Tremors due to EBV?

[Micky12]

Hi,                    
I experienced some type of nasty viral illness about 4 months ago.  When the ill feeling finally disapeared I was left with a tremor and sore lymph nodes (groin/armpits/neck).  The tremor and sore nodes have persisted for almost 3 months now.  I took a ton of tests all normal (MRI/LYME/HIV/ANA/SED RATE/RPR/HTLV/CBC/Thyroid).  The only thing that turned up was EBV.  The EBV tests taken were VCA IGM= Negative,  VCA (IgG) positive, results was:         8 High,  ref values  >1= positive.  My Doc says this is probably an old infection and not likely to be the cause of my current problems.   I have read on the net many people who have chronic EBV can have these symptoms.  Is it possible to determins if its old by the IgG number of 8? What type of numbers does someone with chronic EBV usually have?  Should I request an EBNA or titers?

[ginak]

Hello Micky,

I too have extremely high EBV titers with a ton of neurological symptoms. Right now, I have a "clinical" dx of lyme disease and I know that I have low vitamin d. I too have tremors that are noticeable to no one else but me. If I am sitting still and place my head in my chin, I can feel a tremor. I have buzzing foot (left side), floaters and halos in the left eye and very bad ringing in my ears. I also have migrating pain from place to place. I too had pos 41 band on both IGG and IGM lyme test from Igenix. I am currently on antibiotic therapy. My symptoms have worsened and everyone keeps telling me to be patient. The symptoms keep worsening and my neuro keeps saying to just wait a few more months in order to get another mri. This is very frustrating and our stories sound identical.

[PlateletGal]

"I was positive for P41 on the western blot, but no other bands"

You may want to copy your post and post this in MedHelp's lyme forum (http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Lyme-Disease/show/148), but also consider mentioning this to Prof. Nicolson, who has done research on lyme disease and co-infections found in lyme patients. Ticks can carry not only the lyme bacteria, but other bacterias as well. The link I gave you earlier (http://www.immed.org) is from Dr. Nicolson's website. There is a ton of information on there and I highly recommend checking it out.

You could have been bitten by a lyme infected tick when you were a child and yet not have any symptoms of lyme disease, because your immune system was healthy enough to keep the bacteria under control. Years later, you get a virus and then all of a sudden... you have symptoms of lyme (or CFS). The virus was the trigger and may or may not contribute to your symptoms and/or be a possible cause.

People who are chronically ill are the ones who seem to have the higher viral titers. Most physicians don't know too much about this.... that is why I'm thrilled that Dr. Nicolson is coming back. If you would like to read his session from when he was here in October, here are the links:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/655603

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/648144

About Dr. Nicolson: http://www.immed.org/reachus.htm

[Micky12]

I had 2 lyme tests already,  1 regular elisa = negative,  Then a month later I had what was supposed to be Labcorps most extensive lyme panel. I was positive for P41 on the western blot, but no other bands.   My other symptoms are what Im told are called Floaters in my vision, a lot of roaming pain in my joints and muscles. I have always had sleep issues but they have gotten much worse. Also muscle jerks what I believe are called myclonus. As everyone does,I used to get these when tired or sleeping, now I get them 5-10 time during the day while wide awake.  Having a lot of pain in my temples almost constantly. i have an eeg w/ a neuro scheduled in a couple of weeks.  Plus my regular doc said he cant think of anything else to test suggested maybe a hematolgy/oncology specialistg because of my sore lymph complaints. I decided to make an appointment with and ID doc on my own. trying to cover as many bases as possible.  I havnt really been fatigued except for a few weeks after the original flu like thing.  
Even had my T-cells checked because originally thought it was an HIV thing due to timing of symptoms with risky activity.  My T cells were in terrific shape at that point.   So can we infer anything from my EBV positve number of 8? Is that consistent with chronic EBV?  I definetly would like to participate with Dr Nicolson.  Thanks for your response.

[PlateletGal]

Hi ! I strongly disagree with your physician. I think that nasty virus you had was the trigger (and/or possible cause) for your symptoms.

There are many people with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome and Fibromyalgia who experience tremors and/or even seizures !

So what are your other symptoms ?  

As far as advice... you may want to consider googling "Co Cure's Good Doctor List" and finding a physician in your area who frequently diagnoses and treats CFS. Although you may not have CFS, I think a CFS physician will know other possible conditions to rule out first.

Please consider getting another lyme test. I cannot stress this enough.... lyme disease tests are many times a false negative. I have seen some people with lyme disease, who needed at least 3 or 4 tests before they finally had a positive test result. The preferred test for lyme is found on this webpage: http://www.immed.org/illness/clinical_testing.html
(insurance may or may not cover testing).

In addition, MedHelp will have a physician here who will be discussing infections seen in chronically ill patients. Professor Garth Nicolson will be here for a live webchat on Wednesday, May 20th from 12:00 - 1:00 (Pacific Time). I hope you will join and especially if you have an illness like CFS.