Question:
I would really appreciate feedback from people who've had H for a while and are really familiar with their OB's, what sets them off, etc. But I would welcome thoughts from anyones. I have several ?s:

1) Most of the research I've done seems to say that after about 10 years or so, many people stop having OB's or have them very infrequently, yet on this site it seems that there are people who've had it for over 20 years and still get symptoms. Does anyone who's had it for a long time notice that their symptoms decreaed over time? Also Does it then become less contagious?

2) For foods to eat/not to eat, i know there are many foods to stay away from, but does this mean not to eat them EVER? or just in small quantities (for example I had a piece of chocolate cake tonight and am freaking becuase chocolate is on the no-no list).

3) I am just interested in any things that anyone has tried and if they help or not; so far I've read what seems to be the norm: valtrex, Lysine, garlic pills, vitamins, even purrell...anybodyhave comments on this or things they have found have worked?

Any feeback would be GREATLY appreciated- thanks a bunch!

Answer:
Well I have had it for a couple of years, and I am about to start valtrex on my next outbreak. I have been keeping track of my outbreaks since I found out that I had Herpes. But I haven't been able to pin down the cause. I cant pin it to anything... I have had drinking benders, lack of sleep, high stress times, chocolate, etc... and haven't had outbreaks... I also have did these same things and had outbreaks... so I really cant pin an outbreak to doing any one thing or combination of things. I guess all people are a little unique to what triggers an outbreak. Saying which, I tried taking BHT and got outbreak after outbreak, so maybe for me I found something that did definitely trigger an OB.

Answer:
what's BHT? (sorry if that' s a dumb question)

Answer:
Check out this link....

http://www.delano.com/Articles/BHT-antiviral.html


for what ever the reason, I had OB after OB for the month that I tried it. I also took St. Johns Wort with it sometimes, so one of these was definitely causing the OB's, and I really do not want to experiment with either to find out exactly which one...