How are viruses detected in the body?

[ploggin]

With my ongoing symptoms of over 3 years, I have had an irritated or "achy" throat, along with burning or rawness in my chest and towards ears (not acid as I've had the surgery), as well as GI symptoms.  Is it possible that it could be a chronic virus problem, and if so, how does one find out if or what it is?

My face is slightly swollen on one side, my neck gets achy at the base of the skull, I am generally malaised and nauseated at times, and I get small red dots forming and disapearing within my mouth.  Also cough up yellowish or greenish mucous some mornings.

I have been to an ENT in the past who did not see a significant sinus problem, so I'm just very confused.

[cholny29]

It will actually be seven months on friday. the possible exposure occured on jun.26.2006. i have not had the symptoms checked for lyme disease. I will tell my pcp that i want to be tested next time I see him. what do you think and thank you for listening and not thinking I went off the deep end...i havent just yet:)

[PlateletGal]

I don't think you are crazy. I know how scared you must be and especially since you had this illness only a month after you had oral sex. The good news is that you were recently tested and in only 3 more days, it will be 6 months and according to the government, the window period for HIV generally takes 1 to 3 months (and possibly up to 6 months). So I would get tested next week -- just so you can get rid of the worrying. = )

As far as your symptoms, have you been tested for lyme disease ?

[cholny29]

jun27,2006 I gave fellatio to a supposed friend.Didn't think anything about it after that.On Jul31 wk 5 I find a pea size knot/a little tender but probably because i kept mashing on it and went to the urgent care that nite.i had a temp of 100.9 doc wanted to do a cbc thought it could be mono but it was neg cbc was fine.so he said it was a bacterial infection so gave me antibiotics.I did't feel bad at all cant believe i had a fever.got home started looking up cervicallymph node because thats what he said it was and all i found was hiv and then i noticed you could get hiv from giving fellatio and my world crashed. I was a zombie for four wks after that.I couldn't really talk to anyone and no lie this was a constant thought on my mind i couldn't think about anything else. around wk 8 had constant headaches behind my eye and then all of this phlegm developed in  my throat and wouldnt come up to my nose this lasted about 2 wk on and off. I several itching occurences which was really weird. I had night sweats but I always have night sweats. I had mild jointpain in my legs only. All of this occured after the eight week mark. Still have the terrible headaches behind eye mild joint pain and I feel like I am draining from the ears off and on since this incident. I know that sounds so weird but thats the best way i can describe it.got test at 6,7,8,10,13,15,17,21,26,30 wk all negative.i gave blood to redcross at 5 mo because doc said i was fine nothing was wrong with me.i know you think i am crazy for testing that much but i was freaking out.it has now been 31 wk and i have read so many conflicing reports about window period where some take a year some take 5 year some take 7 mo and it is so hard to accept this negative knowing all that and then that sebaceous cyst or node whatever it is wont go away. thank you so much for listening to me. I value your opinion and advice.

[cholny29]

No the sebaceous cyst is not tender at all. However two weeks ago I woke up with a throbbing headache on one side behind my eye that I am continuing to have at least twice weekly. I then felt of the cyst? and I felt of the cyst then and it was much bigger and it hurt. I was going to go to the doc the next day because this was a sunday but it ended up going down back to normal swollen size. I went to the ent in oct and he said it could be a lymph node but he was more than willing to bet it was sebaceous cyst. He said it is half the size of what they normally consider dangerous or cautious enough to biopsy.  As for the petechiae I googled it and yes that is what it looked like. I am so scared and worried that the hiv test wasn't conclusive despite what most say...any advice would be helpful and thank you for responding.

[PlateletGal]

I couldn't find your post in the HIV forum... it looks like someone has spammed that board with multiple posts. When and how do you think you could have been exposed to the HIV virus ? And when were you tested for HIV ? I can tell you that chances are you are fine and especially if you've already been tested. The first sign of HIV infection are usually LARGE lymph nodes that are enlarged for months.

[PlateletGal]

Sebaceous cysts can usually be diagnosed by a physician. Usually they are not tender... is that the case for you ? If you have any doubts about the cyst, you may want to check with your primary care physician and have him or her check it out. It doesn't sound like you are having any symptoms now... is that the case ?

As far as the petechiae, it could have been from an allergic or vial infection. You may want to google "petechiae" and look at images of petechiae to see if that is what you had. If you did have a viral infection, your white cell count would have been elevated at the time.

