Re-Blog: "Excellent Article Accurately Describes ME/CFS and Groundbreaking Research"

I try not to re-blog too often, but every once in a while another blogger's post strikes me as simply too good not to help spread around.  I thought that about Sue Jackson's recent post and the linked article from Stanford Medicine.  If you haven't read it yet, please take a look...

http://livewithcfs.blogspot.com/2014/10/excellent-article-accurately-describes.html

P.S.  Sue's first paragraph captures my feelings perfectly about the how the daily articles that circulate the ME/CFS universe can all seem like noise after a while, and how it's difficult to select those that are truly reporting something new or offering a unique perspective.  Well said.

Chronic sinusitis and candida overgrowth

I visited my other ME doctor yesterday, Dr. W.  By now my visits with Dr. W are very routine - I go every five months, which is the longest he will allow me to stay away between visits.  He says the licensing board won't allow him to prescribe maintenance-type medications to patients with longer intervals in between check-up visits.  So at this point my visits with Dr. W are simply necessities to maintain access to my prescriptions of T3, Testosterone, and Valacyclovir.

In terms of treatment plans, Dr. W is mostly out of ideas and I think I have plateaued under his care. (Pardon the use of "plateau" as a verb.)  So I am looking for another local specialist who will (1) maintain the treatments from Dr. W that did work, and (2) introduce some new ideas to push me through the plateau.

In the meantime, I discussed with Dr. W that I have been taking antibiotics for almost two months to deal with ongoing prostatitis.  We noted that my candida problem seems to have come back because of the antibiotics.  My tongue is again coated with a white film - more so than in recent months.
At the same time, Dr. W noticed that I was sniffling.  It's true that my sinuses have been running with post nasal drip for the last month -- a symptom I haven't dealt with since the first year of ME/CFS.

Dr. W mentioned that a Mayo Clinic study showed 96% of cases of chronic sinusitis are caused by candida overgrowth.   (That's a bit of an oversimplification of the study's results.)  This immediately made sense to me based on my recent resurgence of candida due to antibiotic use and the return of sinusitis at around the same time.

Dr. W's solution was to prescribe Fluconozole again.  I won't take the Fluconozole for at lest another month or two.  As I've written about here recently, there are other more important treatments I need to try first - like the Interferon/Prozac experiment.

Dr. C Recommends New Treatment Plan

I had my latest appointment with my ME/CFS specialist, Dr. C, on Friday.  My appointments typically open with the nurse running through a questionnaire that's designed to gauge how my symptoms have changed since the last appointment.  I mentioned the prostatitis (as discussed in my prior 5 posts).

Treating Acute Inflammation

When Dr. C entered the room, he zeroed in on the prostatitis.  We reviewed that I've been taking a variety of antibiotics for over 45 days without any lasting improvement.  He said the prostatitis is probably, in his opinion, a result of ME/CFS -- not bacterial.  Specifically, the virus is attacking tissue in the prostate.  He says he has several other male patients who have these same symptoms and that urologists typically have no idea how to treat prostatitis when it is not bacterial.  The urologists are completely stumped by viral prostatitis.  (This is consistent with what I've read on the Prostatitis Foundation website).

Dr. C recommended that I try a new course of treatment involving a combination of Interferon shots and Prozac for one month.  The interferon shots would be self administered, from a sample vial that Dr. C is willing to give to me.  (Normally interferon is $600 per dose).  I would split the one dose that he is giving me into 3 or 4 smaller doses and take them each a week apart.

At the same time, I am supposed to take 4 weeks of Prozac (yes, the antidepressant), which Dr. C states has an off-label use as an anti-viral medication that works against the Cocksackie B-3 virus (according to researchers at UCLA and others).  Apparently Prozac inhibits the ability of viruses to bind with the enzyme that they need to replicate.  They are also using Prozac now for Hepatitis C treatment.

For reasons that Dr. C did not fully explain, he stated that neither Prozac or Interferon alone would inhibit viruses significantly, but in combination, they have a synergistic effect.  He states that he has personally observed these two drugs inhibiting viruses through his own experiments.  (The details of this weren't clear).

Dr. C only offered Interferon to me because of my prostatitis.  Dr. C stated that as soon as one stops taking Interferon, the virus returns to its former strength.  Thus it is not a good long-term solution to ME/CFS, especially given the prohibitive cost of doing "maintenance doses" of Interferon.  But when one is dealing with an acute symptom like prostatitis, it can sometimes be helpful to try Interferon for a short time to see if one can bring runaway inflammation under control.

