I don't think I have ever experienced hair loss from any of the AVs or ARVs I took but I have experienced hairloss from time to time, much less so not. But I think it is based on another theory that when the immune system malfunctions in an auto-immune sort of way and starts to attack body cells indiscriminately, the cells of hair follicles on the scalp is particularly sensitive. That is the theory behind a german made shampoo thymuskin and its scalp tonic. It uses thymus to treat the condition.
When ever I have had this condition, it would feel like my scalp is burning and itching all over and it would feel like dandruff and seborrhea. I would use shampoos with lots of sulphur, msm, and mild topical steroids to treat it. I also noticed that it happens in the winter alot.
If you take Silica, make sure it is of the very bioavailable kind, it is hard to get silica into the body becos in its natural form it is a very hard mineral or like sand or glass. Horsetail has very bioavailable silica and so does Biosil. I take Saw Palmetto too and 5mg of Biotin twice a day. I also take high levels of Zinc at night before bed.
I think that for us with CFS the immune system is malfunctioning anyway and you nvr know what kind of reaction you will get when you try a new treatment becos you dont really know what level the damage is ( its all fun fun fun ). So many pple respond badly to things that are supposed to help you and at the other end of the ironic spectrum, many pple respond to a treatment after being on it much longer that we are supposed to. It really sucks.
Btw you are responding to Famvir, I am guessing that the viruses that you are taking it for is not the main culprit that is causing your CFS, it could be something else. Did you get the same response from Valtrex ?
Another way of looking at hairloss can be from the point of stress, that taking the AV is stressing your body and stress causes the hairloss. The question is why tho if you look at the Famvir from a strictly AV point of view. The Famvir stops virus replication, there by awakening the immune system that has been suppressed by the said virus. The immune system wakes up after been suppressed for so long that it does not know what to do, attacking indiscriminately causing the hairloss. At this point you would need to change the supplements to take and 'teach' the immune system how to function correctly, ie shifting it more towards the th1 arm, adaptive immunity.
This is the whole theory about IRIS and HIV drugs, otherwise known as Herx in the alternative medicine field. It is a very real phenomena. I nvr used to believe in it.