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Ribarivin for ME/CFS

undcvr

Senior Member
Messages
822
Location
NYC
Has anybody tried Ribavirin for ME/CFS before ? I am thinking of trying it. I am surprised that more pple are not trying it and I would like to know your experience with it if you did.

Sorry this forum is sooo big. I tried searching threads for it but it did not come up.


Thanks.
 

heapsreal

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Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
what else have u found out on ribarivin? is it an interferon used for influenza isnt it. If its an interferon then it should have antiviral and immune enhancing properties.
 

undcvr

Senior Member
Messages
822
Location
NYC
No actually Ribavirin only has antiviral properties and it is the Pegasys that has the interferon properties. It seems to have some immune enhancing properties but it is not often referred to as that. It seems to have pretty low toxicity as well.

They are often co-admininistered for Hep C.

*What is interesting is that the immune-enhancing effects of Ribarivin is to move Th2 to Th1. This Th2 dominance is what Cheney talks about and is what to him causes the immune disregulation, also involving RNase L.
 

heapsreal

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Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
Hi Jasper,

did you persue ribavirin any further?? Just read a few studies where it is effective against cmv, so i suppose it would work against other viral infections as well. Is expensive though.

cheers!!!
 

undcvr

Senior Member
Messages
822
Location
NYC
I didnt really follow up with Ribavirin becos it was hard to get docs to prescribe it. Also I got the success I was looking for from Valcyte. At the time I really didnt want to take too many AV/ARVs all the sametime. Of course now I am taking 6t of them in total and I dont know what to make of it. I am functioning and I have a life, I guess that is the good part.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
Sounds like your doing well with the shot gun approach. Do u think u will be able to narrow it down into what is helping or is it the sum of these treatments.

cheers!!!
 

Navid

Senior Member
Messages
564
I didnt really follow up with Ribavirin becos it was hard to get docs to prescribe it. Also I got the success I was looking for from Valcyte. At the time I really didnt want to take too many AV/ARVs all the sametime. Of course now I am taking 6t of them in total and I dont know what to make of it. I am functioning and I have a life, I guess that is the good part.

hi:

are u taking 6 av's at one time???? did u have any bad side effects to the valcyte in the beginning?

thanks : )
 

undcvr

Senior Member
Messages
822
Location
NYC
Yea I really am taking 6 diff AV/ARVs at the sametime now. No i did not experience any Valcyte's side effects and I have consistently been at its highest dose for 5 months now. Not really proud of this either.

2 ARVs - Viread n Isentress and the rest are AVs (4 of them)
 

Navid

Senior Member
Messages
564
thanks undcvr:

i guess you are not med intolerant : )

what other av's are you on beside valcyte?

i just got back my last rounf of viral testing everything is through the roof....uuugh!!!! but i am extremely med sensitive.

good luck.
 

Grape Funk

Senior Member
Messages
113
Location
USA
Navid what did u test positive for? I'm posting all my results from today, tomorrow on the forums.

Btw Undcvr, are you hhv6 positive, and what were your titers like? i'm assuming Focus Labs
 

Navid

Senior Member
Messages
564
Navid what did u test positive for? I'm posting all my results from today, tomorrow on the forums.

Btw Undcvr, are you hhv6 positive, and what were your titers like? i'm assuming Focus Labs

hhv6
ebv
coxsackie b
varicella
cpn

low cd counts
 

undcvr

Senior Member
Messages
822
Location
NYC
Yea i found out that in general i am not really med intolerant. Even on Fredd's posting and with me taking formyl and methyl folates. I can tolerate them at the higher end of the dosing range.

The other AVs are:

Valtrex
Amantadine
Tamiflu

My titers for HHV6 are 1:320. I have not had them checked in months.
I did not have myself checked for the other viruses except hhv6/ebv/cmv.
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
Has anybody tried Ribavirin for ME/CFS before ? I am thinking of trying it. I am surprised that more pple are not trying it and I would like to know your experience with it if you did.

Sorry this forum is sooo big. I tried searching threads for it but it did not come up.


Thanks.
I'm curious about ribavirin too...

It has come up a few times on forums but it seems like no one really uses it. I wonder why?

It seems to have a fairly benign side effect profile and is even sold OTC in some countries.

It has efficacy against HSV and CMV and can help to modulate the immune system. It's also an anti-inflammatory.

So, I wonder what the story is...has anyone ever tried it who doesn't have HepC? Especially in combination with other antivirals?


Treatment with ribavirin and interferon-alpha reduces interferon-gamma expression in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Bergamini A, et al. Clin Exp Immunol. 2001.
Show full citation
Abstract
Recent studies in vitro and in animals have suggested that ribavirin may potentiate the antihepatitis C virus (HCV) activity of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) by up-modulating the production of T cell-derived cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-2 and IFN-gamma, which play a key role in the cellular immune response against HCV. To study the immune-modulatory mechanisms of ribavirin further, cytokine production by activated T cells and circulating cytokine levels were studied by FACS analysis and ELISA testing in 25 patients with chronic hepatitis C unresponsive to IFN-alpha, before and after treatment with either ribavirin plus IFN-alpha or IFN-alpha alone. After 16 weeks of treatment, both the expression of IFN-gamma by activated T cells and the blood levels of IFN-gamma, were significantly reduced with respect to pretreatment values in patients treated with ribavirin and IFN-alpha but not in those undergoing treatment with IFN-alpha alone. The expression of IFN-gamma was significantly lower in patients that gained normal ALT levels with respect to those that did not. No modification of the expression of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 was found before and after treatment in either group of patients. In conclusion, the results of this study do not support up-modulation of IFN-gamma and IL-2 production as the mechanism by which ribavirin potentiates IFN-alpha anti HCV activity. In addition, our findings suggest that ribavirin may exert an anti-inflammatory effect and may help reducing IFN-gamma-driven T cell activation and liver damage.

PMID
11298134 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]