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Antivirals--Yea or Nay?

frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
I have high viral titers that my doctor said suggested indicated ongoing infections, for EBV, cocksackie, and HHV-6. I'm aware that Robert Naviaux warned against using antivirals and antibiotics as they can be toxic to mitochondria. Also a physiologist whose opinion I trust somewhat has told me he has concerns about valtrex's effect on nucleic acid.

But I'm on antivirals at my physician's urging and because I want to avoid decision fatigue, I'd like to stick with it for a decent amount of time to see if it works. How long is long enough, though? I'm doing worse on antivirals but I'm in no way sure that it's caused by the antivirals, I could just be doing worse for other reasons.
 

frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
I'm starting to wonder if it's better to strengthen the immune system, thyroid, adrenals, etc... and take "natural" antivirals such as emodin or monolaurin
 

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
Uuntreated infections are damaging to mitochondria, too. I've discussed the pros and cons with my naturopath and my ME/CFS specialist.

We decided I should support my mitochondria, but to go after the infections, which has helped me improve my function.

I had previously supported thyroid, adrenals, and taken a whole long list of natural immune support and infection fighting things with evidence behind then, but I kept getting sicker. My immune system was too overburdened to fight.

I got some benefit after 4-6 weeks of Valcyte, and more after adding IVIG and staying on Valcyte for 8 months which brought my PCRs to 0.

Are your PCR values changing? Are you on the right antiviral for the viruses you have? Are you getting support to help your immune system work better, as well as foundational endocrine and nutrient support? And biofilm busters, like Biocidin, lumbrokinase, nattokinase, or EDTA?
 

frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
Uuntreated infections are damaging to mitochondria, too. I've discussed the pros and cons with my naturopath and my ME/CFS specialist.

We decided I should support my mitochondria, but to go after the infections, which has helped me improve my function.

I had previously supported thyroid, adrenals, and taken a whole long list of natural immune support and infection fighting things with evidence behind then, but I kept getting sicker. My immune system was too overburdened to fight.

I got some benefit after 4-6 weeks of Valcyte, and more after adding IVIG and staying on Valcyte for 8 months which brought my PCRs to 0.

Are your PCR values changing? Are you on the right antiviral for the viruses you have? Are you getting support to help your immune system work better, as well as foundational endocrine and nutrient support? And biofilm busters, like Biocidin, lumbrokinase, nattokinase, or EDTA?

I've only been on the antivirals for like a month or so, I haven't done follow-up blood work. I'm going to see michael again tomorrow and we'll discuss endocrine and nutrient support. I have nattokinase but haven't taken it yet as I wanted to do blood coagulability tests, but may just start taking it as it is probably generally safe??

I have a bunch of supplements sitting around for energy support, and I also have ones that are reported to be good for antiviral activity, like monolaurin.

I'm totally fine with feeling shitty if it's a trade-of that helps me get better long run. It's just that it seems crazy to do antivirals for over a year just to see if they work, if they're at all toxic... I hope to get IVIG soon and maybe boosting my immune system can help fight the viruses
 

Tammy

Senior Member
Messages
2,181
Location
New Mexico
I'm starting to wonder if it's better to strengthen the immune system, thyroid, adrenals, etc... and take "natural" antivirals such as emodin or monolaurin
I've been on natural herbal anti-virals with improvements. It did take some time........like 8 months before I started seeing improvements Note: I did feel worse before I started feeling better. These are some of the anti-virals I have taken. Cats Claw, Licorice , L-lysine,...........these were the 3 main ones I took for a long time. Later I added monolaurin and olive leaf.
 

frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
dr statdmauer wants to do antibiotics as well, which kind of freaks me out--doing antibiotics and antivirals at the same time seems rough
 

Diwi9

Administrator
Messages
1,780
Location
USA
I recently started on Valtrex through Dr. Chia. He says that you should know if it will work by 3 months. Other clinicians say longer, but his plan is to switch anti-virals if there is no effect at 3.
 

frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
I recently started on Valtrex through Dr. Chia. He says that you should know if it will work by 3 months. Other clinicians say longer, but his plan is to switch anti-virals if there is no effect at 3.
that seems a lot more reasonable. I'm almost halfway there so I think I could deal
 

BadBadBear

Senior Member
Messages
571
Location
Rocky Mountains
I felt worse at 3 months, finally having some energy at 4.5 months. But AVs seemed to cut short a viral flare up in late Jan. That was hugely helpful as I am usually sick for months after and it only lasted 2-3 weeks.
 

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
dr statdmauer wants to do antibiotics as well, which kind of freaks me out--doing antibiotics and antivirals at the same time seems rough
It depends on what you're fighting, how sick you are, the characteristics of the drugs being prescribed, and how well you're protected from the side effects.

If your immune system can fight whatever with all natural solutions, that's great! My experience was that even though I was using a battery of top quality natural solutions, the infections were just too entrenched and doing too much damage (autoimmunity, draining my biochemistry) that I needed to use some bigger guns, much as my doctor and I didn't want to. It probably prolonged my illness by a year.

Your doctor is excellent with gut health. Perhaps you can talk to him about protecting your gut and mitochondria. I was able to do IV antibiotics which has been far better on my gut than the oral antibiotics I did a year ago.
 

ebethc

Senior Member
Messages
1,901
I'm starting to wonder if it's better to strengthen the immune system, thyroid, adrenals, etc... and take "natural" antivirals such as emodin or monolaurin

IMO, ppl w HHV-6 and CMV are sicker than me and benefit from Valcyte (eg, I have no POTS, which is a significant difference in the degree of illness..that's just one example, though)... I have EBV only and have used natural immune enhancers and focus on gut issues.... If I had HHV-6 or CMV I would be on Valcyte in a heartbeat. Not sure about the enteroviruses or lyme infections