My much beloved little brother has been potentially diagnosed with Epstein Barr Virus. I have done a few web searches and come up with nothing very extensive. I am very concerned because all I can seem to find out is very alarming. I want my little brother to be okay, but he’s been sick for a month. He initially was puking all night, and now has just been exhausted. Really, really, exhausted. I don’t know what’s going to happen with him and I’m hoping that Dopers know something about this, or can refer me to better medical references. I’m going to the library in the morning, but I’m panicking now. And the library is closed. Please share if you can-
Thanks.
“Epstein Barr Virus” can mean a lot of things. It could mean he has “mono” and should soon be well.
It can also mean he has “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” which is what you’re probably worried about. I have had this for years and am unable to work.
The website I would recommend to you is http://www.guaidoc.com.
Scroll down past the info about the book to “Guaifenesin research for patients”. There is a lot of info here about what Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is. There is also information about treating it with Guaifenesin, an inexpensive prescription medicine. The website gives you all the information you need, you don’t have to buy the book.
This treatment has helped me tremendously. I’m not going to bore everyone here with my life story, but I’ve gone from being too sick to get out of bed to being able to surf the web almost every day. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have.
And don’t panic! Even if your brother has this, he may only suffer from a very mild case. You say he’s VERY exhasted now, but that’s just because he threw up so much.
www.healthlinkusa.com/Epstein-Barr_Virus.htm
Check this out–lots of good links. Most likely, your brother will have to get several weeks of rest/light activity, and then will be able to get back to normal again. I had Mononucleosis My Senior year in High School. Not fun, but it was uneventful, and I am still here to tell about it. 
Thank you so much for the references. I checked them out, and I do feel better. I should provide more background- our GP thought that it was mono originally, but two separate bloodtests have not shown mono viruses. As such, our GP doesn’t know what the problem is. Luckily, we have a good health plan, not an HMO, and my mom’s taking the monster to a specialist tout suite. However, I’m in school across the country, and I feel totally hopeless. I gather that the GP said that EBV was a potential explanation; I didn’t know until now that it is generally the cause of mono (much less that mono is a member of the herpes family of viruses {eek}). I hope that he does just have mono, and not the more serious implications of EBV or fibromyalgia.
Lesa, I’m very sorry to hear about your health problems. I wouldn’t mind hearing more details if you’d be interested in sharing. Do you spend a lot of time lurking 'round here? I do- it’s my favorite form of procrastination. But at least I know I can always find somebody who knows something about anything around here.
HealthCentral is a good source for medical information. Use their search engine.
There is no medication for mononucleosis. …
There is no cure for this disease,
said the doctors as they took their fees…