Arrgh, I just want to share my frustration with everyone. I need to vent, I guess. I'm taking acyclovir for suppressive therapy and it just isn't working. I eat a diet high in lysine and low in arginine, I take L-Lysine, I take 2grams of Vitamin C daily, I use H-Balm AND spray with hydrogen peroxide, I eat a VERY healthy and wholesome diet, I'm not really stressed out, I eat a ton of garlic everyday, and I use Lemon Balm. Since I've had herpes, since February, I think, I've only had about 4-5 OB free days. Today, a HUGE OB is starting, and 1,200mg of acyclovir isn't suppressing it! The white bumps really are looking as if they might blister, and the itching and tingling pain up my leg is unbearable! My mom keeps saying that there is no way that I'm this "unusual" and have this many OB's, but I know because I am the one feeling it. I have tried to offer hope and support for people on this board with herpes because you CAN live a wonderful life and have herpes, but I feel like the only one who isn't getting better on antivirals AND living a smart and healthy lifestyle. I'm so frustrated because I think I've had sex two or three times since since whole herpes thing came about, and my relationship with my boyfriend is suffering horribly. It seems like acyclovir MAY be helping in that I don't get huge blisters that scab over, but I still get OB's CONTINUOUSLY. I tried Valtrex and it made me feel terrible, but maybe I should give that another try? I think the whole problem with me is that my immune system is compromised from having CFS (which is believed to be an immune disorder), but either way, I'm starting to get really depressed about having herpes. :-(

I feel for you. The only thing I can suggest is to try one of the two alternative treatments that some of us have had success with. Airborne Health has been a tremendous help for me. I'm not saying it's perfect but I have gone from having daily outbreaks to having an 8 day period of no outbreaks my first time and then 14 days in a row of no outbreaks the second time. Obviously my body was lacking something and the ingredients in it are based on eastern medicine plus electrolytes etc and I have to believe that it has given me exactly what my body was needing to help fight this virus. Keepsgoin and Blonder are using OOO and OLE and seem to both be having tremendous success. So just give either/both of these alternative treatments a try. It can't hurt. I still am taking Famvir but am taking the Airborne with my morning pill. I only take it with my evening pill if I'm feeling run down. Give it a shot . . . each of us have had immediate results with the alternative treatments.


Arrgh, I just want to share my frustration with everyone. I need to vent, I guess. I'm taking acyclovir for suppressive therapy and it just isn't working. I eat a diet high in lysine and low in arginine, I take L-Lysine, I take 2grams of Vitamin C daily, I use H-Balm AND spray with hydrogen peroxide, I eat a VERY healthy and wholesome diet, I'm not really stressed out, I eat a ton of garlic everyday, and I use Lemon Balm. Since I've had herpes, since February, I think, I've only had about 4-5 OB free days. Today, a HUGE OB is starting, and 1,200mg of acyclovir isn't suppressing it! The white bumps really are looking as if they might blister, and the itching and tingling pain up my leg is unbearable! My mom keeps saying that there is no way that I'm this "unusual" and have this many OB's, but I know because I am the one feeling it. I have tried to offer hope and support for people on this board with herpes because you CAN live a wonderful life and have herpes, but I feel like the only one who isn't getting better on antivirals AND living a smart and healthy lifestyle. I'm so frustrated because I think I've had sex two or three times since since whole herpes thing came about, and my relationship with my boyfriend is suffering horribly. It seems like acyclovir MAY be helping in that I don't get huge blisters that scab over, but I still get OB's CONTINUOUSLY. I tried Valtrex and it made me feel terrible, but maybe I should give that another try? I think the whole problem with me is that my immune system is compromised from having CFS (which is believed to be an immune disorder), but either way, I'm starting to get really depressed about having herpes. :-(

You say you've had herpes since February? Right? That's not very long and you body is still trying to build up an immunity to it...you will probably notice getting less and less outbreaks as time goes on even if you didn't take anything. I feel like the OOO and OLE have worked a miracle for me but it could be a coincidence because my body is fighting it off now since I've had this since November because I had my first OB last a solid 2 months!!!!!!!! Kept having one OB after another until I started the OOO and OLE (you can read about it in my thread). As far as the prescription not working, I think that is pretty common that they aren't helping like people think they should. I also have a sneaking suspicion just like with my herbal cures that it's not so much the pills that are helping people but just the natural progression of our bodies building up antibodies to herpes and fighting it off naturally. LIke I said, it's just a sneaking suspicion as I'm a natural born skeptic...haha! Good luck and you are not unusual by any means as far as how you are feeling and having OBs one after another and the drugs not helping.

