Hip
Senior Member
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Recently a Russian ME/CFS patient posted some very interesting info on my website about the interferon status test which he had done in Russia. This test he says measures the ability of leukocytes (white blood cells) to produce interferon alpha and gamma.
Has anyone come across this interferon status test in the US or Europe? I could not find any such test when I looked online.
This Russian patient told me that this test showed that the interferon-producing ability of his leukocytes was 16 times smaller than normal, and he said that that this finding helped convince both himself and his doctors that his illness is not psychosomatic.
He speculated that this low interferon status might be the reason he had such a severe viral infection in the first place; or that the low status might be the result of the immunosuppressive action of the virus.
I had never heard of this interferon status test before, but it might be interesting for ME/CFS patients and their doctors to explore interferon status.
This ME/CFS patient (who has had ME/CFS for one year) told me that he had a significant improvement in his ME/CFS symptom after two months on low dose naltrexone (LDN). He said that after two months LDN:
1) Brain fog almost totally eliminated
2) Fatigue reduced by 90%
3) Myalgia reduced by 70%
4) Senses of smell, taste and touch all gradually returning
So obviously he did very well on LDN. But what was most interesting was that when he took the interferon status test once more after two months on LDN, his interferon status increased by 4-fold!
So in his case, the major improvement in symptoms he got from LDN corresponded with a major improvement in his interferon status. So it's quite possible that his increased interferon levels were the cause of his improved symptoms.
If we can find an interferon status test in the US and Europe, it might be a good way to gauge the efficacy of the immunomodulators ME/CFS patients often experiment with. We could use such a test to work which immunomodulators most effectively raise interferon.
And in general, the data from the interferon status test might have value in ME/CFS research. I am not sure why this test does not seem to be available in the West. I have never heard of it, anyway, and could not find any info about it online.
Has anyone come across this interferon status test in the US or Europe? I could not find any such test when I looked online.
This Russian patient told me that this test showed that the interferon-producing ability of his leukocytes was 16 times smaller than normal, and he said that that this finding helped convince both himself and his doctors that his illness is not psychosomatic.
He speculated that this low interferon status might be the reason he had such a severe viral infection in the first place; or that the low status might be the result of the immunosuppressive action of the virus.
I had never heard of this interferon status test before, but it might be interesting for ME/CFS patients and their doctors to explore interferon status.
This ME/CFS patient (who has had ME/CFS for one year) told me that he had a significant improvement in his ME/CFS symptom after two months on low dose naltrexone (LDN). He said that after two months LDN:
1) Brain fog almost totally eliminated
2) Fatigue reduced by 90%
3) Myalgia reduced by 70%
4) Senses of smell, taste and touch all gradually returning
So obviously he did very well on LDN. But what was most interesting was that when he took the interferon status test once more after two months on LDN, his interferon status increased by 4-fold!
So in his case, the major improvement in symptoms he got from LDN corresponded with a major improvement in his interferon status. So it's quite possible that his increased interferon levels were the cause of his improved symptoms.
If we can find an interferon status test in the US and Europe, it might be a good way to gauge the efficacy of the immunomodulators ME/CFS patients often experiment with. We could use such a test to work which immunomodulators most effectively raise interferon.
And in general, the data from the interferon status test might have value in ME/CFS research. I am not sure why this test does not seem to be available in the West. I have never heard of it, anyway, and could not find any info about it online.
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