Well, a lot of interesting (and some scary) things have happened recently.
I was on cimetidine (Tagamet) for 10 days. For the first 4 days I was taking 200mg twice a day, and after that I cut the dose in half. Like last time, after awhile the drug caused side effects of anxiety and nervousness. However, unlike last time, the herxheimer reaction was very small, probably only 25% as strong. This could mean that maybe my body adapted to the cimetidine such that the second round didn't have the same effect (seems unlikely given the short duration of treatment and long timespan between treatments), or that the virus(es) I am harboring developed resistance. Another possibility is that my other treatments have brought my viral load down and improved my immune system in the past 5 months therefore the herxheimer was less this time.
Now on to Beta Glucan. Since starting the vitamin C and Transfer Point Beta Glucan combination two months ago (at doses around 500mg per day of the former and 1500mg, or three capsules, per day of the latter), I've gradually developed numbness/parasthenia in my hands and feet. It was getting worse and worse and on the weekend of the 17th/18th I stopped taking the beta glucan. I eventually decided to just stop taking all the immune boosters (echinacea and AHCC) too, and was off everything except olive leaf and probiotics by Tuesday the 20th. Stopping everything suddenly was probably a big mistake because on Friday I developed numbness throughout my entire body. Every square inch feels dull and desensitized. I wasn't sure what to do, I went back on everything (echinacea, AHCC, and beta glucan) on Saturday, and then stopped the beta glucan again, then on Sunday I took only one capsule, and Monday I took a half capsule. I am pretty sure it is the beta glucan that caused this problem so I think I will continue with the echinacea and AHCC and, this time, taper off only the beta glucan by taking one capsule a day until I run out. I'm also going to try some various B vitamin and other supplements for nerve repair. As for the explanation of why this happened, one possibility is that the beta glucan was actually increasing my cytokines too much, and then stopping everything suddenly caused a sudden weakening of the immune system and viral resurgence.
may have been the Cimetidine. I've noticed drugs that have a strong affinity for the p450 enzymes in the liver, sometimes give me peripheral neuropathy symptoms and/or ataxia - maybe because of cytokines or the virus/bacteria activating.
ReplyDeleteMy wife (CFS for 10 years) and I have been using 400 mg cimetidine per night for three years. She's been much better, and neither of us have had so much as a sniffle (that we can remember) in ages. She used to have severe flu for months at a time, one case after another. We both may have had some neuralgia, but attributed it to a lack of vitamin D. 2000 units of vitamin D per day cured all that. Vitamin D is also a positive immunological modulator by the way. We've been on the vitamin D for more than a year. A nice side effect of cimetidine use at night is that it helps open your nasal passages, making breathing easier. You might also want to consider resveratrol as an immune system booster. My wife feels like the three items in combination have brought her from 0% at her worst to about 50% of normal now. I would say she's about 33% (which is still a huge improvement). We've toyed with the idea of antivirals, but are not convinced yet that the potential upside is worth the risk. We're anxiously watching the XMRV reports though.
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