I just want to second what everyone else is saying about the antivirals. I take 1 gram of Valtrex daily and still have outbreaks. I was diagnosised in February also and was under the wrong impression that the Valtrex would make this seem like it wasn't even there. I spoke with my doctor and she said as I continue to take the suppressive dose it will get better over time. I have seen a small improvement but still have small outbreaks often. I also use the Airborne daily and OOO OLE. I figure I will try it all. I think who ever said it just takes your body time to build up the antivirals and it's own immunities is probably right. It is VERY hard and you aren't alone in feeling the way you feel. Try to take it one day at a time. Also, with the relationship thing if you can try to offer as much affection and physical love to your boyfriend as you can without putting him at risk. I know when I am having an outbreak I don't want to be physically close to anyone but it might make you both feel better if you were able to be close in some ways. Ok just a thought! Hang in there

Hi KeepsGoin, Happiness Is, and SaraGirl,

I just want you to read what I just wrote to SaraGirl in her thread entitled, "Question." Here it is:

"I see that in your response to my other thread you said that you are taking OOO and OLE; I have really considered trying one of those alternatives, but I also know that both can cause a herxheimer reaction, or a "die-off" reaction. I don't know if you're familiar with the term, but basically it's when toxins enter your bloodstream because fungus/bacteria in your system is being killed off. I know for a fact that I still have bowel Candida yeast issues (I have CFS), and I'm really actually scared of the initial die-off reaction. Not everyone gets it, and it basically consists of flu-like symptoms temporarily. I should WANT to experience this so that I get better, but with how bad I'm feeling right now I don't know if I can deal with that. My fatigue (from my CFS) is so horrible right now that I don't think my body can take any more stress, so I'm really leary about trying the OOO and OLE. I saw someone on a thread here mention that Noni Juice helped them, and I am thinking about trying that. I bought garlic tablets a couple of days ago, but I think it's too soon to tell if it's going to be effective."

So....this is why I'm worried about taking OOO and OLE. In my response to SaraGirl, I also mentioned something along the lines of what you're talking about, KeepsGoin, about the natural progression of the virus. Okay, since with herpes people experience viral shedding, does this mean that with each bit of shedding the levels of the virus in the body lower? If so, because I'm on antivirals which reduce the amount of my viral shedding, does this mean that I'm keeping the higher levels of the virus in my body? Does the severity and frequency of the virus decrease over time because of viral shedding? I agree in that I'm probably experiencing bad symptoms because I haven't had herpes for very long; also, I know that some you had VERY bad initial OB's lasting months! So, I might be lucky in that my OB's aren't extremely painful. It just gets depressing day after day dealing with this. Also, my boyfriend before he left for work hinted about having sex later, and with how badly we've been getting along lately, I didn't want to say, "I can't hun, I'm having another outbreak." Of course, if he initiates anything later I have to say that, but I just feel so damn guilty and it makes me feel worse. :-(

Thanks for the incredible amount of support, everyone. Things I say here I would never be able to discuss like this in real life.

~Katalina

Did you get herpes from your BF? Since my BF is the one that gave it to me, he didn't have a lot of complaining to do back when I was too sore to have sex...we both were very depressed about this and he mostly just felt sad for me. If your BF doesn't think he has herpes then I can see being very careful not to have sex during an OB but since my bf and I both have it, the only thing stopping us was the discomfort for me.

As far as getting sick right after starting to take OOO and OLE, I didn't experience that and at most after I started taking OOO, I had a pain in my tailbone for a couple days but it wasn't a bad pain...just a kind of ache.