If anyone had ever told me a benign
virus that children often contract
could strike me and change
my life forever, I might have
washed my hands a little more often!
Fifth’s disease, otherwise known
as Parvo virus B-19 was the etiological
agent for the sudden barrage
of debilitating symptoms I
experienced, which included
chronic full body joint and muscle
pain that within a week had me
nearly wheelchair bound. My life
was changed forever. At the time,
the devastating effects of Parvo
virus B-19 for adult women in particular
were just coming to the
forefront.
Much happened very quickly and I
found myself in hospitals on more
than one occasion and meeting
with top doctors at the Center for
Joint Diseases in NY and other NY
hospitals. I was an enigma for
them all. I thought I might run out
of blood with all the tests that were
being done. The term fibromyalgia
was thrown out there by a few
doctors, but was disputed by others
due to the high fevers I endured.
This was almost twenty-five years
ago when little was known about
fibromyalgia let alone how to treat
it. None of the current medicine
used such as Lyrica, Neurontin and
Savella were even in clinical trials
yet. It took almost two years before
physicians finally figured out
what virus was turning my life and
my family upside down. My children
were two and five years old.
Through my own perseverance and
strength, which I credit my ironwilled
Irish mother for, I came upon
research recently published in
the Lancet and New England Journal
of Medicine stating that doctors
in Europe were experimenting
with IV Gamma Globulin for acute
By Nancy Laracy
cases of Parvo virus. Mine was
acute by anyone’s definition.
I had difficulty convincing my
rheumatologist that I needed this
treatment. It was apparent that his
ego could not handle the fact that I
had found cutting edge research
before he did. I was crushed but
not defeated. I called the CDC in
Atlanta Georgia and in under a minute
two physicians came to the
phone and requested that I send
them my blood results. It seems
they were looking for people like
me in the United States to study.
The CDC referred me to a more
cutting-edge rheumatologist in
New Jersey and I began receiving
IV gamma globulin, once a month
for six months. At no cost to me.
The infusions were ten thousand
dollars a treatment at the time. I
learned early in my adult life that
your ONE voice does matter. Had
I not made that call, I am not sure
where I would be today.
As a result of the infusions, after
14—iPain Living Magazine