How it went
Did it last?
- 9 of 45 said the benefit wore off (including the 3 who relapsed).
- 7 of 45 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 | 6 | 13% |
| Near-full | 6 | 13% |
| Substantial | 16 | 36% |
| Partial | 12 | 27% |
| Relapsed | 3 | 7% |
| No benefit | 2 | 4% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 6 | 33% | |
| Severe | 18 | 28% | |
| Very severe | 7 | 43% |
14 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 Valtrex / valacyclovir, 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 | 1 | 184 | 5.4 |
| 2010 | 45 | 682 | 66.0 |
| 2011 | 14 | 704 | 19.9 |
| 2012 | 17 | 1,491 | 11.4 |
| 2013 | 21 | 1,708 | 12.3 |
| 2014 | 9 | 2,352 | 3.8 |
| 2015 | 5 | 2,158 | 2.3 |
| 2016 | 8 | 1,431 | 5.6 |
| 2017 | 45 | 3,110 | 14.5 |
| 2018 | 25 | 2,201 | 11.4 |
| 2019 | 19 | 1,075 | 17.7 |
| 2020 | 35 | 2,581 | 13.6 |
| 2021 | 24 | 1,867 | 12.9 |
| 2022 | 6 | 1,166 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 6 | 1,000 | 6.0 |
| 2024 | 24 | 1,237 | 19.4 |
| 2025 | 7 | 1,019 | 6.9 |
| 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
Side effects and harms people mentioned
Found by scanning the summaries for side-effect language, so this list is incomplete and may include a mention that isn’t about Valtrex / valacyclovir itself. Read the story before drawing conclusions.
- Side effects
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.
All 45 accounts
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Improvement story
Across several posts spanning 2023-2026, Gzephyr describes climbing out of EBV-reactivation-driven CFS using valacyclovir as a base, adding NAC and intermittent fasting, and finally a tonsillectomy in early 2025. He says he went from severe (~8/10 fatigue,…
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Here's an interesting result from my experience with common EBV treatments
Raised Valtrex from 3g to 4g daily and added short courses of oil of oregano, high-dose monolaurin and high-dose vitamin C, after stress reactivated EBV two years earlier and caused "pure emotional flatness" and neurological problems on top of CFS. Hedges…
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Mild NAC success story. Anyone else?
Three years after an EBV trigger and already on valacyclovir, adding 600mg of NAC daily for about two months reduced lymph node swelling and tonsil and sinus inflammation and raised the post-exertional malaise threshold tremendously, allowing walks and…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 4)
Case 4, a 51-year-old man about 6 months into Long COVID with fatigue, daily headaches, brain fog, mental exhaustion, PEM, racing heart, palpitations, tinnitus and visual/sensory disturbances, took a 15-day extended Paxlovid course in March 2023 alongside…
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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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No PEM after weeks on Valacyclovir
Restarted valacyclovir at 1g three times daily after roughly a year spent bedridden 20-22 hours a day, following a 2009 viral onset, a 2011-2016 quasi-remission, and a hard relapse after a second viral infection in 2016. Just over a month in, reports…
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Pulsed high dose methylprednisolone plus inosine plus inositol = cured?
After 30 years of illness, pattismith reports that a short pulsed high-dose corticosteroid course (with valacyclovir and inosine/inositol layered in) resolved her pain quickly, restored energy, and cleared her thinking enough to socialize again - "pain was…
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Health Update #4: Recovery is a %*#*&$@!
Jennifer Brea had been managing severe ME for about 8 years with Valcyte, Valtrex, Mestinon, and fludrocortisone plus mold avoidance, which had only brought her from severe to moderate; in November 2018 she underwent three surgeries over six weeks — a…
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Does Valtrex work this fast?
On Valtrex for comorbid ME/CFS and POTS (dose not given), took about five weeks to see the major effect: crashes became "less severe and did not last long," she was "waking up refreshed," and her POTS "resolved" by the five-week mark. Trajectory beyond that…
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Does Valtrex work this fast?
On Valtrex 1000mg once daily, with high EBV titres, went from six 30-minute naps a day to "one 20 minute nap a day" within three days, with enough energy to "actually do a load of laundry." The first four-month course faded after about five months; on…
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Does Valtrex work this fast?
