Ross river virus,who's had it.

[PAT303]

So after a trip to Mandurah checking out some fishing spots I came away with RRV,that was quite some months ago and caused me to quit work as it completely knocked me on my arse,it also cost me a middle ear infection so next month I'm off for a bit of surgery to get a new ear drum and hearing aids as my hearing is now negative 90,at negative 100 you are officially deaf.Anyway the other afternoon I was rebedding my enfield N04 in the shed when I just felt funny,next thing I know the worlds spinning around my head and I got inside only to fill the bath with lunch,clogging the drain so I had to push the lumpy bits through with my fingers and feeling like crap.I've been OK the past few weeks but it came back with a vengeance,Tracey had to take a few days off work which wasn't too bad but how long is this thing going to plaque me?,has anyone had it or knows someone who has and how long did it take to recover?,I'm over it. Pat

[rovercare]

I guess, atleast on that fishing trip, alteast you caught something:eek:

Does it ever go away? I'm not sure it does

Mozzies, most dangerous critter on the face of the planet

[loanrangie]

I've had malaria which i believe RRV is like, it never leaves your system.
3 years after i first caught it in Malawi i got sick with it while working in Adelaide, rushed to an infectious diseases clinic in Nth Adelaide and they also found i had an unknown parasite in my blood :o.
Really knocks you about, i lost my sight for a few hours and ended up in hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

[rovercare]

I've had malaria which i believe RRV is like, it never leaves your system.
3 years after i first caught it in Malawi i got sick with it while working in Adelaide, rushed to an infectious diseases clinic in Nth Adelaide and they also found i had an unknown parasite in my blood :o.
Really knocks you about, i lost my sight for a few hours and ended up in hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Malaria is meant to be far worse, we carry MSK (malaria survival kits) when back home, apparently most people die from vector borne diseases in non hazardous countries as they don't check for it and with malaria it can be a few days.....locals here that have had it, say its horrendous

[incisor]

yep had ross river fever and / or burmah river fever according to my doctors though thy were not certain of the diagnosis 100%

no doctor by any stretch but my observations are

it affects people two ways

some people it constantly reoccurs and in others it lays dormant till you have been badly weakened and then it bites again. the people where it goes dormant seem to get the symptoms far worse than those that get the recurring version.

at it's worst i was barely able to walk down the stairs at home. i just couldn't get the body to do anything at normal pace

aching bones and muscles, i had a shocking headache in the center of the back of my head that took weeks to dissipate.

first inkling i had that there was something wrong was i woke up with a rash on my right hand. in an hour it marched up my arm across my chest and was heading downwards.

rang my doctor and he was skeptical to say the least, by the time i got to
his surgery i was covered in the rash... luckily i took pics :p

years later, when i was diagnosed with diabetes i thought i had another dose of ross river... affected me in a similar fashion.

fun it aint...

[jx2mad]

I caught it 15 or so years ago. Woke up one morning and my whole body was totally stiff. I couldn't move my head, arms or move my hips. Talk about almost screaming in pain just to try to move. It took me about 2 hours to manage to get out of bed and it was 4pm before I could bend my hips enough to get into the car so I could be taken to the doctors. I was given a huge cortisone shot and the blood test came back positive. Because it is a notifiable disease I had to have followup test t0 verify that was what I had. Stupid thing was that the next day I had no symptoms and played 9 holes of golf. About 4 years ago I woke with the exact same symptoms so I thought it must be a flare-up. However the doctor said it doesn't recur, and I was diagnosed with Poly Myalgia Rheumatica which means many rheumatic pains. Same damn symptoms for my liking. Ever since then I am on 20mg of prednisone so I can do anything at all. Even now if I push myself a bit too hard, like using the brush cutter etc it flares up and I am forced to hibernate for a day or two until it settles down. I am dreading the day I have to jack the car up and change a wheel. I mightn't be able to loosen the wheel nuts. Jim

[p38arover]

It has been reported here in western Sydney - I don't know if it's because of the Nepean River.

