Hi, All... I've posted here many times before so I won't get into the torrid detail that so many of us, unfortunately, have. But, I did find something new in my most recent blood work that presented an interesting question and possible hypothetical. My blood work shows a herpes simplex 1 IgG indicating a past infection. I remember as a child getting many nasal and mouth cold sores. Fast forwarding many, many years now. Two years ago I had a horrible virus followed by the onset of body wide neuropathy. Though the virus has been linked to neuropathy, the body wide nature of mine is extreme. Possibly, maybe... could the prolonged nature of my battle with another virus and a lowered immune response have activated the herpes? Until this most recent blood work, I didn't even know I had had it, but I have read that it can lie dormant and later reactivate in nerve cells/axons... am I right? Does this seem like a possible, logical explanation, or am I just reaching?

I certainly do not have the knowledge to answer this but I will tell you another related story. I have hereditary neuropathy, CMT. My eldest son was diagnosed with shingles when he was 10 years old, and evidently it is very rare in children. It affected a nerve that runs from the corner of his eye to his ear and ay affect his vision or hearing some day. At this time we knew nothing of neuropathy. He us now 28, and has inherited my condition with severe symptoms for his age, he is still subject to extremely painful attacks of neuralgia. My doctor has also given me an open prescription for famvir because I too am subject to cold sores. No one else in the family seem to have either CMT, or the herpes simplex.

I do not think it is coincidental, but that the faulty wiring that causes the neuropathy is related to the virus, though I have no idea as to cause and effect, especially since ours is an inherited condition.

The Herpes family and Epstein Barr virus remain in the
body for life.

I personally find taking lysine daily helps squelch attacks.
I use one gram of lysine daily when I eat a lot of peanut
butter like now on vacation or when my shingles pain reactivates.
Vets now also use lysine to treat feline Herpes commonly as
I learned from our Vet.

There is a site on the net with dietary lists of arginine content
Vs. lysine . When ratios of arginine increase and lysine
Becomes lower, the viruses may activate . High arginine
consumption activates virus replication and emergence
Of infection and symptoms.

Google "herpes diet" to find this list. I don't know how
to copy links on this iPhone device yet. Sigh.

The viruses tend to live in the dorsal roots in the peripheral
nervous system along the spine. There is a post in the
subforum above by en bloc with posts explaining new MRIs
for this and also links I found with photos showing
damage there with microscopy.

You can search "dorsal" here on PN and find many
Discussions about dorsal root damage.

So, yes your thoughts on this are valid.

As you probably know but here are some good sites explaining it all.

Good article. Scroll on down to "Diseases".

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedic...ral+neuropathy

Also, "Shingles" is mentioned. Here is that site.

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedic...y.com/Shingles

Any person who has had chicken pox can develop Shingles. It is pretty rare in children but it does happen. A child can have chicken pox with so few of the pox that it is hardly noticeable. But they have had it.

CMT is not the cause of Shingles, cold sores or the like. A site for cold sores.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/col...SECTION=causes

Kitt, I did not mean to imply that CMT caused cold sores! Especially since the original poster doesn't have CMT. I was only proposing that severely malfunctioning nerves might be susceptible to other disorders. Some days I feel like anything could happen and be CMT related. Today I was walking around the yard with the dog thinking my shoe felt a little funny. I took it off and found one of those huge, fat pens in it. CMT has definitely put me in an alternate reality.