Viread had an immediate effect but then wore off unless I stopped and restarted intermittently
Interestingly enough, Dr Jamie Deckoff-Jones also found that tenofovir (Viread) would have a relatively immediate beneficial effect on her ME/CFS symptoms, and she observed she felt worse a few days after stopping tenofovir (see her quote in
this post).
This suggests that many of the benefits of tenofovir (Viread) do not come from its antiviral action (because antiviral drugs typically take weeks or months before any appreciable change in viral load is observed). Rather, many benefits of tenofovir for ME/CFS may come from its ability to reduce inflammation or modulate the immune system.
This article says that both tenofovir (Viread) and valganciclovir (Valcyte) reduce inflammation:
Tenofovir was found to decrease production of the cytokines IL-8 and CCL3 (also known as macrophage inflammatory protein-1-alfa) by monocytes after stimulation with TLR ligands, TNF-alfa, or live pathogens.
Zidovudine, in contrast, increased production.
Tenofovir also decreased CCL3 levels in human PBMCs. Tenofovir strongly reduced expression of IL-10, but increased levels of IL-12. Zidovudine did not affect either IL-10 or IL-12 levels.
As you may know, ME/CFS patients often show significant improvements on Valcyte. Valcyte is as antiviral against herpes family viruses, but it is also an immunomodulator, and an anti-inflammatory that potently inhibits microglial activation. So its benefits for ME/CFS may come from more than just Valcyte's antiviral action.
The same may be true for tenofovir.