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I have fatigue, brain fog, digestive symptoms (e.g. bloating) and slight occasional muscle aches from a virus I came down with in December that caused flu-like and GI symptoms, a rash and recurred. I have been sick for 4 months now. While I'm not housebound/bedbound, I'm not showing any signs of getting better.
One doctor I saw said that it could be a post-viral case that resolves with time and told me to come back in the summer before seeking a CFS diagnosis. I recently saw another who reiterated that people do recover from PVFS (something I doubt) and said that while PVFS can lead to CFS, they are not the same thing. He also told me I do not want to be diagnosed with CFS due to the psychological implications and that then I'd be convinced I would never get better even though I may do, that I don't want to be labelled with it etc.
I'm beginning to think that PVFS never goes away and that doctor just tell people that it can do to prevent newly sick people like me from being severely depressed knowing that we are doomed to have CFS forever. What convinces me even more that I'll never recover is the research showing that many cases of PVFS are caused by a persistent viral infection (e.g enterovirus) that the body cannot remove and does not show up on normal medical tests, rather than post-viral complications. This means that we may never recover unless targeted antivirals were developed (which at this point in time seems unlikely).
Do you think I'm wrong for assuming that I a) have a chronic viral infection that is probably entero based on my flu-like, GI and rash symptoms and the exclusion of EBV and that b) I'm not going to improve and do in fact have CFS?
One doctor I saw said that it could be a post-viral case that resolves with time and told me to come back in the summer before seeking a CFS diagnosis. I recently saw another who reiterated that people do recover from PVFS (something I doubt) and said that while PVFS can lead to CFS, they are not the same thing. He also told me I do not want to be diagnosed with CFS due to the psychological implications and that then I'd be convinced I would never get better even though I may do, that I don't want to be labelled with it etc.
I'm beginning to think that PVFS never goes away and that doctor just tell people that it can do to prevent newly sick people like me from being severely depressed knowing that we are doomed to have CFS forever. What convinces me even more that I'll never recover is the research showing that many cases of PVFS are caused by a persistent viral infection (e.g enterovirus) that the body cannot remove and does not show up on normal medical tests, rather than post-viral complications. This means that we may never recover unless targeted antivirals were developed (which at this point in time seems unlikely).
Do you think I'm wrong for assuming that I a) have a chronic viral infection that is probably entero based on my flu-like, GI and rash symptoms and the exclusion of EBV and that b) I'm not going to improve and do in fact have CFS?