I have been dealing with bouts of chronic fatigue since college, and I didn't know the cause until recently. During the COVID era, I had a particularly difficult bout of fatigue and neurological symptoms, so I saw a naturopath who thought to test me for a chronic recurrent Epstein-Barr. Epstein-barr is the virus that causes mononucleosis. Most people get mononucleosis they fight off the virus and it goes dormant in their system. However, some people with a weakened immune system can experience relapses of the virus throughout their life in times of stress or fatigue, much like Herpes, to which Epstein Barr is related. These recurrences are characterized by extreme fatigue and swollen lymph nodes. There are also long term consequences such as co-infections and neurological symptoms.
This diagnosis is actually a little bit controversial, especially in United States. Conventional doctors barely know about or recognize this condition. There are tests that can be done for it, and many Naturopaths are able to order them, but know that insurance may not cover these tests. Mine did not. Some doctors will also think you're bonkers. Such is life with chronic conditions, as I'm sure you already know if you are reading this.
The more research I read, the more I am realizing that Epstein-Barr is acknowledged in other countries and there has been some research on it, though nothing particularly ground breaking or conclusive.
Covid has strengthened the condition for me personally, and I have also had symptoms of long Covid such as POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). (POTS is recently coming to light as a common long Covid condition that many people are struggling with, especially young women.)
At this point in my journey, I am realizing that I will probably live with Epstein-Barr recurrences for the rest of my life. This also seems to mean living with other viruses that find opportunity in the lowered immune system caused by the presence of Epstein barr. I have had a lot of trouble finding practitioners who can work with these symptoms that don't cost a ton of money and prescribe a ton of expensive supplements. For this reason, I have somewhat taken it into my own hands to do research and try things out. Luckily I am an herbalist, and I can source and make my own medicines.
Natural medicine has been a great ally in managing these recurrences and I am hoping will help prevent them in the future. I wanted to write this blog post to help others who might be dealing with the same thing to share what has worked for me. As with all chronic conditions and natural medicines, what works for one person may be very different than what works for another person.
Here is my current Epstein-Barr regimen, which I put together based on reading several articles, including this one (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10818872/).
MORNING + EVENING, I take
1 capsule of cat's claw (an herb from South America that is both antiviral and can help with fatigue associated with EBV infections) (Product made by Solgar)
1 capsule of Resveratrol (An antioxidant extracted from grapes and japanese knotweed root that also helps with EBV related fatigue and inflammation (Product made by Natural Factors)
1 capsule of Zinc
1 capsule of Turkey Tail extract (product made by Real Mushrooms)
1 capsule grass fed liver (contains vitamin d and b vitamins, which can also be taken in supplement form)
4 dropperfuls of astragalus + elderberry tincture
All the herbs that I came across in my research by category:
Antiviral:
Lemon Balm
Licorice root
Chinese Skullcap
Gardenia
Andrographis
Olive Leaf (I tried this in the past but it was too bitter and gave me muscle spasms, may work well for others)
L-lysine
Elderberry
Cat's Claw
Antiinflammatory/ Antioxidant
Turmeric
Quercetin (This showed up in several places in the research, and I may consider taking this consistently in the future)
Resveratrol (This also showed up in most of the research)
Immunomodulators
Reishi
Astragalus
Turkey Tail (also good for HPV, which I know from personal experience)
As I understand it, any regimen that you undertake you need to be very consistent about, and do for quite a while. My original regimen that I did with a naturopath was three months, with one year of valacyclovir. The above regimen I plan on doing for three months as well.
Some naturopaths prescribe valacyclovir, which is an antiviral drug taken for long periods of time that is supposed to make the virus go dormant. I took valacyclovir for a year and still had a recurrence afterwards, so I'm not sure if I would repeat that again. Going forward, I think my approach is going to be to take some kind of rotating antiviral all the time, along with resveratrol or another antioxidant.
From an herbalist's perspective it is important not to take some of these antivirals all the time. Some of them are very bitter, and bitter substances can be training and depleting. That is actually why I chose the herbs I did and not others such as Andrographis. Bitter herbs give me muscle spasms, which is a personal symptom that I haven't ever heard of from anyone else. However, chinese medicine does confirm this possibility in their philosophy. You can read my articles about white peony root and restless leg syndrome if you're interested.
I will update this article as I find out more. Good luck!
Comments