Logistical questions about acyclovir vs. valacyclovir

[scaredypanties]

I have had herpes for about a year and a half, and so far I only take acyclovir when experiencing prodome or a breakout (if I miss the prodome signals). I thought I had read somewhere that taking it daily adversely affects the kidneys or liver...not sure there's any truth to this, but I'm kind of a crunchy granola anti-pharmaceutical person anyway, so avoid taking pills unless I absolutely HAVE to.

 

I'm lucky in that my breakouts are pretty mild, but even so I don't feel like the acyclovir really shortens the duration. But if I do start dating an H- person (possibility on the horizon), I guess I would want to start taking it daily as suppressive therapy.

 

The directions on my acyclovir say to take it every 8 hours...which, with my shitty insurance (self-employed...d'oh) would cost me about $30/month. Meanwhile, a Google search seems to reveal that valacyclovir only needs to be taken once daily, which would be a lot easier. There also appears to be a generic version of valacyclovir out there, which I'm hoping won't cost me (much) more. But in the event that it DOES end up being prohibitively more expensive....

 

Is valacyclovir more effective than acyclovir? Or is its only advantage the once-daily dosage?

 

And YES, I am a broke-ass hack who has to crunch numbers like this! :-/

 

[WCSDancer2010]

Valtrex is waaay more expensive ..at least here it is.

 

I did 2 things:

 

1) call around your local pharmacies and ask their costs for the drug you are on... you'd be amazed the difference from one place to another. Hate to say it but Walmart is often the cheapest BUT not always.

 

2) look online for a "Prescription Card". They don't cost you anything and mine saves me 40-60% most of the time ... I have to pay out of pocket too so I've started doing anything I can to save money ...

 

If you are really broke the Pharmaceutical companies often will cut you a break directly. Go to their web-site for details.

 

I currently take acyclovir on an as needed bases too.... I'm also a somewhat crunchy anti-pill person but I also know that some drugs have a definite use and this is one of them. I've gone on them for partners in the past and don't seem to have had any side effects at all.

 

 

[scaredypanties]

Good info! Thanks :)