Question:
The most effective management for me is to consistently take Aciclovir, know triggers, and treat immediately. Unfortunately I am very poor at taking my medications on a daily basis. Over the last few years I have suffered and recovered from alcoholism and drug addiction. An addict barely takes care of themselves, much less remembers medication.

For me, triggers include sex, tanning, and menstruation. I can't avoid the last part, minimize tanning, and sex...well, that's an entirely different thread.

I havn't tried the alkaline/acidic thing. Nor have I tried cutting out specific foods. Plus, I've already read so much conflicting information on these forums. I'm not a huge chocolate eater either, but I eat everything else.
It really appears that the only safe foods are fruits and veggies, oh no! Grains are out? Or only wheat? Meat/chicken is out? What about seafood? Are ALL nuts out? Really, is anything that has fat in it out? What about omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids? Aren't those important to overall health?

I get oral HSV OB about 2 times a year. They aren't usually too bad, and mostly associated with having a fever/flu/cold, or whatever.

My genital OB are more frequent, probably every other month, but as I said, I've been inconsistent with suppressive meds, including the Lysine.

I want to change that. Fortunately, my outbreaks are VERY brief. They are uncomfortable, but don't lay me out. I ramp up the Aciclovir AND use Abreva. Seriously, Abreva works better than anything I've ever used, for both oral and genital. OB are gone in 24 hours. The genital OB just dissapears. Oral OB tends to "scab" and leave a scar. I hate that it needs to scab to heal, I believe.

So, my areas of opportunity are to decrease frequency of outbreaks through daily suppresive therapy and diet.

And I highly recommend Abreva for everyone out there. Sure, its expensive, but worth it. And I've tried all the other topical stuff.

Hope this helps. And once again, I am very happy to be here.

Answer:
Hi there,

As far as the food goes, moderation is the key. Seems like you are quite in tune to your body and your obs, which is a great thing. Christy C has lots to say about the alkaline deal, especially with foods vs. meds. You may want to check out her posts and her web site. Welcome to the forum!

Answer:
welcome to the forums...

and i know what you mean about the diet changes...

With the alkaline/acidic thing, your body does need some level of oxygenation for good immune function, but it is a delicate balance that is needed. If you get too much oxygenation then cellular damage is increased. Basically, a little oxidative damage just ends up killing stuff you want killed and activating processes that are needed, but too much and you kill stuff you need.

When it comes to diet, I think you have to figure out what you can live with... It's why most people who diet to lose weight end up failing; they do stuff they could never live with. If your diet makes you miserable I don't see how that would help your herpes, either... you know, the mind over matter thing. For some, maybe making the diet changes makes them feel really proactive, and the things they cut out might not bother them too much. I would miss some foods so much that the diet would probably make me unhappy, and that would probably affect my immune system just as much. At any rate, I eat fairly healthy already. I naturally eat plenty of things that are on "good" list like garlic and hot pepper, but I love my whole grains and nuts (I eat a lot of them). I can't give those up! I do have the occasional piece of dark chocolate; I'm not giving that up either, lol. For me anyway, I am just going to try to be healthy in general with my food.

The omega-3s are important to heart health, and also maybe even to mental health, and I tend to be prone to "down" episodes so I definitely don't wanna skimp on those.

There may be people who experience good results trying a diet change, and it's hard to say whether it's really the diet that helps, it's a placebo effect, or their herpes would have gotten better anyway, but if it works for them, and it's safe, then great. Maybe why it works isn't as important as someone feeling that it works, with again the caveats that what they do is safe, and also as long as they don't make claims about "curing" the virus.

With H, I guess the best thing is to just do what works for you!

I've been wondering about the Abreva for the external genital lesions... thanks for the tip. I read a study where they said Abreva combined with the antivirals was really effective for both hsv1 & hsv2, but that was done in cell culture rather than in a real living thing... so hard to reach conclusions from it.