Herpes Doctor

Hi,

That's quite a complicated set of conditions your mother has.

CMV is not necessarily dangerous to people in good health. See our CMV section for more information. I wouldn't have thought that you need to take any special precautions regarding your family and the possibility of them catching CMV from your mother, but do talk to your doctor about possible precautions.

Kind regards,

iv

contessa_lea@yahoo.com My husband, a normally healthy 43yo adult, began experiencing chronic fatigue, night sweats and night fevers which lasted approx. 4 weeks before going to his personal physician. His doctor ordered tests which showed elevated AST, ALT, Alk. Phos., decreases Protien/Albumin, sed rate, LDH, positive ANA. Before he could return for follow-up, after his tests, he began to experience L shoulder pain and loss of use of L arm (grip and strength ok) eventually moving to R arm as well a day later. His physician admitted him into the hospital. Later, CMV returned positive. And Liver enzymes continued to rise. Also, MRI; brain and neck basically normal, xray ok, CT of Liver and Pancreas also normal. EBV returned positive today. If my husband is having complications as well as neurolical problems from this, and it is my understanding this is rare (according to all I can retrieve from the internet), what could have caused him to show such signs and symptoms if he is healthy. What other tests should they run?? How can we find out what has caused this normally unsymptomatic virus to cause such complications? Please answer as soon as possible. The doctors here seem very confused and my husband is still in the hospital with no improvement in his condition.

Could someone please respond??
contessa_lea@yahoo.com

Dear Contessa,

Sorry for replying a little late, but I have been busy trying to find answers for you.

Unfortunately I'm afraid I can't help you. I'm as confussed as your husband's doctors, I've never heard about symptoms of CMV like your husbands.

All I can say is keep getting more tests done and keep hoping. I hope your husband gets better and I hope you come back here and tell us more.

Kind regards,

iv

PS We don't normally reply personally in email here on Herpes Doctor.

Thank you very much for your response. The doctors told my husband his immune system is fine. They explained the loss of the use of his arms was due to the virus attacking his cervical vertibrae at the site of a past injury (this is one doctors opinion). They have also stated he has a mild case of Guillain Barre (isn't this an ascending syndrome?). My husband has been so very sick from this. He is home now after 5 days in the hospital, but is now experiencing vertigo and nausea and the pain in his shoulder persists but the use of his arm is returning to normal. He is now on Valtrex, Medrol Pack, Naproxen, Lortab, & Neurontin (to help him relax at night). I believe the medications (one or the other, or a combination of) is causing the vertigo. He stopped taking the Lortab and is trying to manage the pain with acetaminophen, hoping the vertigo will decrease or stop all together. How long can I expect him to be sick??? What is the long term prognosis? I understand that unless you are severely immune compromised you should never be sick from this. I am concerned why he became sick in the first place. My husband is a Captain in the fire dept., I am a paramedic. We are both exposed to alot of illness but have never been seriously ill and seldom ever catch what we are so often exposed to. I am unsure if this can recur or if I can expect him to have long term complications.
Just for your information, MRI's of shoulder have been fine, CT of Liver and pancreas, also fine. I am unsure of the outcome of other tests done recently but I plan to get those results too. I want to be sure there is nothing else going on that is going to make him sicker later. Any other information you may provide will be very helpful. Thanks, Contessa

Seems there is a possibility of acquiring MG from a viral infection, specifically herpes simplex. Due to my husbands loss of use of his arms he is now being tested for MG. I'll let you know the outcome.

I was diagnosed with CMV about a year ago. I had the Chronic fatigue, swollen glands. But my biggest problem was a breakout of small red blisters all over my hands. It finally dissapeared, and now the blisters are back again. Has anyone heard of this kind of problem from CMV?

To the individual who's husband has been ill with vertigo: I am an otherwise very healthy 28 year old male, and have been experiencing a similar illness for the past 7 months (since August 2004), although without the pains you are referring to. My symptoms were initially felt in my head and involved SEVERE hedaches, drenching night sweats and vertigo, extreme fatigue, with headaches being felt the worst immediately upon wakeup. Throughout the illness I had a normal total WBC, but my number of lyphocytes were initally well below normal. My liver enzymes also continued to rise moderately week by week going from an ALT of ~350 peaking at ~820 after 7 weeks, long after my fevers began to diminish. I spoke to a virologist friend of mine on this matter and he commented that in the context of an acute viral infection, the fact that my ALT peaked so late after my sypmtoms indicated that the virus was not a good replicator in the liver (that is, it was not a primarily hepatitis virus). HIV, hepatitis A,B,C and Epstein Barr were all negative by PCR, although I had prior exposure to EBV. CMV, HSV1, HSV2 showed no prior exposure. My liver enzymes remained elevated until last week (7 months total) when they dropped to 28. Unfortunately, I keep getting ill with vertigo and mild fever over and over again, almost as if I have the same illness again repeatedly. Whether these are indeed relapses, or my body responding in a similar way to the way it did for an infection that has passed I do not know.
In the case of your husband, hopefully you have an answer by now. From what I understand, a CMV infection could explain all of your husbands ailment's (although the pain is suspect). Did they do CMV or EBV IgG anitbody titers to see any changes over time? I have no answers for myself, other than the guess that I perhaps have a primary HHV-6 infection which would actutely cause symptoms like CMV (mono and liver inflammation, generally more so than with EBV). I think its silly to outright dismiss and say that primary CMV or HHV-6 illness is rare in immunocompetent adults because it DOES happen, and because we are conditioning on the fact that we have mono-like symptoms. An answer to this awful experience would be nice.

You cant be more right.

my son had the same symptoms and the doctor said that he had the cocksaukie virus, not spelled that way, just sounded out. He said the he probably got it from the swimming pool where there were fecies in the water because, it is spread that way.