Interesting. I can't find anything online about it. I kinda sorta trust the practitioners but that's still pretty weird to recommend to someone with a virus. I'd like to know what kind of research they did. Glad to hear that it helps you in some way though. What are the symptoms like, and why did someone on reddit say 90% of the population has this already? It had a lot of upvotes so I guessed it was correct but reddit is also a place that tends to make no sense. Real forums are better overall.
EBV is transmitted through saliva, primarily, hence the colloquial name “the kissing disease”. That is to say, mononucleosis or “mono” for short is one phase that the virus goes through.
This is all to lead up to the fact that people also encounter each other’s saliva during childhood years, especially when, as infants and toddlers, people put almost everything in their mouths. Babies drool on stuff and other babies pick that stuff up and gum at it or maybe chew depending on if they are teething or not.
Since this is essentially impossible to stop, this virus rides in through the saliva that babies and toddlers are swapping and virtually everyone gets exposed. Most people have an immune system that is strong enough to contain it and they do not experience any symptoms. Another group goes through an episode of mono in high school but that’s the end of it.
A minority of us suffers repeated waves of viral onslaughts and the symptoms get progressively worse, sometimes leaping to another plateau which not only worsens the symptoms that were already there but develops new symptoms as it invaded other areas of the body, like when it goes from the liver, to the thyroid, to the brain, secreting toxins—some of which are neurotoxins—, causing inflammation, and generally wreaking havoc everywhere they go.
Hopefully the was not too long winded. That’s the rundown of how 90% of the population has this, yet few of us suffer debilitating symptoms over the long term.
The dehydration is a concern. Dr Kasia Kines wrote a book called The Epstein-Barr Virus Solution. I don’t know if that portion is available online but the book may be at a public library. It’s kind of an expensive book to buy just for this question.
She doesn’t give any guidance about what form the kava is in: traditional, extract, concentrate, capsules, or tinctures, etc, or what doses. It’s one of a variety of herbs she recommends.
I also use CBG mostly, CBD on occasion and THC fairly regularly as well. Much of the time, as little as 1mg each CBD, CBG, and THC but there are episodes of “break through” anxiety that just blow right past breathing exercises and DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy) EFT tapping and another practice called havening.
All types of kava ease my stress, but the heaviest strains do reduce the pain enough that I notice. The heavy strains also don’t make the problems falling asleep any worse and they help me stay asleep. I still don’t feel well but there is a mild lingering sedation that somehow paradoxically seems to relieve some fatigue.
I notice that I’m less reactive. I still sense things as usual, but I have a sense of being grounded. I’m still feeling what I’m feeling but I’m less likely to fight it and I don’t go overboard as much. I’m far from healthy at my best but kava definitely helps.
It brings sentimentality to the surface and allows greater empathy but sometimes I end up dwelling on romantic fantasies. When the fantasy breaks after I concentrate on something that suits where I am in my life, I feel a sinking feeling in my stomach and some hard feelings in my heart but it evens out and I just feel relaxed.
Everything I’ve tried that provides that level of symptom relief comes with side effects like amnesia, compulsive shopping, giving personal possessions away at random, psychosis, and suicidal ideation. The benzos block the anxiety but they also block everything. That can be a relief but it’s a lesser misery.
Kava has its own side effects from mild nausea to intense dizziness as well as dermo which is horribly annoying but I feel more lucid and my attitude improves. I’m also getting EMDR to get closer to the core, but kava gives some relief.
More than anything, kava is the only thing so have found that reliably soothes the erratic residual sciatica. It was once a white hot star but now it has collapsed and become a pulsar. That’s not accurate but even though the pain is mild to moderate, it is the seemingly random pulses of pain and the way they vary in intensity and duration that disturbs my sleep because I can’t get used to it.
I have to check in with an accountability partner who is also a good friend to ensure my relationship with kava is reasonably healthy. I need to eat now. Maybe this is too much already but there are a few more things to add like about how the relief from anxiety probably makes the body absorb more of the water and use it better even though there is less of it in the body, but that is speculation. If it would be worth your while for me to continue, I will at a later time. Let me know.
