Artemisinin

Artesunate is a drug approved to treat malaria in Europe and some other countries. However, it also may be an inhibitor of herpes viruses, including Epstein-Barr and Cytomegalovirus. Dr. Paul Cheney has recently claimed that Artesunate can be very helpful in CFS, not only because of its antiviral activity, but also because it helps the oxygen toxicity issue, which he called a "locus of control" in CFS according to the hypothesis of the disease he's developed.

It is not approved in the US or UK, but Artemisinin is available--which is the herb that Artesunate is made from. I have heard that Artemisinin might not be effective because too little of the active components are absorbed by the body, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I purchased Doctor's Best brand, which is made by Holley Pharmaceuticals, from Vitacost. Ninety 100mg capsules were $17.50. The label recommends one to two capsules once or twice a day. Allergy Research Group/Nutricology also make Artemisinin.

I was going to wait a few weeks to try this, but I had already ordered it and it arrived quickly. The suspense of seeing the bottle sitting on my desk unopened was too much. I took one capsule Saturday night (May 23). I noticed I slept better than usual but attributed it to random fluctuations as is common in CFS. On Sunday I took one in the morning and one at night. Although I slept a long time and well, I still woke up with unusually extreme fatigue (the extreme fatigue probably is what enabled me to sleep so well). I ended up staying in bed until 6-7pm. In addition I've had more of the symptoms which are becoming known to me as the die-off reaction. I took another capsule Monday morning, and Monday evening as I am typing this, the die-off reaction has become even more noticeable. It's the very same reaction I got with olive leaf extract. It's not quite as it was in February, but the symptoms are unmistakably the same. The headache, swollen head feeling, jaw pain, increased joint pain, and pain in the back of my neck are all there, and more.

As I've said in past posts, the various reactions I've had to my antiviral "nutritional supplement" experimental treatment are strikingly similar to the reactions of many people taking prescription antivirals like Valcyte. In fact I just can't believe how similar they are. Headaches, neck pain, spine pain, pain the brainstem and back of the neck, pain in the jaw and teeth, increase in fatigue, muscle weakness, joint stiffness have all been reported by others as side effects with Valcyte or similar drugs, and those are the same symptoms I've had on my treatment (except my spine pain does not go all the way down the spine, it's just the upper part). It's remarkable.

Already, I think I can rank Artemisinin near the top of my list for most effect supplements. The top three seem to be olive leaf extract, ImmunoPro and Artemisinin, not necessarily in that order. Of course I'm still taking most of the others (L-Lysine, Lauricidin--but reduce to between 4 and 6 scoops.day--and Proboost; I have stopped taking Quercetin).

I initially stated I wanted to stand by this treatment for at least six months, but since the treatment keeps changing with additional items, six months is becoming later and later. Not sure how long I will stay on this, but it will probably be at least until the end of the year.