How it went
Did it last?
- 6 of 31 said the benefit wore off (including the 3 who relapsed).
- 3 of 31 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 0 | 0% |
| Near-full | 4 | 13% |
| Substantial | 13 | 42% |
| Partial | 11 | 35% |
| Relapsed | 3 | 10% |
| No benefit | 0 | 0% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 6 | 0% | |
| Severe | 8 | 25% | |
| Very severe | 7 | 29% |
10 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
Who published these accounts
Right-hand number: share describing a full or near-full recovery. Pages that sell something, and advocacy sites, tend to publish only the successes.
How often it comes up
Posts that mention Famvir / famciclovir (Pridgen), per 1,000 posts each year. Hover a point for the count.
Show as a table
| Year | Posts mentioning it | All posts | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 4 | 184 | 21.7 |
| 2010 | 22 | 682 | 32.3 |
| 2011 | 23 | 704 | 32.7 |
| 2012 | 30 | 1,491 | 20.1 |
| 2013 | 43 | 1,708 | 25.2 |
| 2014 | 12 | 2,352 | 5.1 |
| 2015 | 5 | 2,158 | 2.3 |
| 2016 | 7 | 1,431 | 4.9 |
| 2017 | 19 | 3,110 | 6.1 |
| 2018 | 41 | 2,201 | 18.6 |
| 2019 | 9 | 1,075 | 8.4 |
| 2020 | 11 | 2,581 | 4.3 |
| 2021 | 12 | 1,867 | 6.4 |
| 2022 | 6 | 1,166 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1,000 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 4 | 1,237 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 1 | 1,019 | 1.0 |
| 2026 (so far) | 2 | 840 | 2.4 |
Posts in the forum threads we archived, 26,806 in all, counted per year. A mention means the post names the treatment, not that the writer took it. These threads all contain a recovery story, so they show what those communities discussed, not everyone with ME/CFS or long COVID. All trends
All 31 accounts
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Mestinon + Famvir - whoa!
On Famvir 1500mg/day plus Celebrex 200mg twice daily, had "nearly 2 years" of improvement after an initially rough adjustment period, then suffered a "major EBV relapse" in February/March. Offers a longer-horizon counterpoint to BadBadBear's account in the…
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Björn recovered from severe ME with antivirals (valganciclovir, ritonavir and isentress)
Ran a long multi-drug protocol: valganciclovir at 450mg twice daily for a year then a lower maintenance dose for another 8 months, repeated after HHV-6 reactivated again; famciclovir 500mg three times daily for 6 months; gammaglobulin infusions every three…
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More Fatigue with Famciclovir, I Must Continue
Mel9, mostly bedbound with heavy legs and a POTS-type heart-rate response to standing, took 30mg (half a tablet) of Mestinon every four hours and became able to manage a 4km walk plus a further short activity after resting, with reduced POTS symptoms and…
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ME/CFS, Valcyte, and me: Third time lucky
Tracy has tried valganciclovir (Valcyte) three times for ME/CFS: a six-month course in 2014 (three weeks of induction at two 450mg pills twice daily, then two pills once daily) cut short by an allergic reaction after switching to a generic mid-course; a…
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Beginning of improvement?
Six weeks into a self-directed antiviral/immune-booster stack (famciclovir, amantadine, cimetidine, astragalus, inosine, vitamin C) for CFS that began after an unresolved flu six years earlier, reports "much more energy, no brain fog, no fatigue, no chest…
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Choose the order: Oximatrine, Olmesartan, Famciclovir, Inosine Pranobex and Cycloferon.
Olmesartan, an angiotensin receptor blocker taken as part of a Marshall Protocol approach; he does not give his own exact dose, though he notes a severe ME/CFS patient he knew benefited on as little as 20mg daily within a few months. He reports the drug…
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26 Years of Hell: An ME/CFS/FM Recovery Story
After 26 years of ME/CFS and fibromyalgia (and roughly $200,000 spent on failed treatments), this patient started the Pridgen protocol of Famvir, Celebrex and Cymbalta, with Tramadol for pain. Around 10 weeks in she had a sudden resolution of sensory…
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After 26 Years of Hell, the Pridgen Protocol Does it for X
The patient, identified only as "X", used the Pridgen Protocol under Dr. Pridgen — Famvir (an antiviral) combined with Celebrex (an anti-inflammatory) — though the page gives no specific doses or treatment duration. He had been ill for 26 years, dropping…
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Mestinon + Famvir - whoa!
After a severe EBV flare in February 2017 that made cardiac symptoms - low blood pressure, low heart rate, shortness of breath, "heart palpitations like mad" - much worse on top of 5 years of CFS, started Famvir (titrated up to 500mg twice daily), added…
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Easy Does It For Nathalie: A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Improvement Story
Tried Low Dose Naltrexone (immediate but partial relief from stiffness), a six-week high-dose course of Famvir that gave no benefit, and three years on Valcyte (valganciclovir), which brought her "back to life" out of a bedridden state within weeks but left…
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mTor Inhibitor Rapamune Helps 5 ME/CFS Patients in Dallas
Two days into taking Rapamune, wrote "feel much much much better. Finally spent most of the day out of bed," and on day two, "it still seems to be working." Explicitly cautious about reading too much into so little time, noting prior false hope with Famvir…
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Julie Rehmeyer's Mold Avoidance Recovery Story
Took a two-week mold sabbatical in Tecopa, California, combined with a modified Pridgen Protocol of valtrex 500mg plus celebrex 200mg, for ME/CFS confirmed by two-day exercise testing (originally diagnosed as fibromyalgia). Had been unable to exercise…
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Recovery Story Survey Suggests Some Commonalities
Alternates between Valcyte and either Famvir or Valtrex, cycling between antivirals, for ME/CFS complicated by recurrent bacterial and viral infections from immune dysfunction. On a rough 1-10 disability scale, says he has gone from a 3 to an 8, now varying…
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how did you get out of "bedridden level" ??(even if you are still sick)
States directly that a combination of the antivirals Valcyte and Famvir plus medication for orthostatic intolerance got him out of bedridden status. No hedging, doses, duration or durability detail is given in the visible post.
