Foods That Help With Herpes Outbreaks

Herpes Symptoms And Signs

In order to diagnose herpes, a health care provider can swab an area of visibly active herpes infection or, if symptoms arent active, a blood test can be given that measures the number of herpes antibodies present in the body. The antibodies dont indicate herpes itself, but rather show the immune systems response to the presence of the virus in the body. Its important to note that sometimes a swab can give false negative results since herpes lesions need to be large enough to yield enough detectable virus and if the outbreak is already healing it also may not be detected in a swab.

The most common herpes symptoms include:

• Developing either a single cold sore or cluster of multiple cold sores that form on the lips, inside the mouth, or on the genitals, buttocks and upper thighs.
• Sores can sometimes be severe, painful and rupture and cause fluid to be secreted out.
• Some herpes canker sores develop a thin, white coating and burn when touched while they healing.
• Around herpes cold sores, its common to feel pain, tenderness and other symptoms of a rash, such as redness or signs of swelling.
• Some people are able to tell before an outbreak if one is going to occur because they feel tingling, itchy sensations near the affected area.
• Some people develop other symptoms during herpes outbreaks that are similar to those caused by a cold or the flu. This may include fatigue, irritability, aches or a slight fever.

How Long Does It Take For A Pus

That can cause the pimple to become more red, inflamed, swollen and infected, and may even lead to permanent scarring. Its best to let a pimple run through its life span, Rice says. Left alone, a blemish will heal itself in 3 to 7 days. Popped improperly, it can linger for weeks or lead to scarring.

A Holistic Approach To Prevention And Treatment

While herpes normally isnât a life-threatening illness, itis pervasive, persistent, painful and often embarrassing to theapproximately 60 to 90 percent of the U.S. population who have it. SinceAIDS surfaced more than 15 years ago, herpes âanother oftensexually-transmitted diseaseâ has received little media attention andresearch dollars. Recently, the New England Journal of Medicine warned that herpes lesions increase a personâs risk ofcontracting the AIDS virus. In addition, the Centers for Disease Controlhave reported that about 1 in 5 Americans age 12 years and older hasherpes, most of whom donât know they are infected. Since the late 1970âs,the incidence of genital herpes has risen 30 percent.

To compound theproblem, what conventional medical care offers people with herpes issurprisingly little. Current prescription medicines can be expensive,ineffective for certain individuals, and carry potentially serious sideeffects. The fact is, natural remedies offer many more options toeffectively relieve the discomfort and to prevent future herpes outbreaks.CONTROLLING HERPES NATURALLY: A Holistic Approach to Prevention andTreatment is a supportive, easy-to-use guide to help people withherpes take control of their health. It offers them the tools to liberatethemselves from the cruelty of facial and genital herpes.

CQ Editorâs Review:

âCarol Mulvihill, RN,C, Editor of ConnectionsQuarterly, the Newsletter for College Health Nurses

Read Also: Will The Shingles Vaccine Help With Herpes

Hsv1 And Oral Transmission

The other commonly transmitted strain of the herpes simplex virus, HSV1, typically results in oral herpes, or cold sores around the mouth. This form of HSV is more readily transmitted via oral contact, such as kissing, than through genital contact.

Unlike HSV2, which usually lies dormant between outbreaks at the base of the spine, HSV1s latency periods are typically spent in nerve endings near the ear. Thats why its more likely to cause oral herpes than genital herpes.

HSV1 and HSV2 are genetically similar to each other and clinical symptoms are indistinguishable.

For this reason, having one form of the virus sometimes reduces the risk of acquiring the other form. This is because your body actively produces antibodies to fight the virus once you have it. However, its possible to contract both forms.

HSV1 and HSV2 can both have no symptoms or very mild symptoms that you might not notice. Not having symptoms doesnt mean you dont have the virus.

If you do have symptoms of HSV1 or HSV2, they may include:

• a tingling sensation, itching, or pain, anywhere in the genital area or around the mouth
• one or more small, white blisters that may become oozy or bloody
• one or more small, red bumps or irritated-looking skin

Arginine And Herpes Outbreaks

Arginine is another amino acid that makes up proteins and is involved in several very important functions of the human organism.

This amino acid is essential in pediatric ages because the organism of infants is not able to synthesize it.

The adult organism can synthesize arginine in the urea cycle which was discovered by the German physiologist Hans Adolf Krebs in 1932.

Don’t Miss: What To Put On Genital Herpes Outbreak

Chocolate Tea Coffee And Herpes Outbreaks

Caffeine, theophylline and theobromine are three substances that stimulate the central nervous system they form the methylxanthine family.

Coffee is one of the best sources of caffeine, chocolate is rich in theobromine and contains caffeine and tea is rich in theophylline, but also contains caffeine and theobromine.

Avoid coffee, tea and chocolate and you will be surprised by the results.

You should also keep in mind that chocolate and black tea are high in arginine and low in lysine: another reason not to include them in your diet.

Recommended Reading: What Happens When You Get Herpes

Foods That Trigger Herpes Recurrence

While some foods can aid your recovery during a herpes flare-up, others can increase the chances of a recurrence of this infection. Following are some food items you should avoid:

Sugar: Sugar is bad for the immune system. Sugar hinders a main component of our complex immune response, slowing down the white blood cells that attack pathogens in the body. Besides the obvious culprits like sugary sodas, sweets, cake and pastries, sugar can hide in many processed foods as well. If you want to boost your immune system to help you fight herpes, lower your sugar intake by reading food labels closely and replacing sugar with natural sweeteners such as fruits, dates, figs, etc.

