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How many people feel they got a lot better after treating infections

kelly8

Senior Member
Messages
191
I'm just curious if there has been a lot of success or not by treating individual viruses. I've been trying to get my Dr to order titer tests to various viruses and she is absolutely refusing.

The first one I wanted to check was strep because I had 5 strep throat infections in a row and thought it might have something to do with the fatigue. She refused and I was able to find out myself through a gut test that I had strep a and g overgrowth. I took natural antibiotics as well as a probiotic gut treatment and have not gotten strep since.

Now I'm wondering about the coxsackie virus because I was infected with that and very very sick when I was a baby. She is saying that it is impossible for me to still be dealing with that but I am not sure. I was sick all the time as a child and it makes me wonder.

Has there been a lot of people who have found that anti viral treatments worked for their fatigue? Please do tell!
 

Starlight

Senior Member
Messages
152
I tested positive for lyme disease,Chlamydia pneumonia (cpn) and coxackie virus after being I'll for 12 years. I was treated with long term antibiotics which helped mainly with joint pain and gut issues. I had always felt full of infection and I don't have that feeling any more but I have severe fatigue and other issues which haven't resolved at all.i think I have ME and lyme and cpn.My immune system is damaged and my consultant says that latent infections can come back up with immune damage. Look up lyme disease on the site,there is lots of info.on those pages.i hope it will all become clearer soon.maybe you should try another doctor, I did and I learned a lot,can be more comfortable at times but am very limited in what I can do, I will keep searching and I hope you will find more satisfactory answers.
 

TenuousGrip

Senior Member
Messages
297
The first one I wanted to check was strep because I had 5 strep throat infections in a row and thought it might have something to do with the fatigue. She refused and I was able to find out myself through a gut test that I had strep a and g overgrowth.

In May, I saw a new (to me) Immunologist. In the blood work she ordered was a streptococcal pneumoniae IgG antibodies test which tested my ability to mount an immune response to 23 different 'serotypes' of s.pneumoniae.

I have dramatically low (near zero) antibodies to 22 of the 23 kinds of strep.

Normally, the next step is to vaccinate you with the Pneumovax vaccine*, and then re-check the antibodies in 4-6 weeks. Unfortunately, I've had a very serious adverse vaccine reaction in the past, so ... in my case ... we can't do that.

I'm now working with a regional Immunology "center of excellence" on how to deal with this.

From what I've found online, an antibody deficiency to something like strep can cause you to feel truly miserable.

If you've had five bouts of strep throat ... I'd hope an immunologist would be willing to order this test for you.

Best of luck !

*Note that the Pneumovax vaccine is on the short list of vaccines that some believe can cause ME/CFS :-(
 

kelly8

Senior Member
Messages
191
I tested positive for lyme disease,Chlamydia pneumonia (cpn) and coxackie virus after being I'll for 12 years. I was treated with long term antibiotics which helped mainly with joint pain and gut issues. I had always felt full of infection and I don't have that feeling any more but I have severe fatigue and other issues which haven't resolved at all.i think I have ME and lyme and cpn.My immune system is damaged and my consultant says that latent infections can come back up with immune damage. Look up lyme disease on the site,there is lots of info.on those pages.i hope it will all become clearer soon.maybe you should try another doctor, I did and I learned a lot,can be more comfortable at times but am very limited in what I can do, I will keep searching and I hope you will find more satisfactory answers.
I'm sorry you've been through that @Starlight . I'm glad you found a Dr who was willing to help you. But I was hoping it would help take some of the fatigue issues away. I guess it is all baby steps in the right direction though.
 

Silence

Senior Member
Messages
102
Location
Northern CA
Not sure about the antivirals, but I too am currently dealing with recurrent group A strep. Pyogenes. The first time I got it, it was tested negative on rapid strep test and negative on culture, but the second culture tested positive. I took 10 days of penicillin which supposedly got rid of it. But another week later the strep throat is back which tested positive on a rapid strep test this time. You might want to consider that someone in your family is a "carrier" . A "carrier" is someone who carries the bacteria, but it does not produce symptoms in them. These people can spread it to others repeatedly.

I am also noticing with the recurrent strep that my fatigue is getting worse. I can't say for sure if its the strep infection though because I am dealing with a lot of other issues. I hate the idea of having to go on antibiotics again due to it causing yeast infections and worsening dysbiosis in me which causes me severe diarrhea.

Perhaps the macrolides would be an option as it is often reported to help symptoms of cfs...in a number of people on this forum.
 

kelly8

Senior Member
Messages
191
Not sure about the antivirals, but I too am currently dealing with recurrent group A strep. Pyogenes. The first time I got it, it was tested negative on rapid strep test and negative on culture, but the second culture tested positive. I took 10 days of penicillin which supposedly got rid of it. But another week later the strep throat is back which tested positive on a rapid strep test this time. You might want to consider that someone in your family is a "carrier" . A "carrier" is someone who carries the bacteria, but it does not produce symptoms in them. These people can spread it to others repeatedly.

I am also noticing with the recurrent strep that my fatigue is getting worse. I can't say for sure if its the strep infection though because I am dealing with a lot of other issues. I hate the idea of having to go on antibiotics again due to it causing yeast infections and worsening dysbiosis in me which causes me severe diarrhea.

Perhaps the macrolides would be an option as it is often reported to help symptoms of cfs...in a number of people on this forum.
I'm sorry you've been dealing with this as well @Silence . I'm surprised that Drs think that bacteria is a normal thing. I've read so much about strep being a serious issue. Especially in people with CFS.