Question:
Hello. I recently contracetd herpes about 5 days ago. I have a question I cannot seem to find an answer to.

If I decide NOT to go on any type of medications after my initial outbreak, and instead let me own body fight the infection and practice smart living like clean clothes, lots of rest, nutrition, isolating the aera of infection, etc......will I be opening myself up to more recurrences down the line?

Meaning.... will taking medication now help me have less recurrences down the line. I am talking about taking like 10 days of Acyclovir or something, not starting every day supressive therapy. I just want to make sure I am not screwing myself by deciding not to go on meds right now.

Thanks for any advice!! Joe

Answer:
joe,

sorry to hear that mate. been there. its a fucked up feeling. probably taking medication now will not help later. i would take a wait and see attitude. some people do not have any outbreaks after the initial one or even have very few ones a year. i can tell you that from my own experience, living a healthy life could avoid outbreaks. i was exercising lots a week for about 6 months, and i didnt have a single outbreak. i was even smoking pot, and things were fine. i think exercise is vital. apparently a diet with low argenine and high lysine is very helpful. do some research on that. i don't get to exercise much now, but i'm taking multivitamin and extra vitamin C daily. I'm also taking lysine and olive leaf extract daily. lysine might have long term effects. you would have to research more on that. also, i keep shitloads of acyclovir handy in case i think i'm gonna get an outbreak, and start taking it early. i take 400 mg 3 times a day for 5 days. i recommend the pharmacy at costco online (http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?t...catid=678&log=). i bought 300 pills for 50 bucks. i have never seen such good price anywhere. the only best thing is to have insurance pay for it, which i don't have. let's see... what else can i recommend from experiece... i have hsv1 on the mouth so making sure your lips are in good shape is always good. i use blistex regularly. there's another one which has worked very well for me called purelip. you can find it here: http://www.purelip.com/tips.shtml. using chapstick with sun block i hear is also useful, as sun may trigger an outbreak. alright mate. i think this is pretty much all i know from experience (5 years) all summed up. i think one tends to get used to it and know how everything works, so depending on your body one may see early signs of an outbreak, or avoid them altogether having a healthy lifestyle. good luck and take care.

Answer:
by the way... this is all from personal experience. i am not a doctor. research some of these things a little more or talk to your doctor if interested. later.

Answer:
Well, I appreciate all the info and I will research what you have recommended.

I'ts been a tough week obviously. Wouldn't be so bad, but I have felt horrible, like exhausted and sick feeling. Today is day 8 and I finally went to the doctor. He prescribed Acyclovir and said it wouldn't hurt to take it for 10 days and would help me feel better and clear up the rash. The rash got somewhat better over the week, but still there. I used isopropyl alcohol on it a few times.......just poured it right on. burned a little, but dried it up really nice. read elsewhere that it helps.

trying to stay positive. hard to complain about herpes when so many young men are dying over seas.

Thanks for the advice!!