Looking for experiences w herpes antivirals

Messages
22
Hi peeps

Looking for experiences w herpes antivirals - valcyte & Valtrex for those where it helped.

If it didn’t help, please don’t comment i know it often doesn’t, I don’t have capacity atm for bad news.

So - if helped - what doses ? How quickly? Did it take time?

Thx so much 🌺
 

Treeman

Senior Member
Messages
903
Location
York, England
I took aciclovir and moved from severe to sever end of moderate over about 18 months. I get shingles outbreaks and still take it although it’s not 100% controlling it.

I also started taking truvada and noticed an immediate improvement from severe end of moderate to middling of moderate. I also noticed that I no longer get shingles flair ups. So it maybe that it helps the aciclovir or it’s actually better than the aciclovir at controlling shingles. Good luck
 
Messages
22
I took aciclovir and moved from severe to sever end of moderate over about 18 months. I get shingles outbreaks and still take it although it’s not 100% controlling it.

I also started taking truvada and noticed an immediate improvement from severe end of moderate to middling of moderate. I also noticed that I no longer get shingles flair ups. So it maybe that it helps the aciclovir or it’s actually better than the aciclovir at controlling shingles. Good luck
Thx. When did you notice improvement on aciclo? I’m on valcyte for 5 months and feel nothing 😩 I am improving at my own slow pace which I don’t attribute to valcyte
 

Treeman

Senior Member
Messages
903
Location
York, England
Thx. When did you notice improvement on aciclo? I’m on valcyte for 5 months and feel nothing 😩 I am improving at my own slow pace which I don’t attribute to valcyte

I think the improvement was so slow it was only when I looked back I could say it improved me rather than just the usual variation from day to day with the illness.
 

Treeman

Senior Member
Messages
903
Location
York, England
Do you think, since I’m not having negative effects, it’s worth to continue?

For me it was an easy decision due to the shingles outbreaks. I’ve tried many things that didn’t help but only for about a month then stop. I don’t think it’s a great idea taking medication with no benefit medium to long term but as hip said above it’s usual to take it for a year, it seems to be slow acting. I still take 400mg 3 times a day with regular blood tests showing everything is ok.

When deciding if I should take a medication I look at my symptoms what information I get from testing and the potential benefits of the medication for my situation.
 
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Hip

Senior Member
Messages
18,237
Do you know how long they take it until they declare no benefit ?

I believe for Valtrex, which Dr Lerner gave at a dose of 1000 mg four times daily for EBV ME/CFS patients, he said the benefits start to become noticeable after 3.5 months.

There is some info about Dr Lerner's Valtrex and Valcyte treatment of herpesvirus ME/CFS in this post.
 

ilivewithcfs

Senior Member
Messages
201
I took Valtrex at a standard dosage mentioned in the instruction (i don't remember how much exactly). It started working after about 2 weeks, maybe a little less. It worked really well for a while, until it started to cause insomnia for me, so I had to give it up. After that some symptoms returned,but not all the way. There was a lasting benefit that stuck.
 
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Messages
22
I took Valtrex at a standard dosage mentioned in the instruction (i don't remember how much exactly). It started working after about 2 weeks, maybe a little less. It worked really well for a while, untill it started to cause insomnia for me, so I had to give it up. After that some symptoms returned,but not all the way. There was a lasting benefit that stuck.
Oh very nice :)
 
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