How it went
Did it last?
- 4 of 15 said the benefit wore off (including the 3 who relapsed).
- No one said they needed to keep it up 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 | 2 | 13% |
| Substantial | 1 | 7% |
| Partial | 9 | 60% |
| Relapsed | 3 | 20% |
| No benefit | 0 | 0% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 2 | 50% | |
| Severe | 7 | 14% |
6 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 H2 blockers (famotidine, cimetidine), 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 | 0 | 184 | 0.0 |
| 2010 | 44 | 682 | 64.5 |
| 2011 | 4 | 704 | 5.7 |
| 2012 | 1 | 1,491 | 0.7 |
| 2013 | 2 | 1,708 | 1.2 |
| 2014 | 2 | 2,352 | 0.9 |
| 2015 | 13 | 2,158 | 6.0 |
| 2016 | 1 | 1,431 | 0.7 |
| 2017 | 9 | 3,110 | 2.9 |
| 2018 | 0 | 2,201 | 0.0 |
| 2019 | 3 | 1,075 | 2.8 |
| 2020 | 8 | 2,581 | 3.1 |
| 2021 | 0 | 1,867 | 0.0 |
| 2022 | 4 | 1,166 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 9 | 1,000 | 9.0 |
| 2024 | 17 | 1,237 | 13.7 |
| 2025 | 0 | 1,019 | 0.0 |
| 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 15 accounts
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (page 14 discussion)
ixikd2025 credited a broad, kitchen-sink regimen spanning stimulant, mitochondrial, antihistamine/MCAS, and lifestyle interventions (meditation, running, acupuncture) for significant improvement. With so many concurrent changes, no single component could be…
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improvement
Combined itraconazole delivered via a Nasoneb diffuser with famotidine (Pepcid), Zantac, kratom, Alka-Seltzer, Alvesco, albuterol and PYM Attention chews for ME/CFS with PEM, IBS and POTS-type episodes. Had been ill about 13 years. Reports seeing improvement…
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Pepcid and 1 month without an 'episode'
After 36 years with ME/CFS and a period of mold exposure and concussions, began a low-oxalate diet on top of an existing low-histamine diet, plus doctor-prescribed Pepcid and ketotifen fumarate. Describes feeling, before this, like dropping through layers of…
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Pepcid and 1 month without an 'episode'
Started taking Pepcid (famotidine) for PEM, IBS and POTS-type episodes and initially went a full month without an episode for the first time in years. Had been ill about 13 years, with roughly 80% of episodes lasting two to three days and some up to two…
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Radical Rest and Beyond
The author of Encephalogirl (who signs as Michelle) treats her ME/CFS-related dysautonomia and POTS with guanfacine and low-dose Abilify (titrated from 0.5mg down to 0.25mg after migraines, then back up to 0.5mg), an increased dose of low-dose naltrexone, a…
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Pepcid and 1 Month Without an Episode
julienl42 credited a combination regimen - nebulized itraconazole plus Pepcid, Zantac, kratom, Alka-Seltzer, Alvesco and albuterol - with a month free of the episodes referenced in the thread title. No further detail on duration of illness, severity, or…
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Several long-COVID patients report improvements from antihistamines (Emeline)
Trialed loratadine 10mg twice daily plus famotidine 40mg once daily over a 34-day self-trial, more than four years into her illness; she initially dosed in the morning, then moved the famotidine to the evening after two weeks, which subjectively felt like a…
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Several long-COVID patients report improvements from antihistamines (Rich D)
Tried Singulair (montelukast), which produced significant, though not huge, improvement within about a week, while Pepcid (famotidine) and Zyrtec (cetirizine) had no effect for them. They suggest antihistamines are most useful for long-COVID patients who…
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An ME/CFS Expert Helps a Long-COVID Patient Recover
A nineteen-year-old developed POTS and mast cell symptoms after a mild PCR-confirmed COVID infection, leaving him with a wellness score of 45 out of 100 and out of in-person classes for about fifteen months. Under Dr Peter Rowe at Johns Hopkins he was…
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Success keeping EBV in check with Tagament and/or a herbal protocol
Used Tagamet against recurring mouth sores and flu-like symptoms, but wary of long-term use over dementia-risk concerns, and describes an herbal stand-in - monolaurin, olive leaf extract, oil of oregano, raw garlic, cat's claw, reishi and andrographis taken…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 7)
Case 7, a 29-year-old man about 10 months into Long COVID/ME since July 2022 with extreme fatigue, PEM, tachycardia, POTS, persistent headache, brain fog, chest pain and shortness of breath, took a 15-day extended Paxlovid course in May 2023 while also on…
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Immediate positive response to antivirals/immune-modulators, then worse?
Trialed valacyclovir, ranitidine and cimetidine separately, each as single doses and then multi-day courses of up to 4-5 days, with at least a week's break between attempts. Each drug produced "near-complete resolution of fatigue, headache" within about an…
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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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Tagamet for CFIDS (Denn)
Replying in the same thread, Denn reports a "consistent lessening of the intensity" of some symptoms while taking ranitidine, a milder H2-blocker in the same class as cimetidine. The account is brief and the improvement is described as partial rather than dramatic.
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Tagamet (cimetidine) for CFIDS (worked for me)
After a severe four-month relapse with fevers, shingles and swollen glands, faith.hope.love reports being "90% recovered" on cimetidine about a month into treatment, functional enough to return to work, with her recurrent shingles not returning and the other…