Herpes Treatments

There are some highly effective and reputable herpes treatments available that help most people manage their herpes symptoms, and reduce their frequency and duration. Since most people with genital herpes have very few or mild symptoms, while other people have several outbreaks per year, herpes treatment options vary depending on your particular situation.

(Reprinted with Permission from DatingWithHerpes.org)

There is currently no cure for herpes, and no vaccine to prevent herpes. However, many charlatans are out there promoting their “herpes cure” or “herpes protocol” or use another term – who intentionally try to mislead the many people desperately want to believe that they can permanently rid themselves of herpes. These charlatans neglect to tell you that the herpes virus cannot be “cured” even though the signs and symptoms of herpes will lessen over time, with or without their product or protocol. The herpes virus can seem to be dormant in your body most of the time, yet even when you have no noticeable signs or symptoms, yet it can sometimes still be transmitted to your partner when you have no noticeble symptoms.

Many of these products make herpes scams 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.

Also see: CDC page about Herpes Treatment

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, Valacyclovir, 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.

Dosage Guidelines for Antiviral Drugs

Dosage Guidelines from the CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/std/herpes/treatment.htm

Topical Treatments

There are many topical treatments for genital herpes on the market but most have NOT been shown to be effective in any sort of bona-fide clinical studies. In fact, some topical treatments “claim” to have had success in bona-fide clinical tests – when in fact – their skewed tests would not be considered valid by any reputable medical professional. Beware of expensive topical treatments that make “clinically proven” claims.

Some topical “cold sore” treatments are on the market, that may be effective at “soothing” the pain of cold sores, although they may or may not have any effect at reducing the duration of the outbreak. And no topical solutions can make valid claims to reduce the number of future outbreaks. Most people have fewer outbreaks over time – without the use of any topical treatment.

Other Treatments

Lysine – some people think taking Lysine supplements may help. The low-cost online store, 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.

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 herpes 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 anyone promoting a bogus herpes scam.

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

Dynamiclear is an herbal topical solution that falsely claims to be “clinically proven” in “Phase III clinical trials” to reduce the duration of herpes and cold sore outbreaks. The folks behind Dynamiclear, Global Herbal Supplies – based in Australia, have some clever marketing tactics. Global Herbal Supplies owns several websites, such as Herpes-Coldsores.com, which looks like an objective herpes info site at first glance, but is also being used to promote and recommend Dynamiclear, their own product, as if they are not connected.

Global Herbal Supplies commissioned a clinical research study in India that they have intentionally mislabeled as a “Phase III clinical trial” – but this study never met the recognized standards of a Phase III clinical trial, with only 149 subjects and no double-blind testing, and other serious oversights. The study also did not compare results to a placebo. See this article from RationalWiki for more info on the Dynamiclear scam.

The ingredients of Dynamiclear may be natural and not harmful, but none of the ingredients in their product have ever been “clinically proven”, as claimed, to actually do anything to reduce the occurrence or 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. Therefore, 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.

Dynamiclear also recommends that you take their expensive “Combined Lysine Formula” as part of their recommended treatment regimen. Lysine can be purchased for much cheaper from many other sources. Lysine is NOT an ingredient in Dynamiclear. But they recommend taking Lysine in addition to using Dynamiclear. Lysine is the only substance in their recommended protocol that has been shown in studies to reduce herpes symptoms in some patients. Combining other treatments like Lysine with Dynamiclear further “muddies” any results you may have – you won’t know which substance was responsible for your results, or if doing nothing at all would have the same result. Most of us are not scientists, so it’s easy to be misled by such mumbo-jumbo as you will find on Dynamiclear’s website.

Click here for more information on why Dynamiclear is a bogus medical treatment for herpes. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Dynamiclear

Herpes Expert Terri Warren, RN, owner of the Westover Heights Clinic and Contributer to WebMD is one of the many herpes experts who knows that Dynamiclear has not completed a legitimate “Phase 3″ clinical trial. On WebMD she writes:

“Everyone is entitled to use treatments that work for them. However, before anyone goes out to buy [Dynamiclear or Herpanacine] based on a single person’s experience, it should be made clear that neither has demonstrated effectiveness in a well done clinical trial. If they would submit to clinical trial evaluation, it would reinforce positive comments from professionals. Both Valtrex (which is now generic as valacyclovir) and acyclovir have demonstrated effectiveness against oral and genital herpes. Acyclovir can be taken daily to reduce the frequency of recurrences and transmission for about $16 per month. Again, everyone should use what works for them, but when it comes to reducing transmission to someone else, I certainly would recommend ONLY those things that have demonstrated effectiveness. Terri”

To read Teri Warren’s post on WebMD go to: http://forums.webmd.com/3/sexual-conditions-and-stds-exchange/forum/7888