Valacyclovir

Just wanting advice….I have not posted in ages, but my LLMD is starting me on Valacyclovir, and wondering what others experience is with this med? I have chronic Lyme and have been seeing an LLMD since 2011, diagnosed with Lyme, Bart and Babs. I became quite sick with Covid in Dec of 2021, and have struggled to return to health. I am a very active homeschool mom but since having covid, Lyme & co symptoms have flared a lot, and fatigue especially, and major joint pain! My LLMD ran some bloodwork, and found that I am now fighting EBV and mycoplasma, so he suggested we treat the EBV with the Valacyclovir. I have never taken an antiviral before, so very curious what others experience are with this med? I am very hopeful that it will ultimately help me regain my stamina and my energy will return, and hopefully when we have the EBV under control, can then get the Lyme & co back under control. Any thoughts?

i see EBV mentioned a great deal here and in lyme disease support groups in general - we have discussed it here at some length.

however, few people including LLMD's seem to be aware that antibodies to lyme and EBV cross react such that with serological testing you cannot reliably tell if a person has EBV, Lyme or Lyme & active EBV (or possibly neither). 95% of the population have EBV so some level of antibodies is normal in any case and serology is already compromised as a diagnostic method even before you put Lyme and the cross reactivity issue into the picture.

i post this as, although viral reactivation can happen when peoples immune systems are damaged, as they can be in TBD, there is very low awareness of the cross reactivity issue with EBV - even among LLMD's - so i think many people embark on long antiviral treatments for EBV based on serology alone where this may be completely unnecessary and cost them time and money that could be better spent elsewhere.

if lyme is suspected and you also test positive for EBV via serology it would really be wise to test for EBV via PCR which should be able to show active infection with EBV, if present, to help guide your treatment, and save you wasting time and money on something that may not be needed.