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Famvir- my story
Started Famvir at 500mg three times daily, gradually titrating up, and by three to four months noticed cognitive and physical improvements herself, with her family remarking on the change and her daughter saying she was "getting her mom back." Brain fog,…
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Feeling generally better
Thirty years after a mono-triggered onset that left her housebound, unable to drive or cook, with severe vertigo and depression, she layered years of high-dose Famvir and Acyclovir and about two years of Mycoplasma antibiotics with, more recently, roughly…
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Trying Valcyte Again, So Far So Good
niall improved roughly 30% on Ampligen but relapsed about three months after stopping, developing a cough, sore throat and fatigue alongside reactivated HHV-6 and Coxsackie virus. He attributed the relapse partly to under-dosed post-Ampligen antiviral…
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What treatment has worked for you?
Took Famvir and Cycloferon alongside rotating sleep medications and adrenal hormone support, adjusted based on ongoing lab testing. Describes "an improvement and still improving" as he tweaks the regimen, explicitly calling it "not a cure but an…
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My experience on Famvir
Relapsed with CFS in October 2010 after three months of stress, then started Famvir 250mg twice daily (briefly upped to 500mg twice daily for 5-7 days) combined with Cycloferon; within two to three weeks felt "substantially better," with milder headaches and…
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Please Tell Me Your Valtrex + Valcyte Story
Starting from three naps a day and 8-10 hours in bed a night, "barely" able to keep his head up (a week-long Valtrex trial had caused adverse effects, so he avoided it), began Famvir plus Immunovir and started improving after about two months. He then added…
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What treatments HAVE ACTUALLY helped?
Built a regimen around rotating sleep aids (Imovane/zopiclone), Tramal, 5-HTP, Neurontin, lipoic acid, NAC, a low-carb Atkins-style diet and modified weight training, but singles out Famvir as the biggest driver, saying that without it he "would be…
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Anyone recovered after discovering residential toxic mold exposure?
After 12 years of mostly-disabling CFS, including a final year spent bedridden 18-22 hours a day, she relocated to avoid mold/biotoxin exposure (living in a tent, then an RV, in the desert) alongside neural therapy, detox and antivirals. She says classic…
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AV's are working
Combined long-term Valtrex and Famvir, and by 18 months in reported reaching roughly "90%" of baseline function, though symptoms returned within about a week whenever he tried stopping, so he cycled on and off every few months rather than quitting. In a…
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Famvir for 5 days now instant relief!
Six months into CFS and running at roughly 50-60% of pre-illness baseline, started Famvir 500mg daily (250mg morning, 250mg evening) and described a "huge improvement after day 1," with less fatigue, less brain fog and less "heavy lead limb" feeling. By day…
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Do CFS Patients Ever Get TRULY Well?
Combined a mold-avoidance protocol with cholestyramine taken in low-mold locations, three months of doxycycline for Lyme, Famvir, and then Valcyte started about three weeks before posting. Says she reached full wellness roughly a year before this post, with…
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Side effects of Celecoxib?
Has been taking celecoxib as part of the Pridgen Protocol for ME/CFS, alongside a gut-protective supplement, initially Lion's Mane and later switched to deglycyrrhizinated licorice over safety concerns with the first choice. Illness duration and severity are…
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After 26 Years of Hell, the Pridgen Protocol Does it for X
Tried the Pridgen Protocol himself, taking Valtrex plus Celebrex (specific doses not disclosed) along with Sinol and tramadol as needed, and after six weeks reported it was definitely helping. No illness-severity or duration detail is given in this post, and…
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After 26 Years of Hell, the Pridgen Protocol Does it for X
Started the Pridgen Protocol, taking famciclovir 250mg plus celecoxib 200mg once daily, and after six to eight weeks felt better systemically with no downside, though still spending roughly a third to half of most days on the sofa three days a week and…
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After 26 Years of Hell, the Pridgen Protocol Does it for X
Followed the Pridgen Protocol, a combined antiviral and anti-inflammatory regimen of famciclovir plus celecoxib, for ME/CFS. Had been severely ill and unable to work for 26 years before starting. Within 8 months on the protocol, decades of severe illness are…
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More Fatigue with Famciclovir, I Must Continue
Index entry credits Hamsterman with prednisolone for preventing post-exertional malaise. Attempting to verify the linked post did not locate a prednisolone discussion on the fetched page, so no further detail on duration of illness, severity, or durability…
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After 26 Years of Hell, the Pridgen Protocol Does It
Credits famciclovir. An unnamed patient was ill 26y with ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Pridgen antiviral/celecoxib protocol.