4 ms·
> apparently a large percentage of ME/CFS patients are finding relief through valtrex _Are they though?_ This needs a citation. What constitutes large? A majo
by maxehmookau 3y ago
> apparently a large percentage of ME/CFS patients are finding relief through valtrex
_Are they though?_ This needs a citation. What constitutes large? A majority? That's unlikely, especially in the UK where medications aren't prescribed unless there's measured clinical value in it. I'm sure some are finding relief, but until we know how many and how much relief it could just be a placebo effect, right?
I hope that anyone affected by ME finds relief, but the discourse online about it always confuses me. There's always a slight undercurrent of "those mean doctors" and a breakthrough _just_ on the horizon:
"That could be a massive breakthrough, but..."
"apparently a large percentage of ME/CFS patients are finding relief..."
"Apparently there is some relation to the herpes virus, although nobody understands how or why."
In reality, nobody actually knows. Some scientists have got some ideas, some of which stand up to some form of scientific scrutiny. But that's basically it.
- aestetix 3y agoI agree 100%. That's why I used words like "seems" and "apparently." It's also why I opened my initial post with "There needs to be more research into this horrible disease."
- cpncrunch 3y agoThere was a Valtrex trial a few years ago, and the results weren't impressive. Valtrex didn't even reduce EBV titers more than placebo (table III): https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/invivo/21/5/707.full.pdf https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/invivo/21/5/707.full.pdf Other trials into antivirals have been negative.
- soudiere 3y agoDiscussion is more nuanced This study screened for active vs latent on number of viruses in patients vs assumed health controls, bottom chart here is what you would evaluate Valtrex effectiveness against. https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-023-03887-0/figures/4 https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10...
- cpncrunch 3y agoI don't see any mention of Valtrex there. The point is, multiple studies have been done for antivirals in ME/CFS, and there is no difference in fatigue between arms. EBV, HHV6 and HHV6 tend to reactivate during stress, but don't typically cause symptoms. I think what we're seeing in ME/CFS is this reactivation, but it's not necessarily what is causing the problem (if it was, antivirals would help, but they don't).
- soudiere 3y agoGreat point, agreed, viral re-activation seems suspect on causality. I was suggesting to crossreference Valtrex effectiveness against the activated virii in the study I linked. If Valtrex is not effective against the reactivated cohorts, we need more falsification around antivirals <-> ME/CFS.