Home/herbal care for herpes:
For those who wish to know:
Home care for HSV2 (genital herpes):
When you go to the Dr. for herpes, they usually give you an anti-viral. The anti-virals are crappy for some people. People like me. Instead of the medication quelling my infection, it increased it in both size and severity for the three days I took it before I said, "Enough is enough," and went back to my herbal roots. I was breaking out majorly for days 5-8 of my episode. Day 8 was the last day I took the acyclovir. I am currently taking the following herbs on day 11 and my sores are healing and it seems the infection is passing, an occurrence for which I am profoundly grateful.
Your body is very strong! So to fight the virus, give your body what it needs to fight:
plenty of sleep, plenty of rest and water, relaxing space in which to recover, prayer if you practice it, meditation if you practice it, and excellent nutrition.
Orally, I have been taking between 4-5g of Vitamin C per day. I realize that this is a lot. I don't do this normally, but viruses can't replicate in acidic environments. I can handle it, the little evil bastards making sores on me can't.
Zinc gluconate: 50mg/day. Zinc has pronounced anti-viral properties. =) Take advantage.
L-Lysine: 2000mg a day. I have the 1000 mg pills and take one in the morning, one at night. In clinical trials, the number was somewhere around 1,630mg or so which affected the virus's ability to replicate, but overloading on it won't help.
Olive leaf extract: 2000-3000 mg a day. I just listened to my body and took this one when I wanted it throughout the day. This can lower blood pressure so if you have issues with that sort of thing, check with your Dr before taking it. Also, DO NOT take Olive Leaf if you are taking Warfarin. It causes internal bleeding. Ugh. Also, in people with lots of toxins in their body, olive leaf is a purgative, but in flushing out toxins sometimes the patient becomes sick- slightly swollen joints, sometimes tongue, fever, and body aches. If this happens more than the herpes is doing, then I’d discontinue the olive leaf. It worked great for me, though.
Oil of Oregano: 2000mg daily. This is another of the herbal crowd’s beloved anti-virals. I had it previously for colds, for which it does seem to help as well. 1000mg is the daily recommended dose. I take more because it works for me.
Glycerin extraction of Melissa Supreme- As wanted, usually 3-4 times a day between 40-60 drops each time. I like to drink this one in Good Earth Chai tea. Melissa, also known as lemon balm, is excellent for herpes because it’s an anti-viral. It’s also *very* expensive, so it’s mixed in with some other herbs which are good for relaxation. It’s a good mix, and the relaxation will help prevent the outbreak from getting worse, and hopefully prevent you from triggering a new one. I love the smell of it too!
Gaia Herbs Sleep and Relax pills. 2-4 daily. These are great for relaxation, and since I’ve been stressed, I’m assuming it has something to do with causing my herpes OB so I share my herbal remedies with you as a preventative. The sleep and relax formula has mostly valerian and passionflower- both of which are anti-anxiety.
So, for pain- Advil 800mg every 6 hours (no more- this is the dose the Dr. has prescribed me in the past and is considered MSD.) If you chose to use red wine as one of your herbal/home remedies, then don't take the advil- it's a bad combo for your liver.
Cannabis- oral and vaporized, to taste. This *really* helped me out during the burning pain phase. Im currently eating about one light strength edible 3 times daily. What would usually send my psyche skyward is currently keeping me polite and able to function in society. If you live in a state where it's not legal yet, you have my sympathy.
Ice pack- Is your pussy or penis sore? Then ice that sucker! ::grins:: Just make sure you use a changable cover like a paper towel over a plastic bag- that way you keep things more sanitary.
Background (or you can just skip below to the recipe for the emergency paste).
For the immediate itching/burning pain, this paste saved my ass:
Herpes Stop! Paste
These pills will be mixed together- grinding them in the same place is an easy way to combine them.
1.) 1 tylenol pm, finely ground up.
(Before grinding, preferably in your mortar, you need to suck on the pill for a minute and moisten the quick-dissolve coating before your crush it. After wetting the pill totally, spit it out onto a piece of paper towel. You will use this paper towel to roll up the pill and peel off the melted protective coating. If it doesn't work at first go, repeat.
2.) 1 zinc gluconate tablet, finely ground up.
These are easily crushed up and powdered.
