I've had HSV2. I contracted it in 1983. Not a year goes by without an outbreak. It used to be if I forgot my Acyclovir. Since January 2017 I've had 3 outbreaks. It's mid February now. I'm on the medication. I'm not forgetting to take my daily meds. I'm eating healthily, exercising and getting plenty of sleep. I'm not stressed. I am however, very p*ssed off. These three outbreaks since January have been awful especially the one last week which ended Wednesday was one of the worst I've had in years. Yesterday, another bad one started. After 34 years, why the hell am I still getting outbreaks??
I'm seeing the doctor this week. Maybe my body is so used to the Acyclovir it's built up a resistance.
What dosage are you taking? Resistance is supposedly uncommon, and recurrences can still occur many years later, just not as often for *most* people. There is no guarantee that they ever stop entirely and shedding certainly still occurs 20+ years out according to one study that looked at gHSV2 over time. Three recurrences in 1-2 months is rather a lot, though. Are you male or female, and if female, are you pre- or post-menopausal?
Menopause can cause herpes to flare up in some women due to the change in hormones (same reason why some women get recurrences around their periods). Also, daily suppressive therapy with acyclovir should be 400 mg *twice* daily. You can look it up on the CDC website under "Genital Herpes Treatment Guidelines" (or similar). So, perhaps you need to double your dosage, 400 mg in the morning and 400 mg at night, and see if that helps.
Here's the link to the CDC guidelines for your easy reference, by the way. See the recommended dosing regimens in the section "Established HSV-2 Infection".
I'm sure they can give you something for your hormones at the doctors to get your body back to normal (that's what my mom did) that should help speak to the doctors and mention both your hsv and your menopause
I've had HSV2 since 1989 and am 63yrs old. I took suppressive therapy (400mg) daily for a lot of years but usually having 1-2 outbreaks a year. One day my doctor suggested that I take a 5 day therapy ( 800mg twice a day ) when I had an outbreak and not take daily acyclovir otherwise. Well, it worked really well until 4 months ago. Then despite doing 5 Day therapies I was getting one outbreak after another, literally barely 2 weeks then another outbreak. The prodromal phase of profound fatigue and headaches before an outbreak is really not nice, usually lasting 2-3 days. So last week I decided to go on the daily maintenance again and will see what happens. Like you I am a post menopausal woman and have been told that HSV2 can either get better or get worse with age. In my desperation I read this article about 2 women who had the shingles vaccine ( a closely related virus ) and that both women had had an incredible improvement with their herpes outbreaks. Yes, I am desperate but have thought about getting the shingles vaccine anyway. It costs about $200 (Cdn). I am going to try it.
First things first, you need to be on the correct suppressive therapy dosage of acyclovir. The link I sent in my last post is being vetted by site admin, but once approved, it goes directly to the CDC page where you can read up on gHSV2 and the recommended dosing regimens. The 5-day therapy is not what you need, just the correct daily suppressive therapy dosage, and hopefully that will do the trick without any other treatments like hormone replacement therapy (HRT). HRT can introduce other issues and risks generally, so make sure you find out if it's right for you first.
Fyi, the chickenpox (not shingles, though the same virus) vaccine study was very small, poorly conducted and never followed up by larger studies, and it hasn't worked for some people who tried it after reading about the study, so it is no guarantee. However, if you are healthy, there is no harm in getting the shot, and if you're over 50, you should probably get the shingles vaccine anyway (although the study used the weaker chickenpox vaccine, which some people claim makes a difference, although being weaker, I don't see how).
So, to see what works and what doesn't, try one thing at a time. With luck, maybe all you need is double your current dosage of acyclovir like you should be taking in the first place, then the shingles vaccine as generally advised for those over 50 (some places it's 60+). Hope my link gets approved soon, so you can check out the CDC page!
Thank you so much for the info. So is the suppressive therapy 800mg daily? 6 yrs ago I had tonsillar cancer and have been ok. The thought of being on a daily viral suppressant doesn't sit well with me as I think about my whole immune system.
Yes, daily suppressive therapy with acyclovir is 400 mg twice daily, so morning and night. If valacyclovir, it's 500 mg once daily, or 1000 mg daily (taken once or 500 mg morning and night), depending on outbreak frequency (higher dosage for those with many recurrences like 10+ per year).
Add 2 grams of L-lysine to your diet. They are inexpensive and harmless. It seems to have worked on me as I have been attack-free when I started taking them in October. Lets see if it works on you too.
Hi, I know this thread is old, but...I have had hsv since 21 years old. I am now 46. Had been on valtrex most of these years. Sometimes suppressive and sometimes only when outbreaks. When I turned 42 the 500 mg no longer worked so my dr. put me on 1g daily. That is working for me, but now after all these years I am starting to worry about liver and kidney damage. My doctors tells me no worries all my blood work and urine is normal, nothing is even borderline. But I am obsessed with this worry now and I can't shake it. Has anyone on here been on antivirals that long and are still healthy. Also, kind of just looking for someone to talk to so I would appreciate a response. Thank you,
Hello, I'm a year younger than you, and have had it for 14 years. During that time, I've been on and off suppression drugs, both acyclovir and Valtrex. I'm taking acyclovir 400mg 2x daily and it is no longer suppressing completely the outbreaks. I still have one a month, but very mild. To put your mind at ease, I also had blood work done and it was normal. I've been taking suppressive meds every day for the past three, almost 4 years. I do think about that, though, like you do...wonder what the drug is doing to my body. Anecdotally, I've read about many people taking suppressives for many years. If your blood work is good, then I would say try not to worry about it. Just curiously, have you ever tried to take the drugs episodically? I'm in perimenopause, so with my hormones going crazy, I can't. I have outbreaks back to back. I hope this helps.