I haven't fully decided if I will try the experiment, but I think that I probably will.  It would be very difficult for me to turn down this opportunity at a free sample.  The only problem is that I have too many key work responsibilities to handle in the month of October.  Dr. C warned that Interferon can make a person feel awful (more than usual for ME/CFS patients) for the first few days after a new dose.  Among other things, it causes chills and high fevers.  (I'm supposed to take high dose Advil an hour before each dose of Interferon to help counteract these side effects.)  I can't afford to be out of commission for at least another 2 to 3 weeks.  So I think I will postpone the experiment until November.

If and when I do try this treatment, Dr. C thinks the treatment has a reasonable shot at alleviating my prostatitis pain.  If it helps, I am supposed to report back and, if he has any more samples, he will give me a second dose. The mere possibility of relief is exciting to me right now.

General ME/CFS News From Dr. C

Hepatitis C Drugs

For years Dr. C has been awaiting the arrival of two antiviral drugs that were in development for Hepatitis C.  He had strong hopes that the antiviral properties of these drugs would also be effective against the enteroviruses that (he believes) cause ME/CFS.  One of those drugs finally hit the market recently and has been tried on a few patients who have both Hep C and ME/CFS.  The drug was successful in treating the Hep C but did nothing against those patients' ME/CFS.

The other of the two Hep C drugs in development is supposed to hit the market next month.  It will similarly be tried on patients who have ME/CFS and I'll know the results by the time of my next appointment in March.   

"Exciting Time"

Dr. C described this as an exciting time in ME/CFS research.  He said we are getting closer and closer to understanding the double strand virus that causes it (or so he believes).  "There is a way to get rid of this," Dr. C said, "we just don't know quite yet.  But we're getting there."

Samples Sent to the CDC

Three weeks ago, Dr. C finally sent stomach biopsy samples (about 30) to the CDC at the CDC's request.  He has been trying to convince the CDC to try to re-create his findings for years.  No word on how long it will take to get results from the CDC.  Just after he sent the samples, Dr. C received a letter from the CDC stating that the testing of his samples will be delayed because the CDC is suddenly being inundated with requests to do something about the Enterovirus D68 epidemic.  

But, Dr. C seemed more encouraged than discouraged by the delay caused by Enterovirus D68.  He says that this new Enterovirus D68 epidemic has brought more attention to enteroviruses in general than he's ever seen in his career.  He thinks this may funnel large amounts of interest, money, and resources into enterovirus research, which has been largely ignored up until now. 

Dr. C also explained that California Senator Barbara Boxer has recently taken an interest in Enterovirus research because of the cases of paralysis from Enterovirus D68 that occurred at Stanford Medical Center.  He is circulating a petition to be sent to Senator Boxer to encourage her to push the NIH toward further research into the chronic effects of enteroviruses.  (She has already written one letter to the NIH).  His concern is that interest in the acute affects of enteroviruses won't translate to interest in the chronic affects.  He wants to piggyback on the momentum created by the acute affects of D68 to generate interest and research into chronic enteroviral affects.    

What Strains of Enterovirus Cause ME/CFS?

With all the news coverage generated by Enterovirus D68 recently, I had been wondering whether Dr. C had ever identified, specifically, which enteroviruses he believes cause ME/CFS.  I couldn't believe I've never thought to ask him this before. 

His answer:  "Most commonly, the Cocksackie B viruses: B-3 and B-4.  Then probably Cocksackie 2,  Echovirus 6, Echovirus 7, Echovirus 9, and then much less: Echovirus 11."  He also said "there's a whole bunch of these guys we can't identify."  

(Interestingly, I have been tested for Cocksackie B twice.  One test was positive for B-3 but not B-4, and the other was positive for B-4 but not B-3.  This doesn't give me a lot of confidence in these tests.)

My Prostatitis - Probably Not Bacterial After All

I went back to my urologist about two weeks ago and told him that the prostatitis was still there after a month of various antibiotics, just as bad as ever.  It tends to wax and wane, but mostly it just hangs around.  We reviewed the fact that the Bactrim didn't work, the Levaquin didn't work, and the Omnicef didn't work.  I suggested that it might not be a bacterial infection.  He said he's not convinced of that.  So as one final measure, he prescribed an additional month of Doxycycline.

Well, I'm about two weeks into that month-long course of Doxycycline, and the prostatitis is just as bad as ever.  I'm now convinced that this is not a bacterial issue.  Something tells me this has to be related to ME/CFS.  When my body-wide inflammation gets worse, i.e. a crash, the prostatitis gets worse.  I'm starting to accept that fact that this issue might not go away any time soon--that it might be another long-term symptom that I have to deal with as part of ME/CFS.

If that's what it is, I can accept that.  The worst part of having a new symptom is the not knowing what you're dealing with.  Once I get that figured out, I have something to research and focus treatment on.  It's the not knowing that's the worst.