Strange Sensation Around Base of Neck

Does it feel like you are being “choked” a little. Not literally by someone but like by “itself”?

I get something similar.. like a tightness in the area of my throat and upper chest. It is mainly a PEM symptom for me; also used to get it during cold showers.

I guess I wouldn't say I feel it in the sides of my neck though

Is it a pressure feeling, like something touching the area? I have had pressure sensations before in different places. It’s been a while. I remember having a sensation of throat tightness many years ago very early in my illness. I thought I was allergic to something in the air. It could have been mold exposure. I remember being frightened by it. It happened in the fall of the year, too, Oct/Nov.

oh and it also could be an allergic mast cell thing...it impacts my right side of neck much more

RW - has something happened to convince you that EBV is really active?

i only ask as i recall the long running discussion on it and the pattern of test results seemed to point more towards cross reactivity with Lyme causing the positive ones?

but i may well have missed something

well its certainly worth getting wider opinion on it.

and if there are more / different tests you can do that would help differentiate which is the case that would be great.

i can see his reasoning - to a point - and he's your doctor and i'm just an internet googler - but would still have a high degree of suspicion of the cross reactivity issue causing the test results to be high on serology but absent on PCR - as that fits so well.

there is a case study here that had a patient with lyme and false positive EBV still had VCA IgG and EBNA positive tests Three and a half years after initial tests
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc5848374/

curious what was his view on the PCR being negative that should be a pretty sensitive test so would have thought - was it blood or sputum or what was the sample ?

hope the tests shed some light for you

Garzie - "I'm just an internet googler."

To me and others on this site, you are much than that. Most everything you bring up is researched based and has great backing behind it. Your comments and ideas are so much more in-depth than the naturopath I used to see. And while my LLMD has ideas, even he has said "we can go at it from this angle and make changes if needed."

As far as the PCR test, you and I have the same thought on that. If it was one negative test, there could be a question. Two less of a chance. But 5 or 6? He just didn't seemed to not have as much faith in those results. Think he is basing it on symptoms, also. But there was no solid answer there, and I've noticed even ID doctors sometimes aren't confident on why the high EBV antibodies and negative EBV DNA.

That just fits most everything with Lyme, which, after 45 years or so, shouldn't be the case. And the symptoms of the morning anxiety, now at 7:00 am almost to the minute each morning, tells me something else has to be happening, unless candida, which also tested positive, can cause that. When I've had the anxiety feeling in morning before, it was always at 8:00 am. So it sure seems like a physiological reaction. But your words are always a great help. My goal is to help you when I've experienced something you have if I've got any knowledge in that area.

Rainy Cloud - What I have above may answer your question. It's not like I wake up and then feel anxiety. It wakes me up. It's not quite to the panic level. More of a frenzied feeling in the mind and body that fades after being up for an hour or less. What do you think causes your anxiety and panic? Worried thoughts? I've been there, too.

Girlie - I always think of you when dealing with the morning anxiety issues. You were the first one to mention having them when I mentioned it years ago. So glad you are better, and like you, I go to bed in a decent mood, only to wake now every morning at 7:00 am with total anxiety and the base of neck pain.

Your points are well taken and questioning the positive diagnosis is reasonable. It is what throws me. Last night I compared antibody tests from past years and he most recent one. What jumped out was how much the IgM had gone down, as well as IgG. In March, for instance, the EBV IgM was 85.8 and less than 3 weeks ago it had gone down to 55.9. The IgG in March was 223 and last one was 190. That is the first drop I have had in any numbers over the more than two years, and both were significant drops.

The article you linked is a good one and backs what you mention and we have been talking about. And when I look at studies, I always go to NCBI, as it shows quality studies. My confusion has been how can the virus be active if it is not replicating? Yet something is really going in the wrong direction as I feel worse than ever.

It makes me wonder if autoimmune is playing a part or autoinflammatory. I'm taking monolaurin and olive leaf extract, which would be boosting immune system (and killing EBV). But the pain around base of neck started not long after initiating monolaurin and has gotten worse with olive leaf extract. Seems that would provide autoimmune or autoinflammatory "energy." I may be wrong with that thought.

I've ben in the Lyme game for many years but have never been much lower than right now. Will send Igenex test in tomorrow.

Bartonella meds: Rifampin and Rifabutin treat brucellosis.

the CDC has some general information on transmission etc

unpasteurised dairy
inhalation - eg farmers or vets birthing infected animals
contamination of wounds with blood / animal secretions - eg hunters - from small cuts while skinning or gutting infected animals
some mention of rare sexual transmission in humans - also known to happen in animals

https://www.cdc.gov/brucellosis/transmission/index.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7256864/

This is the study I was referring to in previous post. Im sorry it is not direct link. It is long but explains a lot.