Only three days into Valtrex 500mg twice daily, reports "I noticed some improvements": neck spasms "milder," neck lymph channels "congested less," and air hunger "less severe and less frequent." Explicitly early and hedged - the thread title itself questions…
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Starting on Valtrex --feeling die-off -- any positive stories?
On Valtrex 6g/day since January, reports joint pain "disappeared completely," with heat tolerance and heart palpitations also improved, and explicitly self-labels as "a responder and success story." Caveats that energy levels remained low: "still in bed most…
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Starting on Valtrex --feeling die-off -- any positive stories?
Three months into Valtrex, raised from 3g to 4g daily but started "along with a number of other meds and supplements... all around the same time," went from being "bed and recliner ridden," using a wheelchair for all outings, to being able to "use a walker…
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Starting on Valtrex --feeling die-off -- any positive stories?
On Valtrex 500mg twice daily, reports it "helped with sore throats, swollen glands" and "awful burning legs/lower spine," with the effect arriving "quite quick i.e. within a week or so." A targeted, symptom-level improvement rather than a broad recovery…
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Success on Valacyclovir at 3.5 Months!! - Plus some Questions...
Took valacyclovir at 4g/day, reduced to 3g/day after three months, for ME/CFS marked by "sky high titres" to EBV and shingles virus, months-long viral crashes, severe migraines, and being "borderline suicidal at a couple of points" over 15 years. At 3.5…
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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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Antiretrovirals to treat MECFS
Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir), taken for about three months before adding Valtrex and Valcyte on an ongoing basis. Illness duration and severity beforehand are not stated, though functioning was self-rated at 5 out of 10. Improved to 7 out of 10 on…
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Good results from valtrex and valcyte combo
Added Valtrex 1g/day, then Valcyte 450mg twice daily a month later, on top of about a year already on Truvada, for CFS present "5 to 6 years" but only diagnosed 3-4 months earlier; self-rated baseline severity "5 or 6 out of 10," never bedridden but with…
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Renee Can't Exercise But Otherwise Has A Normal Life
Tried Valtrex and separately Valcyte for ME/CFS. Says Valtrex made her ill and Valcyte had no effect, and emphasizes how much the disease varies between patients. No illness duration or severity detail is given, and no benefit from either antiviral is…
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Antiviral Regimen Returns Wheelchair-Bound ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia Patient to Health
Jacyln, wheelchair-bound and sleeping over 20 hours a day with body-wide pain after onset following pregnancy, was put on high-dose Valtrex plus Valcyte by Dr. Lerner to target active EBV. By age 24, about three years after onset, she reported being fully…
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Renee Can't Exercise But Otherwise Has A Normal Life
Renee, too weak for moderate exercise and nauseated within months of a December 2002 onset, had her cognitive symptoms resolve within weeks of starting Valtrex, then added Valcyte after 9 months. By 2010 she had reached 8/10 energy and near-normal life,…
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Long Treatment Regimen Reaps Dividends for Irene
Irene, a college teacher, developed severe ME/CFS with active EBV and HHV-6 infections after 2001, with extreme fatigue, migraines, joint pain and memory loss. Over more than a decade she combined Valtrex and Valcyte, Babesia treatment, atenolol, complete…
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Recovering from ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia: The Lerner Way (Marilynne)
Began with nine twice-monthly hospital infusions of IV valacyclovir, then moved to Valcyte (valganciclovir) at 450mg, two tablets twice a day, continuing through May 2015 until she started regressing after switching to a generic version of Valcyte introduced…
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Recovering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia: The Lerner Way
Janet went from a 1 to a 7-8 out of 10 on Dr. Lerner's functional scale on Valtrex, starting at three pills a day and reducing to two after 11 years. The gain requires ongoing maintenance dosing: dropping to a lower dose brings back headache, swollen glands…
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The Flu That Never Ends Finally Does for Heather
After four years of cognitive trouble, digestive problems, body aches and severe fatigue that diet, yoga, acupuncture, chelation and blood irradiation had not touched, Heather was prescribed Valtrex by Dr. Lerner in 2010. By 2012 she reported being fully…
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Antiviral Regimen Returns Wheelchair Bound ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia Patient to Health
