#most of his treatments are antiviral. he has patients that fly out from pretty far to see him

[hellyeahsickaf]

I can't for the life of me remember where I heard this but I'm pretty sure it was an ME/CFS forum of some kind. I remember this discussion around some connection between fibro and ME/CFS and frequently getting inexplicably ill as a child. I want to know how many people relate to this because it definitely happened to me and I thought it was just normal. I remember at least a few people saying they related when I first saw it discussed

I can't remember how frequently it would happen but it was off and on from very early childhood until my teens (then it became much less common, and I no longer get sick that way at random). I'd get a fever, chills, headache, body aches, fatigue, vomiting, dizziness, like having a really shitty (quite literally) stomach flu or something. My body seemed to be fighting hard against something but even if I was around others I was never contagious

Normally the course was about the same. It could last anywhere between 3 and 8 days. I'd have a fever of at least 101.5 degrees and no more than 104. I'd be up all night, fall asleep on the bathroom floor. It took 2-4 days before I could eat somewhat normally again. I'd go to the doctors sometimes when it happened and my stomach seemed fine but somehow I'd often have things like throat infections and double ear infections.

I see a specialist for my ME/CFS and he's an infectious disease specialist. First thing he does when you're on his (2 year😬) wait list is send you to get labs and test for antibodies for strains of illnesses that are often seen in pwME. Things like HPV and coxsackie (hand foot and mouth disease) strains. I've never had HMFD but my antibodies suggest that coxsackie b3 is the "dominant" virus at the root of my ME though I have multiple strains that play a part. My specialist is quite sure I would've contracted this in childhood when most people do. You can get it from tap water even, or natural bodies of water, as well as from things like playing in the dirt (I'm told I liked to eat mud and they would just fucking let me 💀💀💀).

I bring that up because if that's what caused the sporadic illnesses then I really want to know if anyone who may relate had previously contracted some of the same illnesses, maybe HFMD or any forms of HPV (mono is a big one). Especially any enteroviruses (viruses existing in the gut). On the Wikipedia page for enteroviruses here you'd most easily identify something you've had if you go to the section: Diseases Linked to Enterovirus Infection. The last bullet point (citation 51) credits a trial performed by my specialist in 2007 for the hypothesis that these viruses can play a major role in ME/CFS

Though like me, you could always carry antibodies for viruses linked to ME/CFS without even knowing it. Just curious because I've been thinking about it a lot