I visited one of my doctors (Dr. M) today and discussed July's lab results showing that I've had an active Epstein Barr Vivus (EBV) infection since at least January. There has been no sign of the chronic EBV infection getting any better since my last post. I continue to experience periodic tenderness in the pancreas and spleen area, and intermittent swollen lymph nodes. And of course a flu-like feeling that comes and goes.
I made a push for inter-venous immunoglobulin (IVIG) to help treat chronic EBV, or, failing that, inter-muscular immunoglobulin injections (IMIG). Dr. M apparently doesn't know how to obtain insurance coverage for IVIG. She referred me to an immunologist. She says this particular immunologist, who is affiliated with our local university, is one of the best in the region. Naturally, I couldn't get an appointment with him until early December, so it becomes another waiting game.
In the meantime, we're increasing my Valacyclovir dose from 1g twice per day, to 1g three times per day. The goal of this is to get closer to Dr. Learner's recommended dosage of 1g 4x per day for chronic EBV patients.
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Dr. M also said she recently attended a doctors' seminar where methylation was the topic. The presenter was a doctor who has been experimenting with methylation for lyme and ME patients. He apparently found that many patients aren't achieving any results because one of their genetic mutations leads to run-away oxidative stress, which must be dealt with before methylation can be addressed. My eyes started to glaze over at this point because I have spent so much fruitless time and energy on methylation in the past with no significant results. In fact, at times, I'm pretty sure methylation made me worse. Besides, I thought the whole point of methylation was to increase glutathione production, which in turn cleans up free radicals - oxidative stress. So now Dr. M is telling me you have to clear up oxidative stress before you can do the thing that clears up oxidative stress? This seems like a chicken/egg issue, but I probably just don't understand.
I agreed I would email Dr. M. my 23andMe raw data, which she will run through some sort of new program (not Genetic Genie) and this program will produce a "methylgenetic nutrition" report. Then, Dr. M says we can use that report determine (1) if I even have this runaway oxidative stress problem, and if so, (2) how to treat it.
I'm a little reluctant to get back into methylation again, but if Dr. M can guide me through the process, I'd be more inclined to try than to resume experimentation on my own as before.
