serenamuse

Forum role	Member since	Last activity	Topics created	Replies created
Member	Oct 17, 2008 (17 years)	5 years	0	1

Forum role: Member
Member since: Oct 17, 2008 (17 years)
Last activity: 5 years
Topics created: 0
Replies created: 1

Bio

I am an artist and adjunct instructor who contracted Parvo B-19 18 years ago. My daughter brought it home from nursery school. Unfortunately I was one of the lucky few adults to contract the full force of the virus resulting in lasting damage to my entire system. The purpose of this blog Is to provide a forum for chronic parvo sufferers - to educate one another on what has worked for you, what has not, how to find doctors that are knowledgeable, to share links to research on the web. Initially I began with a rash on the backs of my hands. The next day my joints were swollen and painful. The swelling and joint issues spread to my knees and other joints. I was tested for everything under the sun, finally they narrowed it down to one thing, the Parvo B19 virus. My story is usual, it did not clear up in a few weeks, or months. I did have a remission of about a year after the first year, then after a very stressful move the rash returned - on my face and neck this time, the arthralgias, fatigue, muscle aches and brain deadness, followed. After seven years with the virsu and too many doctors to count, I found my way to a naturopath who put me on a raw vegan diet consisting of a massive bowl of dark leafy greens and fresh veg every day, raw oats (soaked in hemp milk) and other seeds in the mornings, some cooked lentils, garbanzo beans, nuts and fresh fruit. Water, herbal tea, no soda or coffee. It was rough. After the first week I went through 24 hours of feeling like I had the worst flu ever. Then it was gone and within three weeks I remember thinking, huh, I've actually been sleeping through the night, my pain levels are down and I'm awake for more than three hours a day. I actually had energy. It was so great that I thought okay, I'll stick with it. Gradually I started adding in more cooked foods (mostly vegetable soups), adding olive oil and lemon or vinegar to my salads, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and one piece of dark chocolate per day. I am still vegan. It has worked for me. I will on occasion have an egg, but no more than once a month. I do eat tofu daily as my doctor says I am not at any risk from the estrogens and I need the protein. I still get flare ups when I over do it, have a really stressful semester. I can plan on crash time at the end of every term and usually around mid term. I don't get the brain fog like I used to. My pain levels are way down. I do on occasion get strange ailments that always end up, after ruling everything out, being attributed to the Parvo - like UTI's that never tested positive. Finally they determined they were cystitis, just another chronic pain element. When I start to feel anything coming on I go back to my massive bowl of greens, lots of water and rest. I don't take any medications. My system is so sensitive to any sort that the side effects are more than the medication is worth. Only tylenol for occasional headaches or Ibuprophen. What medications have helped you? I found cymbalta 60mg to be very good and reliveing the arthragias and brain fog, for about a year, but then started to wear off. I didn't like the side effects, so got off of it. I am very careful with distancing and mask wearing, isolating as I know, as you probably do, never underestimate a virus. I hope this can be a productive site for all of us who suffer from this lousy disease.

serenamuse

serenamuse

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