Shortly after Brooke was born, I got sick, and stayed sick for about nine months or so. It seemed I caught any and every virus in the room. In addition, when I wasn’t actively fighting off a virus, I was exhausted time and my body ached. Naturally, I went to the doctor again and again, only to hear the same thing, “You have another virus, there’s nothing we can do, you just need to rest until it passes.”
My doctors did blood work to see if I had mono, but I didn’t. That’s where they always stopped, shrugged their shoulders and offered a theory or two. Over the years I had several diagnosis, adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. Doctor’s theorized it was hormone related, thyroid, mild or early Rheumatoid Arthritis, and even allergies. None offered any kind of treatment plan; it was just something I had to live with.
I’d track along well for months, sometimes the better part of a year, then wham—I was down, and it took weeks to get my mojo back. I got used to being one of those people who would just loose steam every once in a while, and then take a long time to recover.
I have been struggling with chronic fatigue over the past month—it seems like lots of minor things have piled on health wise lately—so I went to the doctor while my symptoms were active and had blood work done yet again.
We finally got to the bottom of it, I have Epstein Barr Virus. Epstein Barr virus is also known as herpes 4, and by the age of 35, 95% of the population has been exposed. For most, the virus has very mild symptoms and can remain dormant their entire lives. However, for some (like me) the virus is more active.
After receiving my diagnosis, I decided to do a little research and found this video that not only describes Epstein Barr Virus, but some of the sub-diseases such as the problems I have, Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia. It also discusses some of the supplements that can help support our immune systems which can help keep the virus at bay.
I’ve been working on self care—I now schedule down time each day, take supplements, exercise, and meditate. I even checked out You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. Under Epstein-Barr virus it says “Pushing beyond one’s limits. Fear of not being good enough. Draining all inner support. Stress virus.” That about sums things up, wouldn’t you say? To each passage, she adds an affirmation, for Epstein Barr, the affirmation is “I relax and recognize my self worth. I am good enough. Life is easy and joyful.”
I have had good results when I add daily affirmations that support my life, so I’ll be adding this one to my routine.
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So sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with this. I went through something similar about 15 years ago. For a number of years I just kept getting sick over and over and I also had hives and then started getting really bad stomach pains. I basically felt like crap all the time and nobody could really tell me what was going on. It was really frustrating and scary as I started wondering if I’d spend the rest of my life feeling that way. I was lucky to finally find a holistic practitioner who was able to figure out what was going on and it was really more than one thing. It was about another year of working through fixing everything that was wrong, but I felt like a new person at the end and have remained healthy since then.
Nina, I feel your pain. I was diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus several years ago. It caused hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) in my, and I missed a month of work! It was terrible. Wishing you healing and peace.
Sorry to hear you’ve been having a tough time Nina. It’s so frustrating when chronic conditions go undiagnosed. My husband was ill on and off for about a year, which culminated in arthritis and Bell’s Palsy. We’re convinced that lots of early shifts and stress at work contributed to it, if not actually caused it. He suffered with chronic fatigue and still gets gout-like flare ups in his feet. Maybe a holistic practitioner would be a better option for him than just strong anti-inflammatory tablets, which are bad for the stomach. I will look into it.
Emma xxx
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So sorry that you’ve been having a rough go but am glad they have gotten down to the root cause. Had no idea that such a large percentage of the population has been exposed. Do you know if this is something standard they check in blood work or do you need to order it as a special request? Very informative.
Betsy | https://nattygal.com
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I have a dear friend with EB and you have helped me understand a little more about it. Thank you. Visiting you today from Shelbee’s link up. laurensparks.net