Question:
Hi everyone,
I am coming here for advice because people on these forums seem very educated and insightful...I am very confused right now and not sure how to proceed, so any advice at all would be so helpful.

Some background first of all - I have had HSV-1 (cold sores) for many years, and my outbreaks have always been extremely severe. They are huge, take weeks to heal, and sometimes come one right after the other. I've gone months without being able to kiss my husband, and have been so embarassed to be out in public. Not only that, but this really had an impact on my job (I do oral motor therapy with babies). Many parents did not feel comfortable having me work with their infant, and I can't say I blame them. Anyway, after suffering like this for too long, I saw a doctor and went on suppressive therapy (daily valtrex) about two years ago. Not a single outbreak in those two years, so it worked beautifully for me.

Now I am 13 weeks pregnant. I spoke with my doctor about the Valtrex when I first found and she told me she feels its safe. I continued to take it throughout my first trimester, until I was about 11 weeks along. At that point I started doing some of my own research on the internet, and low and behold, there does not seem to be enough well controlled studies to really say its safe. I went into panic mode that I had been taking this medication for so much of my first trimester. I decided to go ahead and stop taking it. Now of course, I am back in cold sore hell, and I don't think I can live my life like this. It is so debilitating for me. I also feel misunderstood by my doctor. I feel like they understand that severe HSV-2 can have a huge impact on your life, but I would trade places with my husband (who only gets genital herpes) in a second. I honestly feel like this disease, uncontrolled, is totally unmanagable to me.

So I'm back to taking valtrex to heal this outbreak, and I am so confused as to weather or not I should continue. And of course, once I am breastfeeding, there is even less data available about the safety of Valtrex during that time. I am wondering if there is anyone else out there that is taking suppressive medication throughout it all and what your opinions are on doing this. I'm wondering if it would be less harmful to just take lysene and rub abreva on my lips every day, but honestly, lysene and abreva have been looked at less than Valtrex in the research it seems. I am just so confused. I am so scared of harming my baby, but at the same time, I just don't know how to live my life like this. I do know that this is a conversation that I should also have with my doctor, but after being told "this is safe" and then doing my own research, I feel as though even she may not be educated enough about this. Any advice you all might have would be so much appreciated.

Answer:
another member here took valtrex daily throughout her pregnancy. hopefully fuller can report back... she was having contractions when she made her last post!

what a dilemma! i know that when i was pregnant & breastfeeding i tried to avoid everything that i could that even had a suspicion of possibly being even the teeniest bit harmful. I was careful with my diet, cosmetics, everything.

The couple of studies with acyclovir showed no adverse effects, but it would be nicer to have more/larger studies to really feel a lot of comfort since rare side effects would not come out in a study unless the number of subjects was quite large. However, at least there are human studies! Acyclovir (and valacyclovir/valtrex) are supposed to mostly interact with viral replication and not so much with normal human cell replication... but the body still has to process the drug so...

Definitely talk with your doctor again. Some things to consider... how much distress do your cold sores cause? If they are really debilitating the stress hormones you produce can also be harmful, so you have to weigh the risks of taking something vs not taking.

• Valrex - limited human studies, caused no problems that could be detected
  
• Abreva - no studies in people but it didn't cause problems in animal studies
  
• Lysine - diets high in lysine or with a high lysine:arginine ratio have been reported to have a hypercholesterolemic effect in animal studies - however when you are preggo cholesterol isn't a problem so not sure how this would play out. I think most people take 1g lysine (i've read somewhere that they think up to 3g/day is safe) but the next question is: how well does it work for you?

I'm assuming you are probably already taking some type of multivitamin, eating like an earth goddess, trying to get plenty of sleep and all that!

Whatever you do try not to stress too much about what you have already taken cause chances are that everything is fine.

Answer:
Hey there

Your concern is not unfounded. Every mother wants what's best for her baby and the best for a baby is a natural drug free pregnancy. There was a time when everyone though it ok to vaccinate children now........

So what to do? The thing is you've got to get your body in top physical shape.
Get the book Healthy Lifestyle Better Pregnancy by Naish and Roberts. They will walk you through a natural pregnancy. Which supplements how much, exercises, herbs, the works, unneccessary tests etc....

In the meantime and directly concerning herpes. YOU HAVE TO GET YOUR BODY ALKALINE. This is the only way you can stop having outbreaks. Go to my site www.authorsden.com/chritycharles and read the article my herpes homebirth. The follow on with Outbreak Free and Proud to Be. Afterwards read Stay Alkaline Stay Outbreak Free. I have had two natural biths breast fed my boys for a sum total of five years (them breast feeding at the same time for some months) and I believe that medication has no place in the human body especially at s critical time as pregnancy and childbirth. Especially if there are alternatives which work very very well.

So you have an outbreak now. Get some fresh wheat grass. Chew the and watch the miracle as you blister resorbs and dries up. Your body can heal iself it just needs a litle help from you. BHT at the first sign of prodome will prevent an outbreak. Eat as muc water melon as you can bear and juice and drin as many lemons as you can. These foods are extremely alkaline formng and will help your body redress your acid verload which encourages the virus to replicate. After your bath take the ordinary hydrogen peroxide you find in your chemists, put it in a spray container and spray over your body (not in your eyes) and massage i. Your body will absorb the oxygen which is in itself extremely alkaline. You'll also benefit from it's energy boost and the other healing properties of oxygen.
And yes if you get the time get your hands on the book A Martyr for Mothers - mothering at the other end of the continuum. It walks you through natural birth, breastfeeding, co sleeping, late weaning, homeschooling, not vaccinating- all those jolly things you are getting yourself ready for. Oh yes I wrote it.

