sickofit

I've had genital warts for about a year and a half and I've tried just about everything except for laser surgery. The "doctor" alternatives to acid treatments are: Aldara, freezing (liquid nitrogen), podophollyn, condylox, and laser surgery. There's probably others, but I think those are the ones used in the majority of cases. Unfortunately, there is usually some pain to be expected with all of these options - some worse than others. Aldara is good because you can use it at home and if it irritates your skin too much you can take a break and start again when the irritation lessens. That seemed to help some of my warts. The freezing hurt like hell I thought and really didn't do much for any of my warts. The podophollyn is kind of hard to get in my area - it seemed to work, but I only had one treatment and then they ran out! That was pretty irritating on my skin too. Right now I'm using Condylox - I'm pretty excited because it's definitely working! You put it on at home twice a day for three days and then off for four days - up to a max of 4 cycles. The only problem I'm having with it is by the third 'on' day I am in some serious pain. To me it's worth it though because I've had these for so long!

I also tried OTC Compound W even though it says not to use for genital warts. It seemed to help, but was pretty irritating and you had to use it twice a day for 12 weeks.

I'm also not one to put much stock in 'natural' remedies, but only because nothing seemed to work for me. I tried Beta-mannan (that aloe vera stuff), and that didn't do anything. I tried Warts No More and that made my warts gigantic, which they say is supposed to happen before they go away, but unfortunately mine never went away - they just stayed gigantic. I also quit smoking and drinking - and that's highly overrated because again it didn't make a difference either way except to make me nic-fit for quite awhile! I tried drinking lots of water, taking all sorts of daily vitamins, and even went to a Homeopathic (natural healing) doctor and was put on all sorts of different things - again none of this helped me.

BUT, that doesn't mean that none or any of these things won't help anyone else. I obviously have a particularly stubborn strain of the virus and am hoping and crossing my fingers that my use of the Condylox works.

It's been proven that this is basically an immune system type virus that the healthier you are the better your chances of getting rid of it. So, it doesn't hurt to take vitamins, maybe excercise, drink lots of water. I saw quite a few different doctors about these stubborn things and one of the derms suggested combination therapy - like using Aldara and acid, or Condylox and freezing simultaneously. The only thing about that is double the pain.

Sorry to ramble, good luck, and hope that helps you some...