Several questions...the doctor's advice forum I was at has closed off questions, so hopefully no one minds this looooong post with questions...just thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone has any insight...

1. what harm does one do oneself if you DON'T take any meds for g. herpes ? I think I've been a TOTAL MORON and actually made things worse for myself because of the way I've taken/not taken meds: I've had g. herpes (hsv2) for about 7 years. I started and stopped taking daily suppressives therapy (famciclovir/Famvyr) severla times, and then for the last several years haven't been on meds, just tried to eat right, sleep right, exercises, etc. I didn't keep records of outbreaks, but I'm pretty sure that when I did, they were sort of minor, mostly the prodrome bit. Mostly the fuzzing,burning feeling in about 3 spots around my vagina, occassionally tiny breaks, but nothing that I really stressed out too much and they'd go away. And not having any sexual partners, I worried even less...whch is dumb, because hindsight makes me think, "who cares about partners or lack thereof: take care of self first!". Anyway, recently, I went through some pretty severe emotional stress and then had a severe outbreak with the blisters, pain down the back of my leg, soreness, tingling, burning...quite a few of the symptoms and now, prolonged. It has been I'm sure more than 12 months if not longer since I had such a severity of outbreak. After a couple of weeks of this (stupid, I know), I figured I was not doing myself any favours living in denial and went to the doctor again and got two perscriptions: one to to deal with the outbreak (3x/day) and a second for 1x/daily if I felt I needed it (I do and am now starting that regimen). I've been re-reading my literature on g. herpes and meds, etc., and somewhere, I came across something that if you don't take meds, you increase the liklihood of all over body infection (?). Egad. What does that mean, what are the implications, and what are the implications for myself. I'm really worried about that and I'm starting to get a little overly paranoid that I'm going to have a brain tumur now or something. Have I let the virus beat my immune system into submission or what, or will it recover somewhat? I thought I was pretty healthy up to this point, but lately, I really feel like I took a beating. So now I'm inclined to stay on meds for life, at least as long as my company's benefits cover the cost. I'm not to keen on side effects (light feathery itching [drives me insane] and fatigue mostly), but I think I need something to supplement getting my life back together (good food, exercise, sleep). i guess I'm also worried that my outbreak isn't going to go away...I don't want to face it, but I've pretty much been active for a flipping month now. Is that also partly because I didn't take meds right away? What do I do? I keep kicking myself because I should have thought I MUST take meds, as opposed to thinking, it's an option. Could I have made it so that a complication of "recurrent disease" (?) is now daily?

2. Does Famciclovir interact negatively with:
a.) L-Lycine supplements (500 mg/day)
b.) Salmon and fish oil supplements (1000 mg/day)
c.) Flaxseed oil supplements (1000 mg/day)

3. vitamin C is supposed to boost immune system functions, but I read somewhere that when having an outbreak or even in general, to cut out acidic liquids, like OJ. So just to confirm, is that true, is it the acid one should avoid, or is it Vitamin C? I sometimes take Vitamin C supplements or add a tiny bit of Calcium ascorbate power to water (blech) or juice or smoothies and then wondered if I've been eating too many acidic fruits. But I can't imagine Vitamin C would be a bad thing when having an outbreak? Anyway, some clarity on that would be good.

4.) If one does have side effects, what other options are there? Should I switch to another brand? Actually, a note: the 10 day, 3x/day routine was on a generic version; the daily suppressive that I'm starting now is the actual med Famvir (famciclovir).

5.) How much does past medical history affect things? E.g., When I was a teen, I had mono. ?

6.) Should I have mentioned that in 2004 I had a bunch of vaccinations; do these affect a.) my immune system in a negative way and b.) use of Famvir now? IE, I had vacs for Japanese Encephalitis, Hep A and B, Typhoid, etc...the usual round. Although no malaria pills...I think I would have remembered the side effects from those. And actually, I forgot to get the second shot for the Hep A and B round (I was overseas at the time and totally freaked to remember getting that second shot, oddly enough)...just how bad is that? When I finally got the second shot, the doctor said not to worry about the delay, but I was in a country where sometimes if it's bad news, they actually don't tell you...and there was a language barrier. Good enough for me at the time, but maybe I'd better hear the bad stuff now? I lived and still live a boring life with basically zero exposure to sexual partners/activity.

Anyway, thanks for your time.

4.) If one does have side effects, what other options are there? Should I
switch to another brand? Actually, a note: the 10 day, 3x/day routine was on a generic version; the daily suppressive that I'm starting now is the actual med Famvir (famciclovir).

5.) How much does past medical history affect things? E.g., When I was a teen, I had mono. ? My granddad had herpes zoster. I had chicken pox. I think I 'm getting totally paranoid...

6.) Should I have mentioned when getting the perspcription that in 2004 I had a bunch of vaccinations; do these affect a.) my immune system in a negative way and b.) use of Famvir now? IE, I had vacs for Japanese Encephalitis, Hep A and B, Typhoid, etc...the usual round. Although no malaria pills...I think I would have remembered the side effects from those. And actually, I forgot to get the second shot for the Hep A and B round (I was overseas at the time and totally freaked to remember getting that second shot, oddly enough)...just how bad is that? When I finally got the second shot, the doctor said not to worry about the delay, but I was in a country where sometimes if it's bad news, they actually don't tell you...and there was a language barrier. Good enough for me at the time, but maybe I'd better hear the bad stuff now? I lived and still live a boring life with basically zero exposure to sexual partners/activity. Just wondering if those vaccs somehow interfere with my meds now, and/or if they actually aggravate the herpes virus...or something...

Anyway, thanks for your time. and apologies for length again.

HHH's forum is I assume where you were talking about? I'm over there as gracefromhhp. I'll address some of your concerns for you here - I won't address them in both forums.

First of all you never, ever, ever have to treat your herpes if you don't want to. I know folks who have never taken a herpes antiviral. They aren't any "worse" than the rest of us. Herpes antivirals only work to shorten ob's when taken episodically. They do not have to be taken suppressively to keep the virus from "infecting your whole body" or however you put it. You are worrying yourself way too much about this!!! Suppressive therapy is a personal choice - not something you have to take for life to protect yourself. The vast majority of folks do not take suppressive therapy throughout the world.

From my own personal experience whenever I've had a humdinger of an ob that doesn't want to heal up on its own within a week, week and a half - it's because there's something else going on in my body. For myself it's usually vaginitis. I know in others they've had similar experiences. You didn't mention if you are male or female but if you have an ob that doesn't want to heal up on its own - go see your doctor for a full work up. You were going thru a lot of stress - probably your body's defenses in general are down. This doesn't mean that from here on out your herpes will go hog wild all the time or anything!!

None of the things you've mentioned are an issue.

Famvir must be taken twice a day to be effective suppressively. You can't just take it once a day. If you are going to take a twice a day medication - you might as well just stay on acyclovir. Also I'm not sure why you were prescribed acyclovir for a 10 day course - this is a recurrence, not a brand spankin new infection so there's no need for that much medication especially this late into things.

betsy

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