As we welcome the new year, I find myself thinking about the patients through my and some of the surprises we’ve consistently seen that have challenged our team to be better practitioners.
Today, I thought I’d share one of the most surprising hormone-immune system connections we’ve seen in the clinic.
My team spoke to over 100 women that were suffering from endometriosis and/or PCOS and/or period troubles, like PMS, PMDD, or period pain. When we compared their medical history, we found that a high percentage mentioned a history of either Epstein-Barr virus or glandular fever.
It prompted me to do more research because this seemed like more of a consistent possible causation of the period problems, and less of a scientific guess.
As a result, today, I’ve since collected research from further studies, mostly in Europe, pointing to what is now in the hypothesis stage of the origin of period problems, some peri & post menopausal symptoms, and many autoimmune conditions.
Since March 2021, we’ve ran hundreds of tests to further explain the probability of an under-lying Epstein-Barr virus being a causation to many of the symptoms patients have.
- So what is it about glandular fever that causes disruption for women, in particular?
- Stage 1: Initial Exposure & Infection.
- Stage 2: Diagnosis & Glandular Fever hits. [This is technically the Glandular Fever]
- Stage 3: Epstein-Barr shows itself as a stealth virus.
- Patient 1: Period problems or Menstrual Condition Diagnosis
- Patient 2: Epstein-Barr Thyroid Connection
- Patient 3: The strong connection between Epstein-Barr and Autoimmune Conditions.
- Patient 4: Peri-Menopause activated the NeuroEndoMetabolic Response
So what is it about glandular fever that causes disruption for women, in particular?
Few people realise that there are four stages of this virus, and the final two stages can take years to eliminate from the body. Many studies suggest that the virus goes dormant and doesn’t actually go away.
Yet when women go to the doctor with thyroid issues, Hashimoto’s, or period problems, the last thing they think to connect is glandular fever!
Let’s walk through the three most relevant stages of the viruses as it pertains to today’s discussion:
Stage 1: Initial Exposure & Infection.
Many do not experience symptoms. The virus lurks in the blood stream, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Such an opportunity may come at a time of hormone changes, chronic stress, or if your not eating right (insert 16 to 20 year old party girl here).
Stage 2: Diagnosis & Glandular Fever hits. [This is technically the Glandular Fever]
You may develop mild or more severe symptoms and are most contagious. Blood work confirms the viruses existence.
After this stage, accurate assessment of the virus becomes more difficult.
Stage 3: Epstein-Barr shows itself as a stealth virus.
(This is the stage that is most interesting that we’re keeping a close eye on as it seems to will be connected as a key origin to many patient’s suffering.)
The virus resides in one or more of your organs and leads to inflammation without triggering your immune system. Blood work at this stage may indicate antibodies showing a previous infection.
Even though the lab work may indicate no active infection, the virus can still cause health problems.
Your immune system may no longer attack the virus because it remains hidden. However, the added inflammation caused by the virus increases the risk of developing into one of the three categorical problems we see in the clinic.
Patient 1: Period problems or Menstrual Condition Diagnosis
When the Biomed Scientific & Tech papers published a study looking at the DNA and chromosome make up of the lesion cells within endometriosis it stated, “the chromosomal instability is an alteration of the chromosome constitution occurring in various pathological conditions, such as the fundamental property of neoplastic cells, chronic inflammatory conditions, infectious diseases and diseases induced by herpes, human papilloma, and Epstein-Barr viruses.”
PCOS studies are finding very similar evidence in the gram bacteria that cohabitates with Epstein-Barr virus to the gram bacteria in the cysts.
When we do stool tests (see a sample in the image to the right), we find that our patients suffering from endometriosis, fibroids, adenomyosis, PCOS, PMDD, and that suffer from period problems that have no diagnosis, a majority of the time they carry high bacteria loads like streptococcus.
Interestingly, they may not arrive with sore throats,running noses, coughing or fevers.
Many times, in addition to the glandular fever history, these women also have a history of going on and off antibiotics, tonsillitis, bronchitis, asthma, having tonsils removed, having adenoids removed, and/or grommets put in.