Jaclyn developed ME/CFS and fibromyalgia around age 21 following a pregnancy, becoming wheelchair-bound with severe short-term memory impairment and sleeping more than 20 hours a day. Dr Lerner treated her with Valcyte and Valtrex plus increased water…
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Do People Really Recover From ME/CFS and/or Fibromyalgia? An Inquiry (Sandrine)
Commenting on this inquiry post, Sandrine described about two years of severe fibromyalgia so bad she was once unable to brush her teeth and would scream from pain. She credits essential oils taken internally and topically, liposomal vitamin C, MSM, olive…
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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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Valcyte and Valtrex Return Alan to Work
Took Valcyte and Valtrex, antiviral medications, for ME/CFS with gradual onset. Illness duration before starting is not given in the excerpt. Returned to full-time work but must still be careful about activity and keep his heart rate low, and can no longer…
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Valcyte and Valtrex Return Alan to Work
Alan had episodes of drastic fatigue from his late twenties but developed sudden, lasting fatigue at 53 that was much worse by 58, leaving him mostly homebound. Under Dr Martin Lerner he took two years of Valcyte followed by Valtrex. He now leads a…
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From hospitalization to recovery: Leah's Dr. Lerner ME/CFS Recovery Story
Leah, mostly bedbound and repeatedly hospitalized (weight fell from 115 to 89 lbs) after onset in 1996, was put on Valtrex by Dr. Lerner and recovered to near-normal function for seven years before relapsing and needing a second course. On the second course…
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Has anyone achieved remission or recovery from treatment by any doctor?
SOC's daughter took two years of combined antivirals, Valcyte (valganciclovir) and Valtrex (valacyclovir), prescribed by an ME/CFS specialist. Beforehand she had been declining, sitting around activity level 4-5; on the antivirals she rose to about level 8-9…
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2 Months Into Valtrex Treatment
With high EBV titers causing ongoing flu-like symptoms, took Valtrex 1g twice daily for about two months and reported "significant relief of symptoms/pain." The thread ends there without follow-up on whether the improvement was sustained.
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Starting to see moderate success on Valcyte against CMV
Four years into illness, after 3.5 years of antibiotics and antimalarials for Lyme and co-infections (Bartonella, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Babesia) stopped helping, switched to Valcyte 2 tablets daily. After three months her CMV…
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progess report..feeling almost normal
About 1.5 years into severe illness (bedridden, lightheaded, shaking, forced to leave her home), she combined cholestyramine and Valtrex for 4 months, methylB12 injections tapering from daily to every other day over 4 months, plus ongoing sublingual…
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Did KDM's treatment help you or did you get worse?
After 31 weeks of GcMAF injections plus Valacyclovir for reactivated EBV and gut dysbiosis, over more than a year of treatment, he reports "no improvement," a treatment failure in his case.
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Valcyte: how long have you been/were you on it?
Took Valcyte (valganciclovir) for 22 months, adding Valtrex (valacyclovir) for about the last 4 months of that period, for a herpesvirus-driven illness. No illness severity or duration before treatment is given on this page, but as of the post they describe…
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Which antivirals worked best for you?
Starting from a baseline of being out of bed or a recliner only one to two hours a day, tried Valtrex for seven months with little effect, then switched to Valcyte 1450mg/day. The first three months brought slight improvement, months four to six a worsening…
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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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Please Tell Me Your Valtrex + Valcyte Story
In Ohio, combined Valcyte, Valtrex and doxycycline (the last for a mycoplasma co-infection) and after about five months said she was "not sorry" she had done the treatment. Where she previously "could do nothing and felt sick all of the time," she gained…
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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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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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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories
Renee is listed reaching a near-normal life on combined valaciclovir/valganciclovir, though the case notes she still cannot exercise vigorously - a near-full but not complete recovery.
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories
Heather is listed as reaching full recovery after about a year on Dr. Lerner's valaciclovir protocol, per the compiled list.
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories
Leah is listed as moving from severe illness to "near recovery" under Dr. Lerner's valaciclovir protocol, per the compiled list.