Thursday, June 24, 2010

Doctor's Visit, Cimetidine vs. the Immune System

I've been trying to get around to posting since Monday, but it seems like the trip up to L.A. is taking more and more out of me lately.
I seem to spend days recovering my energy.
Anyhow, it went wonderfully. My doctor was a sweetheart, it didn't turn out as expensive as I'd feared, and I came away with a new treatment option.

Unfortunately, the trip up there took a bit out of me as well, plus with brain fog rising back up lately, I just couldn't concentrate on some very interesting info the doctor shared with me on what he thought of XMRV and some tests being done. I remember the info, I just can't seem to make it fit together, so I figure if I come across something related later on, it will probably make sense.

As for the "new" treatment, he suggested I try, of all things, Tagamet, aka cimetidine. Normally used as an antacid, it turns out cimetidine has been used off-label to modulate the immune system, specifically in the treatment of viruses that cause warts. The key word of course, being "viruses". (I can hardly believe I'd never heard this one before!)
But yes, I did some research, and my findings were quite interesting.

So my plan is to get back on the oxymatrine/herbal supplement I was taking (as I've realized that the brain fog began to get worse about the time I stopped it, and with a little prodding from the doc, that the aches & pains & fatigue and feverishness increased around the same time) keep taking the lamivudine (anti-viral commonly used in HIV & Hepatitis which has shown some effectiveness against strains of the Coxsackie B virus) and start the cimetidine. And once again, I will wait. And see.
And I will try and do it patiently. :)

Here are some links regarding Cimetidine and CFS/Viruses/Immune System Function. Also, I was quite interested to see that it has also been used as a treatment for such illnesses as PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) Fibroids, Endometriosis, and other "estrogen dominant" disorders, as well as for Interstitial Cystitis (per Wikipedia, source cited). I'm curious to see as well, if it helps control my allergies (being a histamine blocker) and helps my stomach at all. (I also read a tidbit somewhere about it being good to take probiotics with an acid blocking medication for better effectiveness.) Very interesting stuff...


Tagamet on Wikipedia
(before you scoff, it has plenty of citations)


Tagamet and CFS


More info on Cimetidine
AboutMeCFS Forum - Tagamet

2 comments:

  1. Came across this link looking the info on Fibroids & Tagamet for a friend, and it explains exactly what my doctor wants me to use it for:
    "There have been reports that cimetidine (tagamet) is effective in enabling the immune system to overcome suppression of Th1 (cellmediated) immunity by blocking the histamine H2 receptors on cells of the immune system that the pathogens use to fool the immune system."


    http://www.cfs-healing.info/treatment-protocols.htm

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi
    How is your Tagamet treatment going? Has it helped your CFS/ME

    ReplyDelete

Input, input! Tell me what you think!