[PAT303]

So it's all positive then :(. Pat

[Chops]

We were parenoid about catching this a couple of years ago, as two of our neighbours had it.
One had it for probably about 18 months, and the other about 5 years (?). Both women, and both were virtualy bed ridden for the start, but took ages to get to a point where they could do much. Constantly tired and feeling drained of energy.

Hope you can get through it alot faster than they did Pat. Good luck dude.

[Tank]

20 years ago when I first moved down the coast my neighbour at the bottom of the hill(nearest the marshlands)used to laugh at me because he could smell me coming yards off (Aerogard or Bushman). Mozzies were bad at my place (top of hill) but plague proportions down at the marsh.
Anyway he ended up with RRV and still suffers from it, another mate thought he had RRV, turned out to be Bowel Cancer, he died 3 months after diagnosis.
I always have some Aerogard or Bushman with me at home or when I go camping prevention is certainly better than the cure, or in this case, non-cure, regards Frank.

[Jack ANT]

G'day Pat,

I did get RRV in the early nineties, surprisingly enough from the Ross River! go figure. It was also diagnosed as Poly Arthritis. I became a pin cushion for the Malaria Institute as they also study RRV. Symptoms you and others describe lasted for about 5 - 6 months then had occasional bouts for about 2 yrs and nothing since.

When it was bad nothing helped and you'd end up in hospital overnite and they'd just put you out.
It does stay in your blood so any decent blood test will show the inactive antibodies in your blood. Sorry to hear about the hearing loss I guess I was lucky with no serious long term effects.

Only suggestion to help is low doses of aspirin everyday your affected and Ibuprofen when the joint pain kicks in. I found Panadol or even Panadol Forte does SFA.

Best of luck with it.

ANT

[benji]

My old boss had rrs, and my mother in law has it too.
My boss took 3 months off work, and knocked him rotten (sorry). A few years on now he needs to take a week off every few months because of fatigue, but is getting better.
The mother in law still had bad days from it, but only occasionally.
Some recover better than others.

I do feel sorry for you, definately not a nice thing!

Sent from my GT-I9305T using AULRO mobile app

[Mocky]

I had it for about 6 months before i was cured, was a fitter in the cat shop at whaleback at the time. You must keep moving, the worst thing you can do is stop moving as you will have joint problems later.
During the time I had RRV I just worked as usual, people that don't , some have been bed ridden for years.
There is a naturopath in Busselton that had a remedy which worked for me and a few other people I know.
I don't know if she is still there as it was over 10 years ago that I contracted the virus.
Send me a PM for more details

Mocky

[Grappler]

I got a dose of rrv about 10 years ago. Had no idea what was causing the aches in the legs an wicked headaches. A medic on a rig suggested RRV, so got some path tests which came back positive. In WA is was a notafiable disease and had to report to health dept for an interwiew

[PAT303]

I'm pretty much getting all the same ill's,at the moment my backs killing me and I've had a head ache since sunday.You have to wonder what Moses was thinking taking two mozzie's on the ark.Thanks everyone for the well wishes. Pat

[LandyAndy]

Could be a wives tale.
Have heard that a decent blast from an electric fence can sort it.
Im sure a DR Google will help.
Andrew

[Chops]

Could be a wives tale.
Have heard that a decent blast from an electric fence can sort it.
Im sure a DR Google will help.
Andrew

Dunno if it'd help or not,,, but can I watch, cause if its anything like this,,, I'll near wet myself :Rolling:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=875133375847993

[jx2mad]

I am off to see my Rheumatologist tomorrow. He is going to freak out at my level of prednisone, particularly since I was down to 6 mg a day until the latest blowup. He had me on methatrexate for just over 2 years. Did it make me feel crook. It has ruined my tastebuds so I have a lot of my food splashed with tomato sauce to give it some taste. I went off this med. 18 months ago so I could have my second knee replacement and feeling so well again I never went bask on it. Taste is still affected but not quite so bad.

