Brief Answer:
Information

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,

The mainstay of treatment for genital herpes is to take an antiviral.

There are three major drugs commonly used to treat genital herpes symptoms: acyclovir (Zovirax), famciclovir (Famvir), and valacyclovir (Valtrex). These are all taken in pill form. Severe cases are treated with the intravenous (IV) drug acyclovir.

If this is your first outbreak, your doctor will usually give you 7-10 day prescription for an antiviral medicine to relieve them or prevent them from getting worse. If the sores don't heal during that time, sometimes we extend the duration of the antiviral prescription.

After a first outbreak there are 2 options for addressing outbreaks in the future:

Intermittent treatment. Your doctor may prescribe an antiviral drug for you to keep on hand in case you have another flare-up. This is called intermittent therapy. You can take the pills for two to five days as soon as you notice sores or when you feel an outbreak coming on. Sores will heal and disappear on their own without an antiviral medicine, but taking them can make the symptoms less severe and make the symptoms go away faster.

Suppressive treatment. If you have outbreaks often, you may want to consider taking an antiviral drug every day. This is called suppressive therapy. For someone who has more than six outbreaks a year, suppressive therapy can reduce the number of outbreaks by 70% to 80%. Many people who take the antiviral drugs daily have no outbreaks at all.

There is no set number of outbreaks per year that doctors use to decide when someone should start suppressive therapy. Rather, more important factors are how often the outbreaks happen and if they are severe enough to interfere with your life.

Taking daily suppressive therapy may somewhat reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to a sex partner. Antiviral drugs reduce viral shedding, when the virus makes new copies of itself on the skin's surface.

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.

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Brief Answer:
Doseage

Detailed Answer:
Here are guidelines for treatment of Genital Herpes:

Initial treatment: 200 mg PO q4hr while awake (5 times daily) for 10 days or 400 mg PO q8hr for 7-10 days

Intermittent treatment for recurrence: 200 mg PO q4hr while awake (5 times daily) for 5 days; initiate at earliest sign or symptom of recurrence

Chronic suppression for recurrence: 400 mg PO q12hr for up to 12 months; alternatively, 200 mg 3-5 times daily

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Brief Answer:
Your welcome!

Detailed Answer:
I hope you are feeling better soon!

Best regards,
Bonnie Berger-Durnbaugh, MD

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