This compromises the immune system, making the microbiome more susceptible and the virus to escape or attack the cells (as seen in the third and fourth patient below).
Patient 2: Epstein-Barr Thyroid Connection
Hashimoto’s is the most common autoimmune thyroid condition we see at the clinic. (Though it doesn’t get diagnosed in nearly 90% of our patients until we ask for proper testing.)
The Epstein-Barr thyroid connection involves the inflammation and hormone circuits of the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Response mechanism. This mechanism works to enable your body to deal with stress that your adrenal glands can’t handle through their release of cortisol.
The Inflammation circuit consists of your immune system, the gut, and the microbiome.
If you have a dysfunction of this circuit, your gut and microbiome are prone to entering a state of dysbiosis with an imbalance of healthy bacteria versus unhealthy bacteria. This results in a “leaky gut”, which allows pathogens into your bloodstream. Once this occurs, your immune system can become hyperactive due to the volume of foreign pathogens invading your body.
This becomes the foundation for autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis when a trigger such as Epstein-Barr becomes active.
Patient 3: The strong connection between Epstein-Barr and Autoimmune Conditions.
Hashimoto’s, Lupus, Coeliac, MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, IBD, and Diabetes were profiled amongst a thousand patients in a control group by a leading research centre on the Epstein-Barr virus.
Each diagnosed patient was initially assessed to see if he or she had a history of Epstein-Barr virus, and 92% of them said yes.
When tested further to see if the virus was still present, more than 50% of the control group tested positive for the virus.
The actual virus weakens the immune system, which makes it more difficult to fight infection. It often hides in the body and does not fully die off.
In stage 3 of the Epstein-Barr virus, it chooses which organ or system in your body to hide in.
Even after this, however, the virus can leave that organ and attack other places in your body, including your thyroid, using the patient 3 example above. Once the virus enters your thyroid, it can actually kill thyroid cells, leading to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
If leaky gut is triggered by the NEM Response, and the immune system becomes hyperactive. This leads to your immune system attacking healthy tissue in its efforts to protect your body, which is the simple definition of an autoimmune condition.
Patient 4: Peri-Menopause activated the NeuroEndoMetabolic Response
The NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Response causes Hormone Dysfunction & Inflammation.
The hormonal circuit of the NEM consists of the ovaries in females, the adrenal glands, and the thyroid. When you come under stress from any source, your adrenal glands release cortisol to help you deal with the effects of this stress.
The change in reproductive hormones often create a stress event, which begins to trigger the hormone circuit of the NEM.
The organs involved in this circuit depend on each other hormonally for optimal functioning. If one becomes overwhelmed, it affects the others. With weakened adrenal functioning due to chronic stress, you are likely to also experience metabolic dysfunction and problems with the menstrual cycle.
In the same way, if your thyroid is under-productive, it may cause further weakening of your adrenals. If you suffer from oestrogen dominance due to ovarian hormone imbalance, it will likewise exacerbate any hypothyroidism you experience.
We find women that have had challenging periods or have been diagnosed with endometriosis, PCOS, adenomyosis, or PMDD can struggle the most because this is a significant hormone change which creates an exacerbation of symptoms during peri-menopause, and there’s often metabolic changes early into peri-menopause.
I am constantly looking for research to help us further explain WHY the Epstein-Barr virus has had such a big impact on the reproductive hormones and I wanted to share what I’ve found so far (in case you have a history and are starting to notice niggling symptoms popping up)…
Most of us go to the doctor and fail to think of bacteria or a past virus as a hormone problem or a metabolic problem. I’ve shared many tears of joy with patients when we finally find the source of the problem, identify what needs to be done, and fix it.
We actually find that our bacteria testing has been more conclusive in finding either the virus or the gram bacteria levels that we can treat specifically. Unfortunately, this topic just has very little clinical research available.
I hope that you have found this helpful and insightful. It’s taken us nearly two years to gather enough research to even elicit this hypothesis.
This article is really devoted to you feeling more empowered and more in control of your body!
Warmly,
Carrie
Clinical Researcher
PS – If you have resonated with this article and want to hear about treatment options, we would love to help you! You can organise a free introductory consultation with us here:
