Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) from Shingles?

Hi and welcome to my blog, which is about how I ended up being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). It explaining how I believe I ended up with this condition, how it has affected me and how I am trying to deal with it at the moment.

My initial blog posts give you the history of how I believe I ended up being finally diagnosed with CFS. If you read the numbered posts that you see in the Blog Archive list to the right starting from number 1 "What is this all about?" then you will read my story below in the correct sequence.

I hope you find this blog interesting and will give some feedback if you believe you have CFS from the same cause as mine and perhaps indicate if and what treatment or strategies etc are helping you to recover or deal with your CFS.


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Flunarizine tablets some signs of headache reduction

I had to stop the Valproate tablets I had been taking as the stomach problems were bad and did not appear to be get any better with time, but these tablets had given me some improvement in my headaches.

My consultant then suggested I try Flunarizine 5mg tablets which I take at night.

For the first  few weeks there was no change in my headache and no noticeable side effects. Then in the following weeks I have started to see some reduction in my headache level, but I still have a headache all day every day.

The consultant indicated that I should continue with Flunarizine for 3 month before making any medication changes as I should see continual improvement over this time.

I will keep you posted on how it works out.

Valproate (Epilim Chrono) tablets some signs of headache reduction

The next treatment my consultant prescribed for my migraine/headaches was Valproate (Epilim Chrono) 200mg controlled release tablets. I had to start on 200mg (that's one tablet) a day and increase it by 200mg every 10 days up to 800mg per day.

When I started taking 400mg a day I started to notice some reductions in my headache some days, but I still had a headache all day every day. I started to get some stomach problems at this dosage and things only got worse, stomach wise, as I increased the dosage. I only managed 2 days on 800mg per day and had to reduce it to 400mg per day as the stomach problems were very bad.

I am currently trying to continue on 400mg Valproate per day, but I am still getting stomach problems, however, my consultant is hoping this might pass. As Valproate is the first medication my consultant has prescribed that has shown any sign of reducing my headaches (all be it a small reduction) I want to try and give it the best trial I can. However I may have to stop it if the site effects don't reduce.

Other slight side effects I have had on Valproate are:-

Increase in tiredness.
Weird dreams.
Feeling a bit low.
Reduced motivation (why do today what you can leave until tomorrow type feelings!).

Botox injections did not help my migraine

It has been several months now since my Botox injections treatment for my migraine and unfortunately for me it made no significant difference to my headaches, as I still have a headache all day every day.
This was very disappointing as I was very hopeful that such a direct form of treatment would help. I wonder if it might have been more successful if the injections had all been more concentrated in the area of my headache i.e. the forehead. But apparently the approved method of injecting Botox for migraine is not to "chase the pain" i.e. just inject in the area of the headache, but to inject around the head, neck and shoulders.

Just waiting now to find out what my consultant wants to try next.