "as far as I know." You used the words "for sure." That is information I have obtained from people posting here and my own doctor who is in contact with Montoya. I never said I knew for sure...as you stated. I sure wish I knew something for sure when it comes to all this!!!

Because we are all out here on our own trying to figure things out and no one is an expert that I am aware of, all of our experience and knowledge is equally valuable. If I find anything out FOR SURE that is an absolute fact about this illness I will be sure and state that when posting. Would be GREAT if such information actually existed.

Well said :)

It is a long and lonely journey seeking the cause and cure FOR SURE.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
Probenecid a med used for gout can also increase the half life of antivirals. This could be away to make taking antivirals more economical. I hhaven't found any direct info saying how long it increases the half lives. Probenecid is commonly used with antibiotics to increase their half lives.

I also know that famvir has an intracellular half life of 18hrs. Unsure how this relates to extra cellular half lives and dosing. I just mention this as I question the multiple dosage frequency commonly suggested? ??
 

leokitten

Senior Member
Messages
1,542
Location
U.S.
So sorry about your pet peeves. As you said, I said "as far as I know." You used the words "for sure." That is information I have obtained from people posting here and my own doctor who is in contact with Montoya. I never said I knew for sure...as you stated.

Could you please then locate any post(s) on this forum where a patient of Dr. Montoya's writes that s/he doesn't use Valcyte anymore as part of his treatment strategy? After reading your post I immediately searched and located for you a very recent post by a patient of his showing the he indeed is still using it and has even expanded his use of it.
 

m1she11e

Senior Member
Messages
333
Location
Florida
I contacted dr pridgen and he is communicating with my dr here in nj to get me the same drugs as the trial. I really don't know how it will go, been sick so long I try not to get too excited

How did you go about contacting him? I found emails and such on this forum and gave them to my Doctor. He doesn't really seem interested in contacting him and asked me if he would actually tell him what he was even using and dosage. I told him I thought he might. Maybe I should try contacting him myself. ??
 
Messages
5
How did you go about contacting him? I found emails and such on this forum and gave them to my Doctor. He doesn't really seem interested in contacting him and asked me if he would actually tell him what he was even using and dosage. I told him I thought he might. Maybe I should try contacting him myself. ??
Go to dr pridgens corporate website and email him from there. He has set up a company to profit from the fibro research he is doing. I forget the name of his co. He will tell you that he will help you by communicating With your dr thru email and he will give your dr the info for the trial as long as you dr signs a non disclosure form. I have gone through all of this and will be on the same drugs as the pridgen trial starting tomorrow if your dr won't do it that is unfortunate. Maybe find a more open minded dr
 

m1she11e

Senior Member
Messages
333
Location
Florida
Thank you so much Dreamer! I think my Doctor will if I do that ground work part for him first.

Can I ask you what the drugs cost with insurance? When my Doctor heard it was possibly Celebrex (or a similar type of drug) he said Celebrex was very expensive. Not sure what very expensive means...
 
Messages
52
Thank you so much Dreamer! I think my Doctor will if I do that ground work part for him first.

Can I ask you what the drugs cost with insurance? When my Doctor heard it was possibly Celebrex (or a similar type of drug) he said Celebrex was very expensive. Not sure what very expensive means...
It looks like there is a generic version of Celebrex which has either already been released, or will be released very shortly.
 

m1she11e

Senior Member
Messages
333
Location
Florida
Okay, so this whole thing is not hush hush at all. I am on a private facebook group of people that have either emailed or spoken to Pridgen in person. One member said he answered the phone when they called after hours. Who knew?? Here I thought it was a big secret. The secret formula is not anything crazy or new. Its pretty simple. Im not on it yet. Well, actually I have been on half of it for several years now. Im still watching to see someone appear to be getting positive results. Where are these people?

If you are wanting the magic formula, just go on his website and email him. He will give your doctor some big packet of information. Here I thought I was going to have to use my connections in the CIA...:cool: