SOC: Thanks, I do appreciate your concern. I started on Valcyte yesterday and am going to go with the higher dose to start. I have thought about it a lot and discussed it with a friend who has done that protocol and I think it's the right thing for me. I will be getting blood tests to monitor for serious side effects and I know my friend will be keeping a close eye on me as I start the protocol

. I am actually feeling fairly anxious about starting valcyte. Worried about massive herx (my HHV-6 titers are through the roof), about side effects and mostly worried that valcyte won't help me at all. I'm glad to hear of other people who have had success with this. Trying to keep a positive attitude.
I don't think you have to worry about herxing. Antivirals don't kill viruses, they just stop them from replicating, so you won't have a sudden massive die-off for your body to deal with. The idea is that that antiviral stops replication and then your immune system and normal death will kill off the existing infected cells. It's not a fast process, especially if your immune system isn't particularly strong, as is common in ME/CFS.
The bad reactions with Valcyte look more like IRIS (Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_reconstitution_inflammatory_syndrome and don't usually happen immediately. Plenty of people never have that, either. I did, but my uncle and daughter did not.
There are also normal bodily reactions to a toxin (the med itself) and there's really no way to know, as far as I've seen, whether you're going to have a "normal" bad reaction to Valcyte. That's true with most meds; it's a risk we take.
If you're lucky, you'll be like my daughter and uncle, who had no problems whatsoever with Valcyte.
Good luck with your Valcyte treatment! Let us know how it goes for you.