Clonazepam
In my last blog entry I discussed my progress with the drug, Clonazepam. I began taking this treatment on May the 28th 2012 and ceased taking it several days ago. I did not gain any noticeable positive effects from the drug. Prior to taking Clonazepam, I was cautious about using it long-term due to it being troublesome to ween off and because of its potential extended usage side effects. Despite this, the primary reason I stopped taking Clonazepam was my vulnerability to ‘crashing’ over the past 2 months. It may be a spurious similarity that I was taking Clonazepam and ‘crashing’ more frequently however I weighed up all of the above evidence and decided to cease taking the drug.
I was only on a miniscule dosage of 0.125mg and I was able to successfully mitigate this dosage over the period of 2 weeks. This did involve reducing the quarter of a tablet dosage of 0.125mg into fractions of a tablet that resembled grains of sand! Overall, I didn’t experience any definitive positive or negative effects from the Clonazepam nor did I struggle in the process of stopping this drug. Once I stopped the Clonazepam, I seemed to gain slightly more energy suggesting that the Clonazepam may have potentially been responsible for my last 2 months of increased ME symptoms.
Imunovir
Inosine
During 2009, I took Imunovir’s over-the-counter cousin Inosine however this didn’t have any effect on me. Dr. De Meirleir believes that the nutritional supplement Inosine is as effective as the prescription version, inosine pranobex (Imunovir) although this is contentious. Inosine is the active ingredient in Imunovir.
Mechanism of Action
Imunovir may benefit ME patients due to its potential as an:
Antiviral
- It may treat active herpesvirus infections.
Immunomodulator
- It may lower the inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and raise the cytokine IL-12 which in turn may shift the immune system from Th2 dominant to Th1 dominant. Many ME patients have a Th2 dominant immune system.
- It may increase NK cell function and number which are often both deficient in ME patients.
- Imunovir could potentially increase CD4+ T cells which may be reduced in ME patients.
Study
A small study on inosine pranobex, performed by Diaz-Mitoma et al. found that it benefitted 6 out of 10 CFS patients after 28 weeks. In those patients who improved on the drug, their CD4+ T cells and NK cells increased dramatically. The full study can be found here.
My experience with Imunovir
I began taking Imunovir tablets on the 17th of October 2012. I am following a pulse-based dosing schedule while taking Imunovir. This involves taking 6 tablets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while taking only 2 tablets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On weekends I don’t take any tablets. I will follow this schedule for 2 months, cease the drug for 1 month and then resume the drug for 2 more months. I haven’t noticed any positive effects from the Imunovir yet however I will report fully on my progress when I complete the above dosing schedule.
Imunovir may increase uric acid levels and therefore should not be used by those with gout.
Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 
Thanks for this information. It helps me to decide what to do next – not take Clonazepam! Good luck with the imunovir. I hope it helps and I look forward to your next report. I am currently trying graded exercise and meditation. I feel better than I ever did on drugs but still so far to go.
I am an ME/CFS sufferer for about 20 years, and I have held off on the drugs until now. A series of stressful events brought on a big relapse of my symptoms even though I was improving greatly before that. That’s life. I have been on Clonazepam (Klonopin) for a few weeks now, 0.25 mg dose (1/4 of 1 mg pills). It has been wonderful for helping me sleep. Now I am also taking Naltrexone (started Sun 27 Jan), currently 3 mg at night, for immune balancing through endorphin-mediation, but not the Klonopin at the same time. For the first 4 hours of the night, the Naltrexone makes me sleep like a baby, then I wake up from very cool dreams. That’s when I take the Clonazepam for the rest of the night, but without any luck in sleeping, and I toss the rest of the time. Anyone else taking these meds and having similar results? Imunovir is next on the shelf, will start this on Mon 4 Feb in pulsed doses. Any suggestions for supplements to take/avoid with this and what to expect?