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Rhinovirus aka The Common Cold

cman89

Senior Member
Messages
429
Location
Hayden, Idaho
I am borderline CFS (undiagnosed), still high functioning in many respects, but I see this site as a valuable resource for both sick and well/more healthy folks to enrich each other and share general knowledge. My question here is this: Have any of you had lingering malaise effects from a bout with the common cold? I know that viral infection can be implicated in many CFS cases, but most of the stories I hear are EBV, XMRV, the Flu, etc..., with the severe such symptoms. Have any of your cases been exacerbated by a rather minor Cold ?(most often Rhinovirus)
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Note: XMRV is no longer on the table as far as ME/CFS etiology is concerned.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Generally you find that ME/CFS patients fall into two types: the first type is largely immune to the cold viruses and infections going around, and their immunity to colds is so strong that they may only catch a cold maybe once every year or two. I fall into this category. Even when I do catch a cold on those very rare occasions, the cold does not seem any more severe than normal, and it does not cause any lingering problems. Rich Van Konynenburg speculated that this category of patient has an up-regulation in their type 1 interferon secretion (the first line of immune defense), and that this ramped up interferon will quickly destroy any cold virus that lands in the respiratory tract before it has a chance to take hold. So this is his theory of why some ME/CFS patients rarely catch colds.

Then you get the other type of ME/CFS patient who is highly susceptible to colds and infections, who always catches every cold or infection in circulation, and when they do catch something, it causes their ME/CFS symptom to worsen in a long and lingering fashion (ie, it may take a very long time to get over the cold they caught).
 
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cman89

Senior Member
Messages
429
Location
Hayden, Idaho
I seem to be neither crashed nor immune to my current cold, but it is hanging around a bit longer than I would like it to. Making me a bit nervous, since I am teetering on the edge so to speak with this CFS stuff. Really not qualified to be diagnosed with CFS via the common criteria, but I have been through enough crap this year that I feel my system is quite vulnerable right now.
 

ukxmrv

Senior Member
Messages
4,413
Location
London
If I catch a cold from my partner (sneezing, nasal discharge) I always go on to more flu like symptoms (sore throat, glands, sweating at night, red face, aching body) and usually a sinus infection. This can go on for months or an entire season off and on cycling between the different stages.

I find that high dose Vitamin C and Sambucol can help shorten this for me if taken early enough.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I am not aware of colds being precipitators of ME/CFS, so I wouldn't think there's anything to worry about.

Have you considered trying any of the standard treatments for ME/CFS used by patients on this forum, such as methylation or LDN? Maybe with these you could head off your possible ME/CFS at the pass.

You can generally classify ME/CFS as mild, moderate or severe. Those with mild ME/CFS are often still able to work full time, but have some restrictions on what they do due to their symptoms.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
This can go on for months or an entire season off and on cycling between the different stages.

I find that high dose Vitamin C and Sambucol can help shorten this for me if taken early enough.

I use 10 grams of arginine to treat any cold I might get. The immune booster arginine is one of the ingredients in chicken soup, the "Jewish penicillin" for colds and flus.
 

CFS_for_19_years

Hoarder of biscuits
Messages
2,396
Location
USA
Have any of you had lingering malaise effects from a bout with the common cold? I know that viral infection can be implicated in many CFS cases, but most of the stories I hear are EBV, XMRV, the Flu, etc..., with the severe such symptoms. Have any of your cases been exacerbated by a rather minor Cold ?(most often Rhinovirus)

My ME/CFS illness began with a flu/cold that persisted for months, then I resumed part-time work and never recovered to my previous level of functioning. Soon after returning to work, I would get colds several times a year that would last 2 - 3 months. I would have to be off work for a month or more just to get over these colds.

So yes, I can say that I've had lingering malaise from the common cold. This pattern went on for years. I didn't have any viral studies done, so I can't say which viruses were making me ill.
 

PDXhausted

Senior Member
Messages
258
Location
NW US
I've never had the flu... I think I have some sort of genetic resistance because I've never caught it despite being exposed plenty of times. I've always had a very profound weakness to colds though, caught every single one I came in contact with until my ME/CFS became full-blown. I had a gradual onset, and once I had full-blown symptoms, I stopped getting colds.

The thing with rhinovirus is its in the same family as enterovirus (picornavirus). And I believe some colds are actually enteroviral rather than rhino. I've thought back alot to when my gradual symptoms first started, and it must have been back when I was in college. I had all kinds of weird colds and viruses that lingered, particularly one that stands out was a viral meningitis that manifested as a cold. I was in college when the West Nile virus first broke out in the US in the early 2000's, so that is a remote possibility for me. I always recovered from them so its hard to say for sure whether it was a cold virus that started it.
 

CFS_for_19_years

Hoarder of biscuits
Messages
2,396
Location
USA
I believe @cman89 is referring catching colds when you already have ME/CFS, and how long they linger, rather than the viral illness that triggered ME/CFS in the first place.

Hip, that's what the rest of my post said, in case you missed it:
My ME/CFS illness began with a flu/cold that persisted for months, then I resumed part-time work and never recovered to my previous level of functioning. Soon after returning to work, I would get colds several times a year that would last 2 - 3 months. I would have to be off work for a month or more just to get over these colds.

So yes, I can say that I've had lingering malaise from the common cold. This pattern went on for years.
I didn't have any viral studies done, so I can't say which viruses were making me ill.

Hip, I'm not going to argue any further about my post.
 
Messages
87
Location
Kaneohe, HI
My illness began with mono-like symptoms that I never fully recovered from (negative for mono). Since then I have had reoccuring illnesses to include phrangyitis, sinitis, ear infection, tonsilitis, strep throat, UTIs, and flu-like illness within the last two years.
 

cman89

Senior Member
Messages
429
Location
Hayden, Idaho
I believe @cman89 is referring catching colds when you already have ME/CFS, and how long they linger, rather than the viral illness that triggered ME/CFS in the first place.
Actually, I was referring to both. Trying to gauge how severe an infection it takes to trigger ME/CFS
 

cman89

Senior Member
Messages
429
Location
Hayden, Idaho
I am not aware of colds being precipitators of ME/CFS, so I wouldn't think there's anything to worry about.

Have you considered trying any of the standard treatments for ME/CFS used by patients on this forum, such as methylation or LDN? Maybe with these you could head off your possible ME/CFS at the pass.

You can generally classify ME/CFS as mild, moderate or severe. Those with mild ME/CFS are often still able to work full time, but have some restrictions on what they do due to their symptoms.
I have tried a shortened Methylation trial. No LDN, and unless that has an effect on fatigue, it would be contraindicated for me. The Methylation seemed to help a bit, but not super drastic. Maybe the detox is more valuable in my case than the energy boosts