High dose (2grams/day) Valtrex suppressive therapy -long term

[allhereto]

I have constant cold sore outbreaks, and I've tried natural remedies with limited success (olive leaf extract, lysine supplements, zinc, and vit. c). I have also been on a suppressive dose of Valtrex for 6 months now - 500mg twice daily - still having back to back outbreaks. I  recently asked my doctor to let me increase my Valtrex dosage to 1,000mg twice daily for long-term suppression.  Is there any research to support a dosage this high every day/longterm for more effective outbreak control for oral or genital hsv?

[WilsoInAus]

Unfortunately the effect tops out at about 1g per day. Any excess is typically redundant.

What and where are these outbreaks? 

The focus probably needs to be on a form of you being immunocompromised. 

 

[hellohello111]

6 hours ago, allhereto said:

I have constant cold sore outbreaks, and I've tried natural remedies with limited success (olive leaf extract, lysine supplements, zinc, and vit. c). I have also been on a suppressive dose of Valtrex for 6 months now - 500mg twice daily - still having back to back outbreaks. I  recently asked my doctor to let me increase my Valtrex dosage to 1,000mg twice daily for long-term suppression.  Is there any research to support a dosage this high every day/longterm for more effective outbreak control for oral or genital hsv?

Have you asked your doc for Denavir cream? It’s a topical for cold sores and is pretty awesome. You take that coupled with valtrex and you should be good. 

[hellohello111]

Also, let’s dig a bit deeper. What’s your diet like? Exercise? Age? Are you immune compromised? What HSV do you have? How long have you had it? What did you do before valtrex? This will help

[allhereto]

Thanks, guys for the responses! I'm 38 years old, not immune compromised, and I have hsv 1 - cold sores under my nose and all around my lips...usually one blister per outbreak, and I never had outbreaks until about 6 years ago....although I know I was infected prior to that.  I also get genital HSV 1 outbreaks about twice/year. I eat fairly healthy (low carb), I do drink whey protein shakes, but the lysine/arginine ratio seems to be good; I also avoid common trigger foods. I walk about half an hour 4 days/week, and do yoga for about an hour once a week.  My  stress level is really high now due to my job and a recent break up, so I'm sure that is a contributing factor....I've been up to 1 year between outbreaks when my stress level was lower. Before Valtrex, I used Acyclovir 400 mg twice daily for suppressive therapy, and I can't really tell a difference in effectiveness. I did seem to have success with Thorne Olive Leaf extract 500 mg twice per day - helped keep me outbreak free for around a year - without any anti viral medication, but I had a genital outbreak after about a year and stop using it. Lysine at 3 grams per day may helped some, but didn't seem strong enough for me. Abreeva seems to help speed up healing time, but isn't particularly effective. I haven't tried Denavir cream....I may ask for that next. Anyways, thanks for the tips!

[a1mbt]

thats a high dose already dude. i agree your diet and supps may help. maybe yiou've build a tolerance?

also try copper sulphate, do some research on it, works very well for me

is it always recurring in the same places or it alternates?

[MikeHerp]

There’s no evidence that vsltrex “tops out” at 1mg.

 

but the added benefit might only be marginal. Still, you can probably try it for a few week, maybe 1.5mg.

[WilsoInAus]

There is quite a bit of evidence that shows the performance of 1g a day is not bettered.

https://watermark.silverchair.com/39-Supplement_5-S258.pdf

The real trick is frequency of dosing as this increases the consistency of antiviral in the system.

[Roja]

On 5/31/2018 at 2:15 AM, allhereto said:

Thanks, guys for the responses! I'm 38 years old, not immune compromised, and I have hsv 1 - cold sores under my nose and all around my lips...usually one blister per outbreak, and I never had outbreaks until about 6 years ago....although I know I was infected prior to that.  I also get genital HSV 1 outbreaks about twice/year. I eat fairly healthy (low carb), I do drink whey protein shakes, but the lysine/arginine ratio seems to be good; I also avoid common trigger foods. I walk about half an hour 4 days/week, and do yoga for about an hour once a week.  My  stress level is really high now due to my job and a recent break up, so I'm sure that is a contributing factor....I've been up to 1 year between outbreaks when my stress level was lower. Before Valtrex, I used Acyclovir 400 mg twice daily for suppressive therapy, and I can't really tell a difference in effectiveness. I did seem to have success with Thorne Olive Leaf extract 500 mg twice per day - helped keep me outbreak free for around a year - without any anti viral medication, but I had a genital outbreak after about a year and stop using it. Lysine at 3 grams per day may helped some, but didn't seem strong enough for me. Abreeva seems to help speed up healing time, but isn't particularly effective. I haven't tried Denavir cream....I may ask for that next. Anyways, thanks for the tips!

Have you tried stopping the whey protein drinks? 

Have your hormones been checked?

As you said, stress is a very common trigger for herpes. Maybe that's the key :-) 

[JaneyB]

On 12/3/2018 at 10:58 AM, WilsoInAus said:

There is quite a bit of evidence that shows the performance of 1g a day is not bettered.

https://watermark.silverchair.com/39-Supplement_5-S258.pdf

The real trick is frequency of dosing as this increases the consistency of antiviral in the system.

Hi, Can you advise what you mean by 'frequency of dosing......' Thanks. 

[WilsoInAus]

4 minutes ago, JaneyB said:

Hi, Can you advise what you mean by 'frequency of dosing......' Thanks. 

As the impact of the drug fades over time, the more 'doses' you have in a day improves the 'minimal' level in your system. Pragmatically two should be manageable, but technically 4 times would be a little better.

[JaneyB]

30 minutes ago, WilsoInAus said:

As the impact of the drug fades over time, the more 'doses' you have in a day improves the 'minimal' level in your system. Pragmatically two should be manageable, but technically 4 times would be a little better.

Thanks

[GSXR 1000]

Whey protein gives me bad out breaks! Along with coffee, gelatin, chocolate, wheat, oats, high arginine etc