[PAT303]

Could be a wives tale.
Have heard that a decent blast from an electric fence can sort it.
Im sure a DR Google will help.
Andrew

Ok but I'm scared of electric fences so can you hold my hand :twisted:. Pat

[jx2mad]

Many years ago as a youngster in our local volunteer brigade I was wearing a leaking knapsack (as they all seem to do) and straddled a fence to climb over. Unfortunately it had a hot wire around the top and I copped a belt in the unmentionables. It was said that I rose 10 feet into the air :mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Grappler]

Could be a wives tale.
Have heard that a decent blast from an electric fence can sort it.
Im sure a DR Google will help.
Andrew

Tried it! Didn't work for me. Although I only tried the "treatment" the once

[d2dave]

Yep, I've had it. Was about 06. As it takes a while before the quacks can diagnose it, I suspected that I might have had it. Saw a doctor after about four days and he told me I had arthritis.

I told him crapp, I was fine four days ago and I suddenly have arthritis and he said it can happen and I said well it hasn't happened to me.

Anyhow as I suspected RRV, I did a **** load of research on it, to the point that when diagnosed I new far more than my doctor.

I suggest to the OP'er that he does the same. From my research this is what I learnt.

You do recover
Once recovered you can't get it again.
Average recovery time three months although can take two years
Some get it worse than others.

Disclaimer.
The above information is based on research done 7 odd years ago, so could have changed

I was lucky that my RRV was at the better end of the severity scale. My recovery was 11 weeks, one week shy of average and I have since had no re-occurrence.

[jx2mad]

I am into my fifth year with no sign of letup. There is no indication of arthritis either, just the muscle pain and stiffness around the joints. Jim

[d2dave]

I am into my fifth year with no sign of letup. There is no indication of arthritis either, just the muscle pain and stiffness around the joints. Jim

Jim. Although I am not a doctor all my research suggests that what you have is no longer RRV.

If you did have it, it should be long gone and you possibly have something else, believing it is still RRV.

A quote from
Ross River Virus - Queensland Health (http://access.health.qld.gov.au/hid/InfectionsandParasites/Viralinfections/rossRiverVirus_fs.asp)

"Everybody who becomes infected with Ross River virus will recover, however, the time taken to recover fully is prolonged in some people."

This is just one of many websites all saying the same or similar.

[JackH]

I had RRV for 5 years. Started with a rash then every joint in my body ached, blinding headaches and chronic fatigue. I was bedridden for weeks then on and off work for months.

None of the over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs worked then my Dr tried me on Orudus 200mg SR. That worked in stopping the joint pain but I had to watch my diet as certain foods would bring on attack. I couldn't eat any seafoods, especially oysters or prawns, chicken and pork for years.

I am totally over it now but the only lasting effect it had on me was memory loss; some periods of my life and events I just can't recall.

I did meet a guy who also had RRV very badly and his speech was affected; slurs his words like he is drunk.

My sympathies to anyone who gets it bad. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

[incisor]

I am totally over it now but the only lasting effect it had on me was memory loss; some periods of my life and events I just can't recall.

yeah forgot that one.. pardon the pun

i suffered the same.

[jx2mad]

I have a friend who was diagnosed about 10 years ago with RRV and he hasn't been able to work since. Jim

[GregTD5]

Had Ross River diagnosed in 94, as I was totally fatigued and knocked out all day, as eel as the rash on arms and body. Knocked me out for a long time and I suspected that it was recurring at times when I got run down.
It seems to affect people differently, as there you may or may not get all the symptoms. My wife had it at same time as me, but she came good in 3 months, whereas, I was out for for close to a year and felt lousy for a lot longer.
A big problem, I noted, was losing fitness and the inability to be able to regain it.

Greg

[malleefowl]

I first had Rr in 1994.Usual symptoms ,rash fever etc Worst part was being left quite arthritic .Still have times when get out of bed and can't put feet flat on floor.Many stretches later ok.Left me quite arthritic at age 50 but still going 20 yrs later Slower!!!!
One niece had been diagnosed as having had 2 different strains of the virus and has severe symptoms .It seems to affect people differently According to their???.