Questions about suppressive therapy for herpes

[Carlychanel]

I have had HSV2 for 3 years now. My outbreaks were so bad and so continuous that I started taking daily medication for it about 6 months after my diagnosis. I've been having to take the valtrex daily since then still to this day. I've tried on a couple occasions stopping the medicine and I almost immediately get an outbreak :/

 

I was mostly just wondering how many other people out there have the same problem? Because I've read many places that most people's outbreaks die down after the first couple years so I'm mostly concerned 1. Why mine aren't and 2. If taking the medicine every day for so many years is really okay for me health-wise since I haven't been able to find much info on this. Thanks for the help!

[mr_hopp]

Taking daily suppressive therapy is like taking any other kind of medication: It ain't good on your liver ultimately. But it's a tradeoff. It sounds like it's helping you, so it's a tradeoff you get to decide on. And yes, pretty much after the first year on average, people's outbreaks die down in both severity and frequency. When you tried stopping medicating yourself, how long ago was it? Was it during a very stressful time in your life? Were you eating well and generally healthy? How is your immune system generally? I'd try again if I were you since your body should have a good defense against herpes by now ...

[Carlychanel]

It wasn't too long ago, a few months maybe. But I guess I never realized how big a factor stress is on outbreaks so that may have been a factor for sure. I always have, and even more so after learning more about hsv, lived a healthy lifestyle. So I'll just keep trying to wean off, maybe at a time when my stress level is lower. Thanks for the advice :)

[Judith]

Hi Carly,

 

i have the same issue like you, i am getting outbreaks once or twice a month.(GOT ONE TODAY BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH:::AGAIN )There are a lot of people who can deal witth herpes without antivirales but some of us are in the even worse position and we have to live with that every fucking month.I never took valtex every day because i dont have BF and i try to fight it my way.I dealing with now nearly 2 year and i tried a lot of thinks but my body dont like to fight with me :).I guess i will need to go with valtrex daily suprresive therapie in future too....i dont wanne stay the rest of my live lone.

No its not good for the lever at all but you can clean your lever up with couple of things.One of it is coconut oil and the other is tumeric.....both protect the lever,maybe you can read of it a bit and you can make your own oppinion.

Have a good day

[Carlychanel]

Thank you Judith! Ill definitely do some research on both of those things. Like Adrial said though, it's a trade off! If you're also still getting breakouts every month (if not more) I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to try the daily meds for a little while at least and then try to stop them after a bit as I'm trying to do. And for me, the tradeoff has been worth it because even though I dont have a bf or anything serious, the outbreaks an worrying about getting one still cause me personal stress and emotional turnoil so not having to worry about that has been worth the tradeoff so far for me. But I commend you for trying to suppress them yourself in more natural ways! Good luck <3