Question: you say, Hip, that it takes 2 years of treatment? Does that mean staying on valacyclovir the entire time?
Yes, it involves staying on Valtrex all the time. Dr Lerner used Valtrex 1000 mg four times daily, though other ME/CFS doctors use lower doses. Famvir can be used instead of Valtrex, and Famvir is better tolerated.
If you just have active EBV infection, and are taking Valtrex for it, then Dr Lerner's clinical trial showed you get major improvements after around 1 year. Whereas for Valcyte (which is used when patients have active HHV-6 or cytomegalovirus), then the improvements take a little longer, 1 to 2 years.
You can see a summary of Dr Lerner's clinical trial results in
this post.