After the initial blood test at 3 months, my docs discovered that I was still testing positive for the EBV IgG that normally goes away in 4-6 weeks. That was a big red flag and the beginning of a million and one more blood tests, ultimately leading to the discovery that the EBV had turned into
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Click on the link to read more
So what now? There is no cure for CFS but there are antivirals that have shown to help and alleviate symptoms when found early enough. I’ve begun taking the gigantic horse pills (above) every 6hrs. Per the doc, I will hopefully start to see improvement in 2-6months. The unfortunate part is that you normally get worse before you start feeling better than the original symptoms. If the end result is my normal life back, I’ll take it!
After the initial blood test at 3 months, my docs discovered that I was still testing positive for the EBV IgG that normally goes away in 4-6 weeks. That was a big red flag and the beginning of a million and one more blood tests, ultimately leading to the discovery that the EBV had turned into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Click on the link to read more
So what now? There is no cure for CFS but there are antivirals that have shown to help and alleviate symptoms when found early enough. I’ve begun taking the gigantic horse pills (above) every 6hrs. Per the doc, I will hopefully start to see improvement in 2-6months. The unfortunate part is that you normally get worse before you start feeling better than the original symptoms. If the end result is my normal life back, I’ll take it!
2 comments:
I started to follow your blog back in June as I had signed up the for Pipestem offroad event in Jamestown, NoDak. But I had a calf injury the week before & had to drop out. Then came your illness...so much like what I experienced in the fall of 2006. Tons of docs, tons of tests. The only negative test that came back was low testosterone so I am on replacement therapy. We looked deep into CFS. CFS is very hard to diagnose. Almost impossible. I was unable to get 100% verification on CFS but almost certain to have it. All I can say is, don't expect overnight cure. If it is truly CFS, you may never get back to 100%. Four years later and I still suffer from fatigue but I eventually said the hell with it and just fought back the only way I knew how....train. I've been having a very, very successful triathlon and running season. You can see my results on my blog on the right side.
I wrote about my episode at: http://tundrat-zone.blogspot.com/2009/02/case-of-diminishing-skills.html
Also, you might have your doc test for murine leukemia virus-related virus also known as xenotrophic murine virus. It supposedly is a certain confirmation of CFS.
Hey Brian,
Thanks for the comment and I'm very sorry you had to go through that. It's definitely been a rough ride, but I'm trying to stay really positive about things and trusting my great team of docs at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. The false positive EBV testing with the combination of all my symptoms has lead to a very confident diagnosis of CFS so the medication I began this week should hopefully do it's job over the next 6 months.
I have in no way given up on triathlon or any of the other endurance sports I love to do. I've been told being 100% may never be the case, but when I'm back I'll be out to prove everyone wrong :)
Congrats on the great season of triathlon and running and I hope you are able to continue to improve and beat the fatigue.
Best of luck to you!
Erin
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