Okay, so take the ground up pills, now a ubiquitous white powder. Add a few small drops of water until you form a paste- a little runnier than toothpaste, not as runny as coffee- rather like a creme. Apply it as you need. You can also combine this powder with a moisturizing product of your choice. (Folks online seemed to favor a silky monistat moisturizer which I've never used but certainly sounds okay if you have the cash.) Do not use the paste many times full strength or you will get chemical burns. You may wish to mix the paste with aloe vera (pure! NO alcohol!) gel which has been chilled in the fridge or pure coconut oil- the stuff that hardens at room temp. and liquifies with heat. The mixing will make it burn less- however, I found even the aloe to be too much for my nethers to handle, so I advise only twice a day and go light on the paste. If you do start to get sore and may have burned yourself, use the aloe to counteract it.
Make sure that whenever you touch the affected region or go to the bathroom that you wash your hands with warm soapy water. This is your service to prevent others from getting it as well as protecting yourself from moving your infection to other parts of your body. Eeeeeew.
I have not tried this, but if I had access to a bathtub or a sitz bath, I would totally do a twice daily sitz bath in a sea salt solution. I'd use about cup of salt to about 3 gallons of water. You could theoretically use epsom salts too.
Laughter is an amazing medicine! The only time I didn’t feel the pain of my OB was when I was laughing. I watched American Weekend for this effect. Any funny movie will do.
One girl online said it was soothing to put unflavored organic yogurt over the infection. I can’t see that it would hurt, and if it’s all you got, then use it. Please don’t use the flavored versions- there’s too much sugar and it might aggravate things.
Things to avoid:
1.) Tea trea oil. Some folks online seemed to really like using tea tree oil straight on their prodromes. I thought it hurt like hell. I tried mixing two drops into a healthy dollop of lemon salve, and tried the whole lot- it didn’t work. Maybe the salve was the issue. I would mix one drop to a generous squeeze of aloe vera if aloe is your thing.
2.) Lemon balm salve. After doing some research, I found this old remedy for cold sores. The girl at the Herb Bin in Santa Cruz said it worked on hers. Once your prodomes have formed into sores, I recommend against using the salve- it is soothing, and I’m sure it helped my skin, but washing it off to reapply a clean layer was very painful and was not pleasant. If you use the salve you must be vigilant to wipe it off, clean off your rash, then re-apply, otherwise the virus will happily replicate all over the place and although the lemon balm is an anti-viral, I felt better just letting the area air dry.
Okay, that’s all for now. If you are reading this because you have an OB- hang in there. It sucks major salty donkey dick, but at least it’s not fatal. It will go away. Be strong and may God, whatever you envision Him/Her/Them to be, bless you and heal you quickly.
Home care for HSV2 (genital herpes):
When you go to the Dr. for herpes, they usually give you an anti-viral. The anti-virals are crappy for some people. People like me. Instead of the medication quelling my infection, it increased it in both size and severity for the three days I took it before I said, "Enough is enough," and went back to my herbal roots. I was breaking out majorly for days 5-8 of my episode. Day 8 was the last day I took the acyclovir. I am currently taking the following herbs on day 11 and my sores are healing and it seems the infection is passing, an occurrence for which I am profoundly grateful.
Your body is very strong! So to fight the virus, give your body what it needs to fight:
plenty of sleep, plenty of rest and water, relaxing space in which to recover, prayer if you practice it, meditation if you practice it, and excellent nutrition.
Orally, I have been taking between 4-5g of Vitamin C per day. I realize that this is a lot. I don't do this normally, but viruses can't replicate in acidic environments. I can handle it, the little evil bastards making sores on me can't.
Zinc gluconate: 50mg/day. Zinc has pronounced anti-viral properties. =) Take advantage.
L-Lysine: 2000mg a day. I have the 1000 mg pills and take one in the morning, one at night. In clinical trials, the number was somewhere around 1,630mg or so which affected the virus's ability to replicate, but overloading on it won't help.
Olive leaf extract: 2000-3000 mg a day. I just listened to my body and took this one when I wanted it throughout the day. This can lower blood pressure so if you have issues with that sort of thing, check with your Dr before taking it. Also, DO NOT take Olive Leaf if you are taking Warfarin. It causes internal bleeding. Ugh. Also, in people with lots of toxins in their body, olive leaf is a purgative, but in flushing out toxins sometimes the patient becomes sick- slightly swollen joints, sometimes tongue, fever, and body aches. If this happens more than the herpes is doing, then I’d discontinue the olive leaf. It worked great for me, though.
Oil of Oregano: 2000mg daily. This is another of the herbal crowd’s beloved anti-virals. I had it previously for colds, for which it does seem to help as well. 1000mg is the daily recommended dose. I take more because it works for me.
