Have You Been Diagnosed With CMV?

[marc11864]

CMV = Cytomegalovirus Infection

Just wondering many of us here have it and if you have had or not had any issues beyond a diagnosis.

Though I was diagnosed with it at the time of my HIV diagnosis, I was only recently "baseline" tested for any affect.

[puertorico2006]

i had it about 2 months ago i was in the acute stage....i guess it was my first time contracting the virus because my cd4's are in the 300 range and not the 50's :-P.....it was a bitch, couldnt swallow for about 2 weeks, slept 12-15 hours a day for almost a month....didnt find out it was that until the end of it because i didnt bother to go to the doctor (i went but checked for anything bacterial not viral)

[Coffeechick88]

I've had it and it was a bitch to deal with.  I knew about the CMV before I knew about the HIV.  Now I realize that I was given both viruses at the same time--so how much of the sickness was the CMV and how much was ARS is really debatable.  I just know at first no one knew what was going on--I presented with a fever of 106 and my CBC showed pancytopenia.  I was put in isolation in the hospital due to the unknown origen and my low white count.  They first thought cancer, so I got a chunk of bone marrow out, that showed nothing, then the ID doctor said a viral process that inhibited my bone marrow was happening.  The tests eventually pointed to an acute infection of CMV.  I believe the bulk of my symptoms were ARS, but CMV explains others.  I couldn't go back to school until my fevers were under control, which I had for almost 2 months.  Then came a case of encephalitis, which needed to be taken care of--luckily mild and caught early.  Then I got retinitis, which had to be treated, but again relatively mild and caught early.  There was the weight loss of 60 pounds in that time period.  There was the horrible fatigue.  Even when my pancytopenia resolved and I finally had normal hemoglobin, that didn't help.  In this period came the HIV diagnosis.  I think in my haze I remember signing a consent form in the hospital and that one being negative (not surprising after only 2 weeks) and they ignored that angle after the CMV was positive.  The HIV test  in May of that year was positive.  Since I had only one exposure, it was easy to track and realize that I was infected with 2 viruses, but it is debatable which one made me the sickest.

[aupointillimite]

I'm positive for it... but my HIV was caught early enough so that it's not given me any trouble thus far.

[whizzer]

50-85% of people are poz for CMV by age 40.  More like 90% in developing countries.

[allopathicholistic]

50-85% of people are poz for CMV by age 40.  More like 90% in developing countries.

do we have to get a cmv test every year?

i tested negative for it in 2005

wow, testing for this-n-that, this-n-that. and we're no longer hiv negative. at least we don't have to take the hiv test anymore --but gee all these tests and constantly staying on top of stuff makes me wanna say hiv should never ever be categorized as a manageable disease. it's much too complex and requires meticulous management

[marc11864]

--but gee all these tests and constantly staying on top of stuff makes me wanna say hiv should never ever be categorized as a manageable disease. it's much too complex and requires meticulous management

BOY, you said it! 

[jerek]

unfortunately i have had cmv retinitis.  the treatment for this sucks!!!