Acyclovir and meningitis
Common Questions and Answers about Acyclovir and meningitis
famvir
Hi,
It is good that you will be seeing an infectious disease specialist soon as it is important to rule out Mollaret’s meningitis. This is recurrent meningitis and is said to be caused by herpes simplex virus. The treatment is mainly with antiviral agents like acyclovir and pain killers.
It can be diagnosed by recurrent episodes of headaches, meningismus, fever, the presence of WBCs in the CSF, attacks separated by symptom free periods and spontaneous remission.
m a healthy 24 year old female who has been suffering from this since Spring 2007 (came down with meningitis 3x in 3 months - acyclovir and Valtrex treatments did not work and resulted in renal failure). All 3 times, my spinal tap came back positive for HSV II.
I am currently (and have been since August 2007) taking 500mg of Famciclovir per day. For the first year, I took 500mg 3x per day. The second year I reduced it to 500mg 2x per day because it was really hard on my body.
I had suffered fever for 13days and was only diagnosed with Viral Menigitis on the 15days after a lumbar tap. I was given an IVof NS and acyclovir(prophylaxis accdg to my doctor) for 3 days every 8 hours. My fever subsided and totally gone, and headache started. Tylenol ES was not effective with this headache and I was prescribed with Hydromorph 3mgSR every 12 hours and then 1 mg breakthrough every 6hours. It helps me for a week.
does recurrent hsv 2 infections also trigger radiculitis or sacral neuropathy or menigitis? what is the likelihood of developing hsv encephalitis or meningitis during recurrent attacks? is the neurologic manifestations exclusive only during the primary infection? does taking anti-virals (acyclovir, valacyclovir) decrease the neuropathic complications or no effect at all?
I went to the ED with the worst headache of my life, vomiting, back and neck pain, and light and sound sensitivity. I had a CAT scan, and lumbar puncture and found out I had meningitis. They admitted me and eventually ruled out bacterial. I was discharged with antibiotics, antivirals and a few other things. Two days after being home I had the same headache and neck pain and the pain meds they gave me weren't even touching the pain.
Seemingly liquid filled bumps on red bases/rash on the penis and lower spine/left buttock pain on days before they arise. They never burst, however, and are rarely painful. But acyclovir seems to work to reduce the rashes faster. I was tested twice for igg and igm at 6 months post exposure and again around 7. Both were negative. The partner i would have received it from also tested negative with the same test. Upon looking at symptoms, however, my doctor said its still possibly herpes.
So you can see how I suspected meningitis and reading about how HSV-2 induced meningitis was common and got really worried. Cause if it was meningitis I was sure it would be herpes.
But this has been going on for 30 days now (yes, till today). GP did not think it was so with clinical tests and the neurologist appointment was a referral on my request - scheduled two days later which I think is indicative they did not think it was meningitis.
My daughter was diagnosed with Behcet's in 2008. Then in 2009 she contracted herpes (hsv2). She is now having an outbreak of herpes (starting to get under control after 2 rounds of valtrex, back on acyclovir for 2 days) and a flare of Behcet's. Prednisone will make the painful vaginal Behcet's lesions go away but will cause another outbreak of herpes.
Does anyone have any suggestions? She's about to leave for a required college trip.
Thanks.
My doctor was referring to a study wehre Acyclovir slowed disease progression in HIV by reducing viral load. And so he thought Acyclovir might have a direct effect (even if it is low) on HIV. Maybe he thought that by decreasing viral load antybodies would show up later than in the absence of Acyclovir?
They did do a spinal tap and said it was negative. Monday the hospital called me back and said someone else read it and it was positive for Viral Meningitis. I was admitted on Monday and was discharged on Friday. I also had Mono in October of 87.
One neurologist seen me and believed I had MS based on several MRI's of my brain and spine over several years, but never confirmed it.
Ideally both specialties probably should be involved and coordinate their evaluations and recommendations. And you should trust their diagnoses and follow their recommendations.
Now to the specific questions:
1) Your description of the initial illness isn't clear to me. Did you have genital lesions that a provider thought were herpes? If so, then HSV-2 meningitis -- which is rare but can accompany initial genital infection -- sounds like a good bet.
Thanks for your reply. The doctor who gave the final (so far) diagnosis to me was an infectious disease specialist. However, he said some things that I know aren't correct, like "50% of the population has HSV2" and "you didn't necessarily get this from having sex."
And, as I mentioned, both the specialists and the hospital residents made an early uninformed decision that this must be herpes and then variously tried to prove it.
Once and awhile I will get a migraine often accompanied with with a scalp breakout and I stop taking the Acyclovir and lysine until the pain goes away. Then I resume my acyclovir and lysine. I now rarely have any problems. But I always have to go a week once and a while without my Acyclovir and Lysine. Is the herpes virus simply one of my triggers or is the herpes virus the root cause off all my migraines, I don't know. The pain and breakouts are always hemispheric in nature.
Please bear with me as I ask this question, as I am somewhat freaked out. I had already posted about this before, but things have happened to get me anxious again. Basic story: I had protected (with a condom) oral and vaginal intercourse with a sex worker a little over three weeks ago. As far as I know, the condom did not break. I know that your standard answer is that there is no need for testing since it was protected.
Few Lesions (pimple like with red base) come and go everywhere in my body (cheeks, forehead, ear pinna, eyelids, chest, arm, forearm...). I have took acyclovir only for 10 days in October and am suffering a couple of lesions coming up and clearing in few days every now and then. This is companied by random itching occurring in different parts of the body without visible lesions, I also felt some shooting pain for a few seconds (rarely) into my penis.
If I were you I would go to the hospital and be checked for meningitis.
Once bacteria or other organisms have found their way to the brain, they are somewhat isolated from the immune system and can spread. However, when the body eventually begins to fight the infection, the problem can worsen.
As the body tries to fight the infection, blood vessels become leaky and allow fluid, white blood cells, and other infection-fighting particles to enter the meninges and the brain.
Could this possibly be related to HIV or do people not show symptoms of HIV for years? My previous partner kept reassuring he was HIV- and even went and got tested, but I just fear he could be lying about his test result. We started dating months ago and I slept with him starting 4 months ago and stopped 5 week's ago. Am I just being paranoid thinking these are symptoms.
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