RNase-L

April 1st marked two full months since the beginning of my treatment, although I only started Virastop and Proboost in mid-March. I haven't noticed an improvement of my regular CFS symptoms yet, unfortunately.

The person who recovered on Valcyte said it took about 10 to 12 weeks to start noticing a difference, and twice that amount of time before she was absolutely certain she was recovering. Another poster on the HHV6 Foundation forums said she was on Valcyte for quite awhile, but did not notice an improvement until her RNase-L started to decrease after she added Valtrex too. In the study I mentioned in a previous post, Proboost thymic protein A was shown to lower RNase-L by 20 percent after three months of treatment, a statistically significant result (p value = 0.01). So I definitely have enough evidence for me to continue taking all the different supplements I'm taking -- Lysine, Quercetin, Olive Leaf, Lauricidin, Proboost, Virastop. I feel like I eat more pills than food anymore, but if this combination produces a synergistic effect and helps me recover it will have been worth it.

A week ago I increased the olive leaf to 16/day and this week I increased the Lauricidin to 8 scoops/day (3 with breakfast, 2 with lunch, and 3 with dinner). Both times I had an exacerbation of the herxheimer/cytokine storm type symptoms, but they're finally starting to calm down (I'm able to drive again without experiencing the severe pain in my spine, neck, and head from the bumps in the road). I'm also up to 10 Virastop capsules per day divided into four doses (3+2+2+3). I can't say I noticed a reaction to the Virastop except maybe an upset stomach.

There has been improvement in one symptom that I forgot to mention earlier. I used to periodically wake up in the middle of the night with "episodes" in which I felt very hot and had a rapid, pounding heartbeat. Since I began having the herxheimer type symptoms over six weeks ago, I haven't had any of these symptoms. Interestingly in the Proboost study I linked to above, they noted that patients also had improvement in "anxiety, depression, and panic reactions, symptoms not normally associated with a viral syndrome." All of the patients who experienced panick attacks reported improvement, and about half who had anxiety reported improvement.