Over the past several weeks I've tried many products to try to heal and repress this dreaded virus. Here are the products that I've tried:


CHORAPHOR
Price: $100 - 6ml bottle
Directions: Apply directly to lesion or area of prodrome
Side effects: none
Effectiveness: Ineffective
Comments: I didn't even feel so much as a tingle when I applied this stuff directly. You are supposed to dilute it with water (which I did the first time) but that was ineffective. So I applied it straight. It did nothing. Useless.

H-BALM
Price: $50 - 6ml bottle
Directions: Apply directly to lesion or area of prodrome
Side effects: Intense burning sensation shortly after applied
Effectiveness: Ineffective
Comments: Ohhh, the pain. The burning was so bad when I applied it that it felt like my penis was melting. The intense burning did take my mind off of the actual herpes pain but when it wore off the herpes pain was back. Actually, I think the shock of the burning may have made my condition worse. The herpes seemed to mock this stuff and a few more lesions sprouted. Useless.

VIRAWAY
Price: $50 - 6oz bottle
Directions: stir 1 tablespoon for every 100 pounds of body weight into a glass of water or favorite beverage
Side effects: Diarrhea for 2 days
Effectiveness: Ineffective
Comments: Tasted like hell. A few hours later a gurgling was happening in my bowels. I ran to the bathroom and my *** just exploded. The diarrhea lasted well into the next day. It totally cleaned out my insides but for the herpes it was useless.

L-LYSINE
Price: $5 - 60 pills
Directions: Take 500mg-2000mg daily as needed
Side effects: none
Effectiveness: Ineffective
Comments: The only way I think this can be beneficial is to balance it in your diet. I may have taken too much which tipped the balance towards the Lysine side and made my outbreak worse. Since I don't have the time to worry about a balanced diet I found this product to much of a hassle. I do however, take a 1000mg pill if I've been drinking beer (just in case).

VALTREX
Price: $10 - 30 pills (with health insurance)
Directions: Take orally as directed
Side effects: loss of appetite, headache while body gets used to medication
Comments: I've been taking this for the past 5 weeks. 2 pills a day while outbreak is present (some days I would take 3 when things were bad) otherwise 1 pill a day to repress symptoms. I thought this would work a lot better and faster than it does. In fact, I'm not sure if it benefiting me at all. However, I 'm still taking it until the prescription runs out (4 more days).
Effectiveness: Unknown

OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT
Price: $30 - 180 pills
Directions: Take orally as needed
Side effects: none
Effectiveness: very effective (so far)
Comments: I was 1 day into an outbreak that occurred a couple days after a previous outbreak (I wasn't even back 100% from the previous one). I went to GNC and purchased two bottles of this stuff and popped 2 pills immediately. Before bed I took 2 more. I woke up and my condition improved 80%. Over the next 2 days everything cleared up. It was amazing. In fact, I will start a new topic documenting my usage of this product.

Please comment on any of the above or any "remedy" that you have tried.
Thanks.

Hi there, Upset,
so the Choraphor stuff is useless?
What the hell, I've blown more money on more useless stuff. You still happy with those GNC pills?
Thanks for the input.

Hey...the Choraphor didn't work for me. The instructions said it was supposed to cause a burning sensation when applied. To apply it you need to take a Q-tip wet the tip with water, ring out the water, dab on a couple of drops of the blue colored cloraphor and hold it on each lesion for 20 seconds a piece.
I didn't feel the burning sensation as stated in the manual, so I tried it again minus the water. Again I didn't feel the burning. Furthermore, my lesions didn't form a blue crust and fall off the next day...as stated in the manual.
So...for now the remainder of the bottle lays under my bathroom sink, in an brown paper bag, with the other products that didn't work.
But hey...If you've already ordered it, why not give it a try and post your experience with it.

Hey Upset 1,
I had already bought the stuff when I asked for advice. I guess I was kinda desperate for a miracle cure - know the feeling?
Anyway, I put it on, it stung alright but that was about it. I sent a couple of emails to the folks at Choraphor and I heard nothing for about a week and I decided to start advertising against Choraphor, but then they replied apologizing for not getting in touch and stuff and offered advice regarding the application of Choraphor.
Apparently (that's the way I understand it) it only works if the area is kept dry but that was in my case not possible. I am not circumcized an the outbreak occured on the inside of my forskin and I have not been able to figure out how to keep this place dry.
I keep the bottle in my bathroom waiting for another opportunity to find out.
Regarding the olive leaf extract, it's not availbale here in Thailand, been to three different GNCs and asked around some.
Got rid of my outbreak the 'normal' way:
Acyclovir tabs and cream.
When I think about the past two years, the outbreaks haven't been so bad but I've never really been stressed out much. My g/f has just moved out so I'm kinda waiting if this is going to trigger one. Guess I'll know pretty soon.
Take care,
Tombo

Hi upset1,

I was wondering if you have used Choraphyl again since your last post about it. I know it didnt' work for you back then, but was wondering if you tried it again, or if it was still in the brown paper bag w/ the other useless meds.

