I have tested positive for 6 or 7 viruses and my doc tells me that are all reactivated. She says that means they are "having babies". My levels are extremely high according to her and her NP. She put me on an antiviral that thankfully my insurance is paying for. Right now my dosage is very low and I don't notice it helping. Soon she plans to increase it but she said it would make me sicker if she does it too quickly.

Another doctor tried me on an antibiotic. I think I was on it for a month. It didn't do a thing. :(

If you are on an antibiotic, make sure you take a good probiotic to offset the damage it is doing to your intestinal flora.

I've been on valacyclovir for over a year. It keeps h2 from surfacing. But doesn't stop CFS or fm. I don't know about other anti virals. Been on 4 rounds of antibiotics since June for bronchitis that just wouldn't quit. Now on penicillin for bad tooth. I don't think I have any bacteria left in my gut. Yea probiotics are a good idea. I also take omeprazole and pepcid to keep gerd and reflux at bay. So I'm sure my stomach is totally messed up. And I take a hbp med that has side effects similar to CFS symptoms. Id love to get off all this stuff. Scary not being able to control my body anymore. Seeing an infectious disease doc. In few weeks. Hope that gives me some direction.

I have noted that when docs give me doxycycline for lymes I feel pretty good about 3 days in and for the rest of the month. Not long after I start to feel pretty lousy again. I am working on getting an appt with a lyme literate doc, but the first avail is next march :-/

Long term use of antibiotics sounds like a bad idea to me. The rounds are a certain length for a reason. If you take it longer you risk superbugs, resistant to antibiotics. Information about this was on the wall at the pediatric office because some parents want their kids on antibiotics "just in case".

this is something I've wondering about so. I was also on Doxycycline like Nina and it had basically the same effect. I wonder about going on it long term........
would it cure CFS/ME?
I haven't had the guts to try it as I'm concerned about the long-term negative effects of anti-biotics and plus I had re-occurring thrush for about a year after.

I was tested by an infectious disease specialist three years ago. He said I had Histoplasmosis (spread by bird droppings) and put me on an anti-fungal drug for five months. I only saw him a couple of times after that. He didn't communicate with me very well at all, and wanted to put me on an antibiotic. I took antibiotics for many years for sinus infections, and refuse to take any more. I began to feel more and more tired after each round of antibiotics. However, I must say I didn't know about probiotics back then...maybe they would have helped. I take probiotics every day now, one recommended by my doctor.

After reading these posts, I will seek another infectious disease specialist opinion. I'm having more viral episodes of slight fevers, chills, sore throat. No one has offered me an antiviral.

My experience is that antibiotics give me an artificial high and then I have to spend up to 8 times as long recovering after. I feel super buzy and full of energy when I am on them but it's not real. I even wonder if they contain caffeine. The come down is horrific and I have to sleep for weeks after. I think they are best avoided as they put pressure on the liver and kidneys and wipe out the immune system. As far as I understand it, antibiotics don't work on viruses and I assume would just knock the immune system and make it harder to fight the viruses. I get alot of colds but apparently they linger because I can't sit up for long so they settle on my chest.

A lot of people with cfs have viruses too. I think it's because the body doesn't have the energy to fight them off. I would be very wary of long term antibiotics.

Have you been checked properly for a chest infection? If you get bronchits a lot you could have one. Sometimes one dose of antibiotics won't do it. My husband had to have two weeks of them recently to clear a long term chest infection. Doctor should be able to tell by listening to your chest.

Similarly to you I was prescribed a round of valtrex for elevated hhv 6 titer. The antiviral made me ill and destabilized my mood, (I have a bipolar issue), so I quit after five days. I haven't been able to check in with a visit to my physican yet--he's an infectious disease specialist. I feel that he will tend to see thorough that lens, if I expressed this clearly. I sought him out after years of frustration and desperation, and I thought maybe I would possibly be diagnosed with cfs or whatever it is that I have. I haven't heard about anyone with cfs getting well through antivirals. Antibiotics I know nothing about. I imagine both classes of medications are hard on the body.

I am very interested in anyone on an antiviral to post progress or anything on antibiotics for that matter.

I'm on an anti-viral. Acyclovir.

i am on acycolvair too through stanford's cfs clinic, they do believe in those virius and do prescribe- i can't see if it is helping at all.. i will do labs in a few weeks. i also have had similair experices with lung infections that last a long time and then i have exhaustion- what i have learn, yet havent yet found a "cure" is that our immune system different measurements IGG, IGA IGM and subclasses, if some of these are low one can be more prone to different type of infections- they wanted to give me IV gamma globoulin ( i can never spell t his sorry) and i am not ready to do that. I am currently trying to get thryoid and adrenals balanced and squared away and then will see how i am doing. I too have been on several antibiotics for various infections and am trying to avoid them at this point- i always foreget to take probitoics : ( must rememeber. last time i was getting some bactieral type infection i used oregano oil, it helped.

gkcam, is the Stanford clinic helpful?

I've been on Acyclovir for 3 years. It helps with my symptoms, but it hasn't helped bring my numbers down on the blood tests.

I avoid antibiotics as well after being on them for years with bladder infections and acne. I do feel stronger when I eat garlic and onions which have anti-viral and antibacterial properties without the side effects of medications. Isabelle1954