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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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HI fever dreams,Hi all,
For those of you who know @Hip and have read his blog, he has done a fantastic job detailing the effects of the 'Sore Throat / Mood Virus' - I believe I have this or the China "HIV-like" virus, most likely the latter, though I believe the two are closely related.
The weird part is that initially I developed the classic post-exertional malaise, so bad in fact that i had to lay down for 2-3 hours after working out, and had very bad bouts of tachyardia. Now (6-12 months later), instead I wake up groggy and cloudy headed for most of the morning, and then I feel more clear headed after I exercise.
The symptoms of these two illnesses are well documented on the internet, in no small part because they seem to both induce incredibly detrimental mental effects. I'll spare you my timeline of symptoms, as I've luckily finished that stage of the illness- the uncontrollable mental anxiety, paranoia, suicidal ideation, etc. I'm now just left with lower energy, anhedonia, more depressed mood and lower libido.
However, I believe I have discovered certain patterns from my illness and those who I've unfortunately given it to around me. I'm not sure why people are not connecting certain dots, and I would like to posit what I believe to be certain impacts, and see if the collective intelligence of this forum can help garner further insights via inductive reasoning.
Here goes:
- Connective Tissue: these illnesses unquestionably have impact on connective tissue, and/or subcutaneous layers of fat. In the acute stage, I had massive amounts of ketones in my urine as I lost an unhealthy amount of weight in a matter of weeks. Aside from the skin thinning / wrinkling symptoms that are well documented as mentioned above, later others around me developed clear signs of connective tissue problems such as plantar fasciitis in their feet, or rapid onset degeneration of hip tissue leading to a diagnosis of needing immediate hip replacement.
- Hormones / Neurotransmitters: I know unequivocally that these are impacted by the illness. I followed the trail of my symptoms and it was eventually discovered that I was completely deficient in Epinephrine and Norepinephrine, which apparently is the result of Dopamine not being converted to these two neurotransmitters. Another I have unfortunately infected before realizing it (female) all of a sudden bled non-stop vaginally for many months, and had to take high levels of progesterone to get it to stop. Doctors could not figure out why. In addition, reports from both viruses display weight loss, followed by weight gain around the belly, which is usually related to hormones (unless there is a direct infection of tissue elsewhere in the body so the body stores the fat elsewhere? But that seems like a reach and hormones make more sense, since I know for sure they are impacted).
- Anxiety / Anhedonia / Suicidal Ideation: I suspect these are somehow related to the primitive brain stem / HPA axis and related to hormones above. Again, I do not know if it is a direct infection or the systems being thrown off (sympathetic / parasympathetic)
- White Coated Tongue: This seems to be part of what makes the China sufferers believe it is related to HIV. However, Candida coated tongue occurs in late staged AIDs, not early HIV infection. In addition, in my own infection I discovered that it was not candida as it did not respond to anti-fungals, but rather a seeming bacterial imbalance. I discovered that Chinese Traditional Medicine considers this to be caused by a spleen imbalance
- Liver / Spleen pain: Initially I presumed they were swollen; now I wonder if the loss of connective tissue is actually causing them to have harder contact with the ribs or other surrounding organs (maybe a crazy theory)
- Spine: I had a bout of viral (?) meningitis. It did happen after taking Doxycycline. Initially I thought it was a reaction to the medicine, then I wondered if it was herx reaction. Now I wonder if it simply lowered my immune system and allowed the virus to spread further and faster. Now I have to do chiro every 1-2 weeks or my spine stiffens up to the point of significant distraction.
My questions:
1) Is it likely to be a pathogen that directly infects connective tissue? Or somehow causes the body to metabolize it to fight the infection elsewhere? I think the former.
2) Is there a type of tissue that is present through the skin, nervous system, HPA axis, and possibly the gut? My theory here is that the virus enters the digestive system and the gut lining, and permeates throughout the body in this way.
Since it is anecdotally, but fairly well, documented that these viruses pass via saliva and other close contact, and not sexually per se, it stands to reason the virus passes respiratory and/or via the digestive system. My theory is that it infects some type of tissue that is present in the gut lining, subcutaneous fat tissues, connective tissues, nervous system, main organs (heart/spleen/liver) and primitive brain - perhaps some type of cell that is present in all of these?
HI everydayimsuffring,
Something else that I got from the beginning of this infection is a mild fatty liver. I never had fatty liver before. I think it s a viral fatty liver. Do you have got this hip with your virus? I also have got ketones in urine during the acute viral infection period and I have lost wheight