Do let me know how you get on.

Christy


Answer:
thiscantbe, Thanks for your reply, very helpful. I looked back on some of the posts and found fuller's - hopefully she comes back after the baby at some point! Very interesting and reassuring that she took it throughout her pregnancy.

Good point about weighing the stress factor into this. I am under way too much stress during these outbreaks, and you're right, that also can't be good for the baby. I know that I probably do overreact to some degree; I'm sure its bigger to me than to anybody else, etc., but given the constancy of the outbreaks and how large they get its very hard for me to put that into perspective. They stress me out to a ridiculous degree, and I have not been able to really change that. As far as diet goes, no, I have not been perfect in that regard unfortunately. Very few things don't make me nauseous right now, so I eat what I can stomach, which is not a balanced diet whatsoever. I am trying my best, but morning sickness has been very difficult. I do take an excellent prenatal vitamin.

I have tried lysine in the past and I do think its helped somewhat. I saw that it is category C and that there were adverse effects in animal studies, but I didn't realize the specifics, so thanks for explaining that. Perhaps it would be a safe choice. Seems hard to tell, and in comparison to Valtrex, I don't know how much safer it is. Again, very confusing!

Thanks for your input as well Christy. One thing thats unfortunate is I have never once experienced a prodome, or tingling sensation whatsoever. I go straight into a blister. Once its at that stage, nothing has ever seemed to help, and I have tried so many natural and perscription remedies. If I were able to catch them early, I think I'd have a lot more options, but that has never worked for me.

Anyway, I'll continue to weigh my options...

Answer:
Christy,
I do not feel you should suggest or hint to anyone that immunisation is not the best option for a child.
It is down to the parents to way up the pros and cons, and nobody should suggest what is right or wrong.

Answer:
It should always be down to the parents to decide which way to go, after weighing the pros and cons. However most parents (especially where I live) aren't even aware of the cons. That alternatives to vaccinations exist. That breast milk provides effective immunization to a child against all the childhood illnesses that our kids are currently vaccinated against up to ten years after a mother has stopped breast feeding. I think it not only fair but responsible that if one has that kind of info to spread it and then let others weigh it against the other info and come up with the right decision. Take herpes for instance if no one spoke about the alternatives to vatrex and the lot where would we be. Where would I be? I am happy that people have been brave enough to speak up against the norm and even happier when others take the responsibility for their health into their own hands and research till they come out with something which works well for them. It's amazing where suggestions and hints can lead us sometimes. Hinting opens a debate, encourages others to think, plants a seed, waters another whatever. it doesn't seal a decison just helps one reach a better one.

I am vaccinated I perhaps would have vaccinated my boys too had not someone else planted the tiny seed which I watered with research and validation.

C

Answer:
Christy,
Believe what YOU want to believe,i think you are very niave and have an awful lot to learn.
I care for people whose parents decided against immunisation, who are handicapped in many ways due to not being immunised against childhood illness..

Answer:
UK Girl - How about we putting our heads together to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. The way forward is through sharing information. Learning from others - I am always open to the truth. Or at least dedicated to finding out the truth. Are you willing to share yours with me? Or will you be content to call me names from a distance. We can open another thread somewhere else so that others may benefit from this discussion. I know I shall. Because I'm dying to know under what conditions a human baby if properly cared for recieving all the antibodies from a healthy mother's breasts who has a pregnancy with minimum complications can become criticaly ill if the decision not to immunoise is taken. I am not naive I am open and ready to be learn. Will you do the responsible thing and share your knowlege and experience?

C

Answer:
when breastfeeding was the main way of feeding babies, infants and small children really died from many of the diseases they get immunized from. Mother's milk antibodies do protect a baby, but not for years and years! A lot of passive immunity fades at ~~6 months, although breast milk is still wonderful for the baby (I am very pro-breastfeeding and nursed my own till she was 2).

There are risks with vaccination, but a lot of the web sites that talk about all the ills of immunization don't count how the rates (and serious illness & death) of many infectious diseases have declined because of immunization. examples are polio ... the US 1952 polio epidemic had almost 58,000 cases, 3145 died, 21,269 mild to disabling paralysis. Before good sanitation children usu caught polio as infants or toddlers (after passive immunity faded). Pertussis is another example, and is also a case where the original vaccine had a higher rate of problems but also as soon as people stopped immunizing the rates of pertussis shot up. Pertussis has about a 1% death rate. Even with the older crappy vaccine the rate of serious complications was very small (estimated at 1-10 in a million).

The anti-vaccine web sites also like to talk about the mercury connection to autism (and the mercury is bad; thankfully they are removing it from most vaccines, but the damage blamed on the mercury is overblown), but more and more research is pointing to genetic differences, and research has found developmental differences in babies who later become autistic before they are vaccinated. Also, now that a mercury-free MMR vaccine is available, rates of autism are not dramatically dropping. There is more to autism than the vaccine.

There are risks to the vaccines and people should be aware of those. Allergic reactions can be deadly. Other rare complications can also occur. For people who have suffered a serious vaccine-related complication, it is devastating and of course it doesn't matter how rarely something happens.... it makes you mad and frustrated and angry and want to do something.

However, the risks are really fairly small despite what some websites claim. Be wary of what you read online; it's not all true.