[cholny29]

Hi there Plateletgal.....I am seeking your expertise if you don't mind. I posted a while back in the hiv forum where I gave blood as a donor at 6 mths after testing numerous times negative within those six months including the week before I was told by my doc I could now donate blood. What I was wondering was about the small red dots on the inner side of the cheek that this person is asking about.  I had these on several occasions after the potential exposure (I bite my gums and cheeks a lot also)up unto a few months ago. I still have the swollen node ent thinks it is not a node but rather a sebaceous cyst. I don't know anything about that but he thinks it is harmless really won't even consider a biopsy.  Do you think the petechiae signals a recent viral infection? If so, can I really trust my results? Even after seven months of testing. thank you very much and I await your reply!

[PlateletGal]

Well I hope they find your diagnosis soon, so they can treat you. I'm sure they already did a CBC, which includes a white cell count -- which would more than likely exclude the leukemia, which your symptoms don't sound like leukemia anyway.

I would just continue to follow-up and make sure they exclude all of those other possible conditions. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Good Luck !

[ploggin]

The normal range for the test they did on me was 25 or less.

They did rule out Sjogrens so far.  I have red eyes, sore sometimes, but have tears.

[PlateletGal]

Do you know what the normal range is for the rheumatoid factor ? I thought below 60 was normal, but it depends on the method the lab used.

A positive RF can indicate rheumatoid arthritis, chronic hepatitis, chronic viral infection, leukemia, dermatomyositis (check out the link on that below), infectious mononucleosis, scleroderma, lupus, Sjogren's syndrome, nephrotic syndrome (facial swelling is a symtpom of this syndrome) or Adult Still's disease.

I would make sure your physician rules out all of these conditions. Please check out the links...


Dermatomyositis

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000839.htm

Nephrotic syndrome

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000490.htm

[ploggin]

I had my platelet count checked as well as prothrombin time in the summer as I had petechaie on my fingers.  All was normal.

Now I'm getting these in my mouth once in a while.  Only blood test that was out of range was my rheumatoid factor which was 49.  Potassium level was a bit high, but not far out of normal range.

Also, have bad taste and smell in my mouth at times, swelling of right cheek area, sore throat,nausea, mucous, headaches, burning, but they say nothing is wrong..pretty frustrating as all blood tests usually are within normal ranges.  So not sure what exactly to be fighting.  I usually don't get even close to a fever and my body temp runs low (96-97 usually).

Although I suppose it could be an unknown virus problem, but for 4 years???  Waiting for EBV results but suspect it will also be normal.

[PlateletGal]

It sounds like you have petechiae. You want want to google images of petechiae and check out the pictures.

Petechiae can be caused by a low platelet count, autoimmune diseases, viral infections that impair blood clotting, allergic reactions, a very high platelet count or other conditions.

[ploggin]

Not sure if this is common, but I have been getting what are mostly very tiny red spots on the insides of my cheeks.  They are not painful, but come and go quite quickly.  The doctor mentioned that these types of things may be associated with viruses.

If it is, then its been ongoing for quite some time.

[PlateletGal]

A long list of familiar symptoms to those of us who have pathogens in our bodies. People with lyme disease, sarcoidosis, multiple chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia and many cases of CFS can relate to this:

http://www.marshallprotocol.com/forum2/2588.html

[PlateletGal]

The EBV test can show whether or not you've had EBV in the past or have a current infection. To my understanding, to have CFS, you don't necessarily need to have a positive EBV test. ( link --- http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/ebv.htm ) The latest research on CFS shows that many CFS patients' have been exposed to the herpes virus.

CFS symptoms usually start off with abdominal pain and diarrhea, together with a persistent headache and / or vertigo, with a stiff neck and back, together with generalised myalgia, described as intense and burning. Muscles are tender to palpation and muscle spasm is not uncommon.

In the more severely affected, dizziness is a particularly striking and chronic feature, as is persisting dysequilibrium and ataxia, with patients frequently bumping into things and becoming bruised.

CFS patients' usually have low blood pressure, low uric acid levels and sometimes low cortisol levels.

[ploggin]

Thanks for the link.  I talked my doctor into doing the blood test for EBV, but she's not too optimistic that anything will show up.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've read, if you have it for a long period of time, does it not become hard to detect on the blood test?

I don't think they have checked me for the other viruses you mention either, and I imagine there are many more that cannot be tested for.

One thing of note is that my temperature is always below normal - I don't seem to ever get a fever with this, just tons of symptoms, many of them fitting with CFS.  The soreness and aching in my throat has been one symptom that has waxed and waned through it all though.  

Also, I don't think my white blood cell count is ever elevated on blood tests.

[PlateletGal]

There are some viruses, including HIV, EBV, CMV, that can be detected by a simple blood test. The blood test checks for antibodies to these common viruses.

Also, physicians or technologists use an electron microscopy to detect viruses in babies. Here's a link on that:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol9no3/02-0327.htm