Herpes Treatments

There is currently no cure for herpes, and no vaccine to prevent herpes.  However, many charlatans are out there promoting their “herpes cure” or great “herpes treatment” and they make bogus claims about medical research and results and take advantage of people who desperately want to believe them.  A list of some of these dishonest, unproven and/or totally bogus herpes treatments are listed at the bottom of this page.

However, there are some highly effective and reputable herpes treatments out there.  Since many people with genital herpes have few or no noticeable symptoms, while other people have several outbreaks a year, the treatment options vary depending on your particular situation.

Healthy Diet, Healthy Lifestyle, Low Stress

Many people find that eating healthy, getting regular exercise, and lowering stress greatly reduces their outbreaks.  You know how you are most likely to get sick when you are stressed out?  Same thing with herpes.  Make time for your own health and fitness and you’ll be happier and reduce your symptoms.  Time to try Yoga, Meditation or go for a hike!

Episodic Treatment

Episodic treatment involves taking an antiviral medication (such as Acyclovir, Valcyclovir, or Famvir) at the moment you feel a herpes outbreak coming on.  These medications often reduce the severity and duration of herpes outbreaks.  If you are not in a sexual relationship with someone who is not infected, and don’t have many outbreaks, Episodic treatment may be for you.  Acyclovir works well for most people, but for others, Valcyclovir works best.

Suppressive Treatment

Suppressive treatment involves taking an antiviral medication (Acyclovir, Valcyclovir or Famvir) on a daily basis, which can greatly reduce the occurance of herpes outbreaks.  Recent studies have shown that for many patients, Suppressive Treatment works so well that the patients almost never have noticeable symptoms.  Also, Asymptomatic (also called Subclinical) Shedding of the virus is sometimes reduced by up to 99%.  Therefore, as a way to reduce your risk of spreading herpes to non-infected partners, Suppressive Treatment is highly recommended, along with regular and proper use of condoms.   Read about recent research here. (Link).

Dosage Guidelines for Antiviral Drugs

Dosage Guidelines from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/2006/genital-ulcers.htm

Topical Treatments

In studies, topical treatments containing Lemon Balm (Melissa officianalis) have been shown to sometimes help reduce redness and help heal oral and/or genital herpes sores sooner than normal.  Swanson Vitamins sells a 1 oz size bottle of “Melissa Supreme Alcohol Free” Lemon Balm extract for under $8.  Apply a small amount of this fluid directly (topically) on your sores every day.  Don’t drink it if you are using it to heal sores.  (You can drink it, but that won’t help much).

Other Treatments

Lysine – some people think taking Lysine supplements may help. Swanson Vitamins is a good place to buy Lysine and other supplements.  Swanson Vitamins offers several different size bottles of Lysine tablets, all under $6.

- Acupuncture may also be helpful.  If you know of any research on the use of Accupuncture to treat herpes, please email us the links.  (Thanks in advance for your help - this site is maintained by unpaid volunteers!)

Bogus Herpes Treatment & Cures – Herpes Scams

Unfortunately, many companies will try to take advantage of people who are desperate to find anything that might reduce or eliminate herpes symptoms.  Since most people’s symptoms will go away within a few days without any treatment, patients may erroneously assume that it’s because of one of these bogus products.   Also, their websites put these products on lists of “good” herpes treatments which include the *real* ones like Acyclovir and Valtrex, alongside their bogus treatments.  By putting their “bad” information alongside of  ”good” information, they are being very deceptive.   Don’t be fooled by these people!

FDA issues Warnings re: STD treatment Scams

In May 2011, the FDA issued warnings to the companies making the following drugs,  who have made false and misleading claims about the benefits of their drugs. Beware of:

Medavir

Herpaflor

Viruxo

Never An Outbreak

To read an article about the FDA warnings and watch a video about these scams, click here.

Dynamiclear Scam and Herpes-Coldsores.com Scam

Dynamiclear is an herbal topical solution that claims to be “scientifically proven” to reduce the duration of herpes and cold sore outbreaks.  The folks behind Dynamiclear have a clever marketing tactic. Long ago, they created a website called Herpes-Coldsores.com that contains some good and useful information about herpes – but not all of the information is good. Unfortunately, Herpes-Coldsores.com aslo promotes Dynamiclear as if it were a medically proven herpes remedy.   The ingredients of the product may be natural and not harmful, but none of these ingredients have been scientifically proven to actual help speed the healing of herpes or cold sores.  Most people’s sores will go away without ANY treatment within a few days to a few weeks.  So many people may incorrectly attribute their healing to Dynamiclear. People are spending a lot of money on Dynamiclear and really want to believe that it works.  At best, it does no harm.  Although much of the information about other topics on Herpes-Coldsores.com is valid – they ruin their credibility by promoting Dynamiclear. If you sign up for the forums on Herpes-Coldsores.com, they will email you a PDF of recommended ways to prevent outbreaks, including diet and exercise, real herpes treatments, and Dynamiclear.com.  They show photos of doctors (probably models and not MDs) to make you think they are trustworthy.  They put Dynamiclear of a list of real herpes treatments, like Valaclovir and Acyclovir. They tell you where and how you can order Dynamiclear.  They warn about other bogus herpes treatments, as if they are not one themselves.  Their deception fools way too many people.  Unfortunately, they have a high-paying affiliate marketing program that rewards website owners for links to their sites.  Some site owners can really use the money, so they add the links.  A lot of people don’t seem to realize that Dynamiclear is a scam.  Click here for more information on why Dynamiclear is a bogus medical treatment for herpes.