Glycerin extraction of Melissa Supreme- As wanted, usually 3-4 times a day between 40-60 drops each time. I like to drink this one in Good Earth Chai tea. Melissa, also known as lemon balm, is excellent for herpes because it’s an anti-viral. It’s also *very* expensive, so it’s mixed in with some other herbs which are good for relaxation. It’s a good mix, and the relaxation will help prevent the outbreak from getting worse, and hopefully prevent you from triggering a new one. I love the smell of it too!
Gaia Herbs Sleep and Relax pills. 2-4 daily. These are great for relaxation, and since I’ve been stressed, I’m assuming it has something to do with causing my herpes OB so I share my herbal remedies with you as a preventative. The sleep and relax formula has mostly valerian and passionflower- both of which are anti-anxiety.
So, for pain- Advil 800mg every 6 hours (no more- this is the dose the Dr. has prescribed me in the past and is considered MSD.) If you chose to use red wine as one of your herbal/home remedies, then don't take the advil- it's a bad combo for your liver.
Cannabis- oral and vaporized, to taste. This *really* helped me out during the burning pain phase. Im currently eating about one light strength edible 3 times daily. What would usually send my psyche skyward is currently keeping me polite and able to function in society. If you live in a state where it's not legal yet, you have my sympathy.
Ice pack- Is your pussy or penis sore? Then ice that sucker! ::grins:: Just make sure you use a changable cover like a paper towel over a plastic bag- that way you keep things more sanitary.
Background (or you can just skip below to the recipe for the emergency paste).
For the immediate itching/burning pain, this paste saved my ass:
Herpes Stop! Paste
These pills will be mixed together- grinding them in the same place is an easy way to combine them.
1.) 1 tylenol pm, finely ground up.
(Before grinding, preferably in your mortar, you need to suck on the pill for a minute and moisten the quick-dissolve coating before your crush it. After wetting the pill totally, spit it out onto a piece of paper towel. You will use this paper towel to roll up the pill and peel off the melted protective coating. If it doesn't work at first go, repeat.
2.) 1 zinc gluconate tablet, finely ground up.
These are easily crushed up and powdered.
Okay, so take the ground up pills, now a ubiquitous white powder. Add a few small drops of water until you form a paste- a little runnier than toothpaste, not as runny as coffee- rather like a creme. Apply it as you need. You can also combine this powder with a moisturizing product of your choice. (Folks online seemed to favor a silky monistat moisturizer which I've never used but certainly sounds okay if you have the cash.) Do not use the paste many times full strength or you will get chemical burns. You may wish to mix the paste with aloe vera (pure! NO alcohol!) gel which has been chilled in the fridge or pure coconut oil- the stuff that hardens at room temp. and liquifies with heat. The mixing will make it burn less- however, I found even the aloe to be too much for my nethers to handle, so I advise only twice a day and go light on the paste. If you do start to get sore and may have burned yourself, use the aloe to counteract it.
Make sure that whenever you touch the affected region or go to the bathroom that you wash your hands with warm soapy water. This is your service to prevent others from getting it as well as protecting yourself from moving your infection to other parts of your body. Eeeeeew.
I have not tried this, but if I had access to a bathtub or a sitz bath, I would totally do a twice daily sitz bath in a sea salt solution. I'd use about cup of salt to about 3 gallons of water. You could theoretically use epsom salts too.
Laughter is an amazing medicine! The only time I didn’t feel the pain of my OB was when I was laughing. I watched American Weekend for this effect. Any funny movie will do.
One girl online said it was soothing to put unflavored organic yogurt over the infection. I can’t see that it would hurt, and if it’s all you got, then use it. Please don’t use the flavored versions- there’s too much sugar and it might aggravate things.
Things to avoid:
1.) Tea trea oil. Some folks online seemed to really like using tea tree oil straight on their prodromes. I thought it hurt like hell. I tried mixing two drops into a healthy dollop of lemon salve, and tried the whole lot- it didn’t work. Maybe the salve was the issue. I would mix one drop to a generous squeeze of aloe vera if aloe is your thing.
2.) Lemon balm salve. After doing some research, I found this old remedy for cold sores. The girl at the Herb Bin in Santa Cruz said it worked on hers. Once your prodomes have formed into sores, I recommend against using the salve- it is soothing, and I’m sure it helped my skin, but washing it off to reapply a clean layer was very painful and was not pleasant. If you use the salve you must be vigilant to wipe it off, clean off your rash, then re-apply, otherwise the virus will happily replicate all over the place and although the lemon balm is an anti-viral, I felt better just letting the area air dry.
Okay, that’s all for now. If you are reading this because you have an OB- hang in there. It sucks major salty donkey dick, but at least it’s not fatal. It will go away. Be strong and may God, whatever you envision Him/Her/Them to be, bless you and heal you quickly.