Cytomegalovirus?

[lost kitten]

So after struggling for a week with what a couple of doctors described as "just a virus", I got in touch with my GI to see if he could check the blood test I had done on Friday night. He called back and told me to go straight to my nearest hospital's emergency dept. as my liver function results were off and white blood cell count was a bit low.

I was admitted after what seemed like forever late on Tuesday night and have had several blood tests done, + x-ray and an ultrasound.

The infectious diseases doctor came to see me yesterday (Thursday) afternoon after discovering antibodies to Cytomegalovirus (had to google it) and said it looks like it may be that, so need more tests to confirm before starting treatment (she said it's fairly intensive and has side effects so we're still going with 'mystery illness' until confirmation).

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this before or knows much about it?

Oh, and the food in here is terrible- but at least the ward is cleaned every day, unlike the last hospital I was in which was cleaned the first day and not again for the rest of my week-long stay

 

[lost kitten]

Didn't really cheer me up but I'm glad you're OK after going through all that!

The thought did go through my head over the weekend, that it might be lymphoma, so at the moment I'm pretty relieved the doctors have come up with this diagnosis for the moment (not so pleased it's day 11 and there hasn't been much improvement though).

I had a CT scan on my abdomen today and then some eye tests, as CMV can apparently damage the retinas. There was some swelling/my nerves looked "full" so I'm back there for an MRI and CT scan on my eyes and head on Monday.

I just want to go home already! Came back from the eye tests and I have a new neighbour- he's rude and constantly swearing and whispering horrible comments to his wife/himself. Heard him say he snores loudly also.

 

[lost kitten]

Welllll tests for CMV ended up coming back negative so they've done some more tests inc. a full range to see whether its related to any of my pets (all came back negative except one which is still pending), and a HIV test as a precaution.

I finally came home yesterday afternoon as I couldn't get in for the MRI on my head until tomorrow and didn't want to stay another 2 nights.

The doctors have said to stop taking my Humira for now as a precaution until I recover and see my GI.

So for now it's down as a 'mystery illness/significant viral infection'. I'm just glad to finally be home,even though I still feel rather horrible. Oh, and I've had a really sore throat so checked it out before in the mirror and seem to have now developed tonsil stones. Fun times!

 

[asterhuj]

sorry i don't know about it.

 

[Johnnysmom]

I don't know specifically about that virus but there is one going around here that is very severe. Even the healthy kids are down and out for an entire week. Vomiting, fever, sore throat, body aches, diarrhea, everything. I have heard my friends in Florida have their kids suffering too. I hope it is just a virus for you and the worst of it is over.

(((Hugs)))) and let us know how you are getting along.

 

[lost kitten]

It just seems to be one thing after another with this thing! When the fever went away I got tonsil stones (yuck!), then the night sweats stopped last weekend and since then I've been dizzy, slightly blurred vision, loss of balance and vomiting (thankfully the vomiting after eating stopped a couple of days ago).

I'm now halfway through week 4... wish it would go away already! I've lost 6kg in the last 3 weeks and feel weak and useless- even showering is exhausting.

 

[lost kitten]

So I'm still sick! Mostly just fatigue and a whole lot of phlegm now.

I had an appointment with my specialist on Tuesday and he's hoping to start me back on Humira this coming week, pending the results of a blood test I had yesterday. I've been feeling pretty crappy with Crohn's symptoms lately as well- nausea, abdominal pain/cramping, D, blood etc., so fingers crossed everything looks OK. He wants me to move to weekly injections for a while to kick-start the response and then back to fortnightly.

He looked up my discharge notes from my time in hospital while I was there and apparently I had thickened walls & contracted gallbladder, enlarged spleen and some other stuff I've forgotten but no diagnosis.
Asked him whether it could be glandular fever so he added a test for that to the blood test request and should know when he calls me about the Humira thing this week.

 

[R20]

I've recently had a bout of CMV. Nasty and sounds like your symptoms were the same as mine. I had fever, headaches, nausea, muscle weakness, fatigue but lucklily no vomiting & retinas came back all ok.

What was your diagnosis in the end? Was it another virus?

 

[lost kitten]

The doctors never actually figured out exactly what it was. Probably took me 3-4 months for the fatigue to start to go away. I've noticed swelling in the lymph nodes in my neck/throat quite often since, so just keeping an eye on them and my neutrophil count which has been a bit low lately. I just had a check-up on my eyes a couple of weeks ago and they're looking normal which is good.

I hope you feel better now. Did you have to stay in hospital?

 

[R20]

Thanks for the response.
Basically I had major surgery in Jan so was at the end of the 6 week recovery. I am also on immune suppressants. Initially we thought the ill feeling was due to a small wound infection, but with that cleared i was still ill so i returned to the hospital. I was in for 5 days while they ran blood cultures, various tests, CT etc. No further collections seen on the CT. I was eventually sent home on the advice to take panadol with each fever as they couldn't figure it out. Thankfully the next day they phoned with the CMV diagnosis - active CMV in my bloods. With Valcyte symptoms improved in a few days. But will be on Valcyte for another couple months by the sounds of it.