Prescription Medications (suppressives)

Published by admin on Tagged Herpes Treatments

The standard, effective and specific treatment for genital herpes is antiviral therapy, which is usually in tablet form. This type of therapy is normally only prescribed for cold sores when the case is particularly severe or frequent.

Antiviral herpes drugs include Valtrex, Famvir, and Acyclovir. All of these drugs have a similar mode of action and help to stop HSV from replicating inside the body.

These treatments only work while you are taking the drug and cannot prevent future outbreaks once you stop taking it.

Antiviral medications can be used in one of 2 ways to:

1) Treat outbreaks when and if they happen (episodic)

Known as “episodic” treatment, the aim is to shorten the time each outbreak lasts for and to relieve the active symptoms. If you are coping well and your outbreaks are not too frequent, you and your doctor may agree that episodic treatment is the most appropriate option.

2) Prevent or delay recurrent outbreaks by taking tablets everyday (suppressive)

If your recurrent outbreaks are frequent or severe your doctor may recommend that you take oral antiviral medication every day to help prevent outbreaks happening. “Suppressive” therapy is taken continuously, e.g. daily, for months or even years, but is normally very effective in helping to prevent recurrences.

Oral antiviral medication is only available by prescription. You should consult your doctor for further information about antiviral treatment for your particular situation.
Antiviral treatments can:

Shorten the duration of a herpes outbreak and help speed healing
Reduce the number of outbreaks suffered - or prevent them completely

These medical drugs are usually synthetically made and their usage should be very strictly monitored.

Prescription Medications - Insider Pros (advantages, from those of us in the know):

When these drugs work, they can be very effective, both in treating the active outbreak as well as in helping to prevent recurrences.
These drugs can help to reduce viral shedding. Viral shedding is a serious concern because it indicates that the virus can be spread at times when there are no visible symptoms. These drugs have been proven to reduce, but not eliminate, this risk.
These drugs are covered by medical insurance policies world-wide. This reduces the cost but it is a much needed reduction. The market prices are astronomical, particularly if you use these drugs on an ongoing basis.
Valtrex, Famvir and Acyclovir are the only FDA approved medications for genital herpes. This is largely due to the fact that comprehensive clinical studies have been conducted for these treatments, proving their safety, tolerability and efficacy.

Prescription Medications - Insider Cons (disadvantages, from those of us in the know):

These drugs can be very expensive, as costly as US$400 per month. The typical cost is US$130.00 for 1 x ten day course (which is enough for approximately one outbreak). If you require Valtrex for a year of suppressive therapy this will cost close to US$1100 per year. There are however different strengths / doses and the cost is much less (but still expensive) when covered by Medical Insurance.
These drugs only work while you are taking them, which means they need to be taken on an ongoing basis and regularly refilled by your pharmacy. You can take them either as a suppressive therapy (every day) or episodic (when you actually have symptoms), depending on how your Doctor prescribes them for you.
There is a long list of possible side-effects, including mild adverse reactions such as diarrhea, nausea and headaches but also much more serious possible side-effects such as kidney damage, hair loss and depression. Not everyone is affected in the same way. The milder side-effects are quite common but some people may never experience any side-effect.
These drugs are NOT effective when taken 72 hours after symptoms begin. You need to begin these drugs as soon as you feel any signs or symptoms and no later than 72 hours after in order for the medication to work.
A prescription is required, although this is a pro for safety it can be embarrassing and inconvenient when you have to obtain a prescription from your Doctor and then have it filled by your pharmacy each time you need a refill. This process adds to the cost and is not ideal for discretion.
They do not work for everyone, which is of course the case with all treatments. Although these drugs work very well for a lot of people there are many people who they simply do not work for. Other alternatives are available if these drugs do not work for you.