my 8 year old nephew had what is known as "the slapped cheek virus" a couple of weeks or so ago

i hadn't known this and we went out on a family trip together a few days later

a few days later i started getting headaches, more fatigue than normal, disturbed sleep and then a day or so later outrageous body aching symptoms.
these are pretty much all my lyme/bart symptoms - and also very similar to the symptoms i experience during herx from treatment - an i am actively treating with pulsed antibotics and herbs etc - so it was pretty hard to distinguish what was going on

i had been on a nice steady gradual upward trajectory before that - so it was frustrating to have a dip for unknown reasons - but my mother, who lives with my sister and her family reported v similar headaches and fatigue - which is v unusual for her - but these are the hallmarks of Parvovirus in adults - so i was able to figure it out.

in adults the symptoms are usually mild - and typically include

-headaches
-muscle aches
-fatigue / malaise
-sometimes swollen joints
-sometimes rashes
-sometimes cold like symptoms

this is generally a mild infection in adults that clear up on its own - although the muscle and joint pains can last 2-4 weeks - its known that it can be longer lasting and more severe in people with compromised immune systems

its the type of thing i doubt i would have even noticed if i was fully health before lyme - but as with many things - with lyme in the picture it tends to flare all existing symptoms and tends to be longer lasting.

its been around 3 weeks now - so is likely to start to fade soon - but i was on a good run before that so just wondered if anyone had come across this before and had any remedies that might help speed it on its way

its an unusual virus - very small - and not fat encapsulated - so many antivirals do not seem to work well against it

much appreciated !

Ugh that's so frustrating, Garzie! I wish the societal norm were for people to stay home and/or take precautions when sick and contagious, so as to protect everyone else. (Not to criticize your relatives, who I'm sure were just doing what everyone else would do!)

More than anything else, I would recommend that you take it very easy for the next couple of weeks, even once you feel back to baseline. Keep your nervous system chill so your body isn't working harder than it has to or confusing your immune response, so things can settle down to how they're supposed to be.

I don't know how your body behaves when its immune system is activated (virus, other infection, vaccine, etc.), but my problem tends to be regulating my immune system once an insult has been dealt with, as it doesn't seem to know how to turn itself back off all the way, so for me, supplements that modulate my immune system and reduce inflammation are what I'd focus on in your situation.

I hope this passes very quickly!

Maybe thymus extract or the more expensive version Thymic protein A would help?
But beware, it can cause a Lyme, Bartonella herx because it boosts the immune system.

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/thymic-protein-a

hi WBF

thanks for your thoughts - its appreciated

i am still struggling with the flare - into the 5th week now and still super achy all over - i always have some aching - but with this flare its about 4 times as much as usual - and sleep still disturbed as a result - so its rather frustrating as i was on a good roll before this

i know some people do get lasting symptoms like this from parvo - esp if they get it as adults - for a few people it becomes a long term issue - but, most seem to get over it in 2-4 weeks - so i think the most likely outcome is that the flare will subside by itself gradually in the coming weeks -so just taking twice as long as normal for none lyme people - as that seems to be the typical pattern for me and viruses in the last couple of years. fingers crossed.
parvo is known to cause aching all over - so that probably explains why that's the most prominent symptom

actually i do have Buhner's antivirals book - i tried taking elderberry already - as i had some - and its a pretty decent broad antiviral - so i was hoping that might help it on its way - but in fact it caused even more rampant aching ( its possible it might have been helping at the same time but its hard to know) - the aching was off the chart and sleep was totally ruined so after 4 days i stopped and things seems to calm down a bit.
of course i cant be sure it was the elderberry - it could just be lined up in time with the virus thing flaring.

but since that i have been just a bit put off taking more herbal antivirals - thinking i might just have to ride it out

but thanks for the reminder - i will take the book to bed with me and have a browse to see if there's anything else i might try

hope you are doing well the weather over there is being kind to you

glad to hear you are doing OK WBF

thanks for the reminder of Alinia as a potential way to calm down a flare

i seemed to recall reading that some people believed it had anti-borrelia activity and also antiviral activity
i think the anti-borrelia activity was from unpublished work by Alan MacDonald mentioned by Dr SP

i had thought the antiviral effects were largely anecdotal - but i did a quick google search and was surprised to find quite a bit of published work on it as a broad spectrum antiviral - so its quite an interesting drug with a nice long history of safe use

paper said...
Nitazoxanide inhibits a broad range of influenza A and B viruses including influenza A(pH1N1) and the avian A(H7N9) as well as viruses that are resistant to neuraminidase inhibitors. ... Nitazoxanide also inhibits the replication of a broad range of other RNA and DNA viruses including respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza, coronavirus, rotavirus, norovirus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis virus and human immunodeficiency virus in cell culture assays

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc7113776/


and even some specific studies of its direct activity in Canine parvovirus

another paper said...
Three drugs-Nitazoxanide, Closantel Sodium, and Closantel-with higher anti-CPV effects were further evaluated in F81 cells by absolute PCR quantification and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). The inhibitory effects of all three drugs were dose-dependent. Time of addition assay indicated that the drugs inhibited the early processes of the CPV replication cycle, and the inhibition effects were relatively high within 2 h post infection. Western blot assay also showed that the three drugs had broad-spectrum antiviral activity against different subspecies of three CPV variants.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31412574/

of course - most antivirals work best if taken early in the course of the infection - and we don't know exactly if the symptoms 4 weeks down the line are due directly to ongoing viral replication - or some legacy effect happening downstream - but it seems worth a try.

in fact i had tried a 5 day course of alinia a few months ago - and had an unexpectedly strong herx effect from it - which included pain all over my body in muscles and joints - but also had some useful improvement in the weeks following that - which i wondered might have been attributable to the alinia - so it has been on my list to try again for this reason also.
its very broad spectrum - being active for many protozoans, slow growing anaerobic bacteria and viruses

i started 500mg 2x a day from this morning and will report back

Thanks for sharing those studies. I’ll keep this for reference. Yes, please do give an update. If you have enough Alinia and have access to more, you might want to take it longer than 5 days this time. My doc prescribed 2 weeks.

I recall early on trying Alinia for shorter periods and not getting much benefit. It was after the first 2 week round that I had significant improvements in muscle fatigue and stamina that lasted for many months following.

Post Edited (WalkingbyFaith) : 7/22/2024 3:55:36 AM (GMT-8)

pinkblossom said...
Hi garzie can you keep us updated with your experience with alinia as I’m interested! Hope you get some benefits from it

yep - will do!