Also, how is that OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT working for you?
Does it really work well? I was looking into trying some medication/alternatives out, but don't really have the extra money to be spending, so I was trying to see what results others we achieving. I wish there was some way to try something for free, to find something that does work.

Please respond if you can.

Thanks.

Thanks to whomever dug up this thread. The information is really helpful. It would be nice if this was thread was pinned. I will actually be trying a combination of the Olive Leaf Extract and Acyclovair soon. After a month to two month period I will share results. Recently I've been having a continuous OB and the non-medicated road is not working anymore.

Hi Ohwell,

I haven't seen a post from Upset1 for a long time so s/he might not even be around the board anymore. People tend to come and go a lot.

I'll echo JNF and say thanks for resurfacing this thread! I didn't know it was there and it has some very interesting info. I will say, though, that just because one treatment doesn't work well for one person doesn't mean it won't work for someone else. Unfortunately you just have to give it a try and find out if it works for you.

I understand when money is tight and you don't want to waste it on something that won't work. If you have a friend with herpes you might try going halves on a bottle of something you want to try and they could try it too. Just a thought. :)

Good luck and let us know how you make out!

TheOneInFour

Ok, this might sound strange, but has anyone else experimented with plain old Blistex? I've only been HSV-1 postive since Nov. (1st & only OB, so far), but whenever I feel a "tingle" or a sore spot which I think could be trouble coming, I use just a little Blistex on it. Sure, it kinda feels funny because it makes those lips tingle just like the ones its supposed to be used for, but I did read about antiviral properties in the camphor, and the phenol, and the menthol. Haven't had any problems yet....don't know if it works or not for me, I'll keep using it anyway - just in case.

20/20 http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/dance.gif

I tried Lysine, 500 milligrams per day, didn't work. Tried 1000 milligrams per day, still didn't work. 1500 milligrams ... still didn't work. What lysine has done is boost my immune system to the point that I haven't had a cold or flu in over a year, which is a record for me.

Valtrex is doing the job for me, I take it as suppressive therapy. Until I started experimenting with my dosage, I had gone 8 months without an OB.

Prior to Valtrex, I'd been having monthly OBs like clockwork, immediately after my menstrual cycle, I'd have an OB. Boyfriend not amused -- this meant about two solid weeks of non-availability, if you get my meaning.

Oral valtrex is working well as suppressant. I've made a topical ointment for myself by crushing half a valtrex into powder, mixing it with DMSO (transdermal agent) and some Renova (wrinkle cream known to penetrate the skin). This topical healed up my OB in 48 hours.

I'll check out that olive leaf extract. Thanks to you all for sharing this valuable info.

I also have had good luck with olive leaf , I have hsv 1 and usauly would have 4 tp 5 ob a year. I started taking olive leaf a year ago and had only 1 ob and when i did have the ob it was when I ran my body down do to a ( rough weekend). I try to exercise at least 3 times a week , take a multi vitimin every day and now olive leaf. I think the only hope we have to try to stop ob is buy comunicating whats worked and what doesnt. I find it frustrating that we havent foud a cure for this nightmare maybe some day , try olive leaf it may work for you. It has helped me alot.
nick

Hello all and thanks for this informative thread.

Today I realized I am having an outbreak after 2 years, yes, that was a wonderful break. My doctor refilled a prescription of Valtrex 500mg, I have only taken Valtrex one other time. I don't remember how effective it was, but we shall see.

I remember taking Acycolvir 5x per day, very inconvenient, but it was effective and my outbreak ususally cleared up before the medication was finished.

I had tried Olive Leaf Extract while taking Acyclovir and it gave me an intense burning raw feeling inside. It really made the entire episode worse and I could not wait for it to be out of my system. When it was in my system, the external blisters did clear up, but the burning inside was not worth it.

I have a girlfriend who also is a member of the "club" and I will be mailing her 1/2 of the Olive Leaf Extract, maybe she will find it more effective. I truly agree that if we could share info/results, we can eliminate wasting lots of money--these prescriptions are already costly.

By the way, I am not on any suppressive medications, I started taking Centrum a few weeks ago, I wonder if that is what triggered the outbreak?

On another thread I read somewhere that Destin can help, any comments? I would think that keeping the area dry would be the best thing.....any one have any answers just post them, we all can help each other.