Question:
H-Away~
http://www.amoils.com/herpes.html

"Topical creams and ointments may even prolong the healing of HSV outbreaks as they do not penetrate into the cell membranes of the skin and they also irritate the area of the outbreak. Experts strongly advise against using any kind of topical cortisone-type cream on herpes as this can suppress the local immunity and may worsen your outbreaks significantly." (©2001 - 2007 Amoils.com all rights reserved)

This blurb statement has given rise to my own concern with taking asthma medicine which contains adrenocortical steroid. Advair. If cortisone can make immunity worse then so can this. But I have no choice about taking this unless I wish to die of asthma related health problems. I like breathing!
So, I'm wondering how on earth am I going to cope with this disease if I haven't got enough immune strength to do so?I don't think the Valtrex is going to do me much good though it seems to be helping so far. I'd much rather take something natural but, if I go off the Valtrex this too will give rise to hsv drug resistance. I can't win!
Anyone think if would be good to switch at this early stage of my infection, please let me know? I'm concerned about side effects from the Rx yet, wish to try some more natural treatment, eventually. Thanks, in advance.

Answer:
H-Away~
http://www.amoils.com/herpes.html

"Topical creams and ointments may even prolong the healing of HSV outbreaks as they do not penetrate into the cell membranes of the skin and they also irritate the area of the outbreak. Experts strongly advise against using any kind of topical cortisone-type cream on herpes as this can suppress the local immunity and may worsen your outbreaks significantly." (©2001 - 2007 Amoils.com all rights reserved) This blurb statement has given rise to my own concern with taking asthma medicine which contains adrenocortical steroid. Advair. If cortisone can make immunity worse then so can this. . I didn't go to the link, but shouldn't you distinguish b/t topical applications and ingested ones? At first read my thoughts were that the comment was not so much about the cortisone as about its topicality (maybe I'm wrong) and the goo and junk folks can get to spreading on an outbreak, thinking it's a "treatment" when it can really be delaying the healing process by increasing friction on the area from rubbing it, preventing the skin from drying, and keeping the skin vulnerable to additional infection from something else, even.


So, I'm wondering how on earth am I going to cope with this disease if I haven't got enough immune strength to do so? I don't think the Valtrex is going to do me much good though it seems to be helping so far. I'd much rather take something natural but, if I go off the Valtrex this too will give rise to hsv drug resistance. I can't win! Anyone think if would be good to switch at this early stage of my infection, please let me know? I'm concerned about side effects from the Rx yet, wish to try some more natural treatment, eventually. Thanks, in advance. Your immune system will only get better at opposing the virus over time. Also, discontinuing valtrex won't lead to drug resistance. (It would if it were an antibacterial, but it's an antiviral against a virus that doesn't mutate quickly.)

For the record I'm a food snob and health conscious blah blah. But whether something is "natural" or not, I have come to decide, is really not important like most of society has been marketed into assuming. Be sure that the whole "organic foods" and "natural remedies" industries are as profit driven and commercial as any boldface drug company like Merck or GlaxoSmithKline---many are more corrupt and junk-producing than the big synthetic drug companies because they essentially aren't regulated. Food/drugs/chemicals are all just chemicals to our body. Our body doesn't know the difference b/t a synthetic chemical and a "natural" one, and there's plenty of natural stuff that is lethal. Arsenic is natural, and peanut butter contains a carcinogen. Many lives have been saved by synthesized insulin and antibacterials and vaccines---I don't know anything natural that would have saved me; it was all due to massive infusions of acyclovir.

I'm willing to eat and medicate with whatever works (and is ethically provided etc.) , no matter how it originated, because I think that's all my body really cares about. My 2 cents...

Answer:
Thank you, your input was most informative and helpful. Especially the part about my body becoming more adept at fighting this buggie H thang. Now that made my day! I did read somewhere that the virus can become resistant but then I now realize not to BELIEVE anything I read till I talk to someone that KNOWS. Thanks again!! :grin:

Answer:
I also suffer from asthma and allergies and realized that I'd been on at least 5 years straight of steroid medications which do suppress the immune system. It freaked me out. I've become supervigilant about immune support and how to increase my bone mass which should help.

I need the asthma meds to survive too and I'll use them. I have decided to cut out some of the allergy meds to see how I do. So far I'm sneezing and headachy but doing okay.

As for cortisone cream. Steroids are contraindicated for any/all viral infections. Stay away from topical steroids like hydrocortisone.

tohealth makes some wonderful points that are certainly worth entertaining.

Answer:
Thank you, your input was most informative and helpful. Especially the part about my body becoming more adept at fighting this buggie H thang. Now that made my day! I did read somewhere that the virus can become resistant but then I now realize not to BELIEVE anything I read till I talk to someone that KNOWS. Thanks again!! :grin: Brucie, you give me too much credit. I am allergy ignorant (don't have any personally) and allergy medication ignorant. So maybe Caliope can further educate both of us.

Answer:
It's interesting that you throw it back at me but I'm happy to share what I understand if I know what your question is.

Answer:
i use topical creams on my OBS, they work a treat? i use zovirax (ment for mouths coldsores) on mr nudge when i have an OB, helps clear it up within 3 days...

Answer:
Brucie,
I finally went to the link and took a quick look---they're full of crap, so I don't think you should even worry over what they said about anything. They're in there talking about some oils going into the blood stream and into the DNA of your cells and killing HSV. Good lord. It's crazy.

It is extremely difficult for anything to crawl through our skin at all, let alone make it inside and rearrange the furniture, in particular, the DNA somewhere in a cell (we'd be fast dead otherwise), unless it's a virus (or bacterium) with the right size to move, the physical apparatus needed to fix onto a cell wall and the machinery needed to corrupt the normal cell DNA (which viruses have). Even then the viruses (and bacteria) have to wage the ultimate war with the immune system that awaits them.

And they were only speaking of "local immunity" right at the outbreak site decreasing with topical cortisone use. The real issue is not having the outbreak often to begin with, more than shaving off or adding on a couple of days of dealing with the outbreak once it's here. I mean over your lifetime, its the frequency of outbreaks period, vs. whether they lasted 4 days or 6 once they got here, that most impacts your quality of life. In the beginning, you can have frequent outbreaks and the value of reducing the time of each one can seem higher. But even that is best addressed by having a fundamentally strong immune system, vs. being concerned with some tertiary stuff (like using a cortizone containing cream) that does little to nothing to affect the underlying tendency to have/not have an outbreak. You'd do better, I think, to worry about being in a job you hate or having cancer or something else that truly stresses your whole immune system in immeasurable ways than to worry about "local immunity".