Question:
I was recently diagnosed with genital herpes and my doctor refuses to treat it. I was told that until another outbreak occurs I don't need medication. Isn't the reason for the medication to help prevent the outbreaks. Can anyone here relate tto this and givve me some advice on what to do?

Answer:
As far as I know, doctors usually do not treat the first outbreak because it allows your body to build up somewhat of an immunity on it's own. If you take antiviral drugs immediatly, your body will produce less antibodies. What this would mean is that on your second outbreak, you will have more of your own antibodies plus the antiviral drug working for you. I had shingles at the time of my first outbreak 3 years ago, and was treated with a high dose of Valtrex ( 3000 mg per day for a week.) Unfortunatly, I have had to take this amount for OBs since then because that is the only thing that works, on top of supressive therapy. I know it must be bad going through it your first time without the antiviral drugs, but you are better off in the long run. You may want to ask your doctor for pain medication though if you need it. Advil doesn't do much for me, so I take a low dose of codiene as prescribed by my doc during the outbreak.

Answer:
Thank you very much. I didn't get alot of answers from my doctor. He didn't really have a lot of time it was kind of an emergency that I went in the first place. So I am taking to the internet to get the answers that I am looking for. So I appreciate all that you answered for me. It puts my mind at ease a little more.

Answer:
I had an appointment with a specialist in infectious diseases yesterday and got some startling news. My doctor referred me to him because she felt he could give me better advice on dealing with my recurrent OBs. He told me to only continue supressive therapy for another month, and then wait for an OB to come. When the OB comes he said to boost the dose up to 300mg for a week, then do supressive therapy of 500mg of Valtrex for one more month and go off it again until the next OB comes. He told me not to carry on with supressive therapy because the virus can become immune to it and it will not work at all. I am 26 right now, and he said it is best for me to wait until I am older to go to full-time supressive therapy. According to him, it is best to take the antiviral when the OB is there, and not let the virus becomes 'challenged' by it by having a low dose in my system all the time. I was very upset yesterday at the thought of going off of supressive therapy because I am afraid it is going to be continous outbreaks again. I will keep you posted on how things are next month when I go off it. Good luck to you...and hang in there :)