Unhealthy fats: Saturated fats, which are typically fats that are solid at room temperature, are not good for your body. You can limit their consumption by avoiding foods such as fatty meat, butter and cheese. Coconut and palm oils also have a high saturated fat content. Packaged and preserved foods are also known for high trans fat content and bad quality of oil. Choosing low-fat foods or those with unsaturated fat such as olive oil, sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, walnut, etc to boost your immune response and help keep herpes flare-ups at bay.

Recommended Reading: Does Colloidal Silver Kill Herpes Virus

Can Genital Herpes Be Prevented

The only sure way to keep from getting genital herpesor any other sexually transmitted infection is to not have sex. If you do have sex, practice safer sex.

• Before you start a sexual relationship, talk with your partner about STIs. Find out whether he or she is at risk for them. Remember that a person can be infected without knowing it.
• If you have symptoms of an STI, dont have sex.
• Dont have sex with anyone who has symptoms or who may have been exposed to an STI.
• Dont have more than one sexual relationship at a time. Having several sex partners increases your risk for infection.
• Use condoms. Condom use lowers the risk of spreading or becoming infected with an STI.
• Dont receive oral sex from partners who have cold sores.

Taking medicine for herpes may lower the number of outbreaks you have and can also prevent an episode from getting worse. It also lower the chances that you will infect your partner.

If you are pregnant, you should take extra care to avoid getting infected. You could pass the infection to your baby during delivery, which can cause serious problems for your newborn. If you have an outbreak near your due date, you probably will need to have your baby by caesarean section. If your genital herpes outbreaks return again and again, your doctor may talk to you about medicines that can help prevent an outbreak during pregnancy.

Also Check: How Expensive Is Herpes Medicine

Home Remedies For Hsv

Herpes is not a curable disease, but it is treatable.

There are many ways to lessen the severity and frequency of herpes flare-ups, including home remedies that can be used alongside prescription medications.

While most people who have herpes do not experience symptoms at all, others experience one initial outbreak, and others have recurrent outbreaks with painful sores, blisters, or lesions, most often on the mouth or genitals.

For these patients, the goal of treatment is to reduce discomfort, support the healing process, hasten remission, and reduce the frequency of future outbreaks.

In this article, Ill explore how home remedies can help accomplish these treatment goals.

Ill explain the difference between oral and genital herpes, and review the most common symptoms.

Ill go over the major dos and donts for herpes outbreaks.

Then Ill review the latest recommendations around home remedies for herpes, including dietary changes, and Ill explain how these home remedies can be used alongside other treatment options.

Ill discuss steps you can take at home to prevent herpes from flaring up and spreading.

And Ill tell you when to see a doctor about herpes.

Read Also: How Do You Get Rid Of Herpes

Supplements For Herpes Outbreaks

If you feel that your diet doesnt contain enough lysine, you can take lysine supplements. Small preliminary studies suggest that daily lysine supplements might minimize and improve healing times of herpes outbreaks. In one study, patients were given 1000mg of lysine three times per day . However, the study used a small sample size and was limited it its scope.

Lysine supplementation is safe and its considered the best cure for herpes outbreak sufferers. Lysine supplements that have minerals, such as bioflavonoids and zinc, as well as vitamins can work miracles to prevent and control herpes outbreaks. Here is a good lysine supplement that includes zinc. Each pill contains 333mg, so you can adjust to the proper dosage. Formulas often include zinc, vitamin B complex and vitamin C supplements in a herpes diet.

Another well-known supplement used in treating herpes is commonly called curcumin, or turmeric extract. Its an anti-inflammatory that makes your body cells less susceptible to viral infections. See it here. A traditional supplement such as cayenne pepper is also sometimes recommended by physicians to fight the herpes virus . You can apply either of these externally to ease pain.

Red marine algae is another great supplement as it helps your immune system fight the herpes virus and prevents its re-occurrence . Read the reviews from people who use it for HSV on the product page here!

How To Get Rid Of Herpes Naturally

Not every person with a herpes infection actually experiences breakouts of cold sores throughout his or her lifetime or even after initially becoming infected. How often someone has a herpes cold sore outbreak, how severe the outbreaks are, how contagious someone is after infection and how long the sores take to heal all depend on someones individual immune response.

1. Boost Nutrient Intake

If youre going to keep the herpes virus from frequently causing outbreaks, the first step in how to get rid of herpes is to improve immune function by boosting nutrient intake. Include these healing foods in your diet to keep the virus dormant as much as possible:

2. Avoid Inflammatory Foods

Certain foods can raise inflammation, weaken immune defenses and make skin irritation even worse. Avoid the following foods as much as possible to limit outbreak severity and duration.

3. Consider Supplements

• Antiviral herbs: These include elderberry, calendula, echinacea, garlic, astragalus and licorice root.
• L-lysine : Can help treat and prevent outbreaks.
• Lemon balm extract: Apply as a topical cream for healing.
• Vitamin C : Vitamin C boosts immune function improving herpes.
• Zinc : Zinc benefits include supporting immune function, keeping viruses dormant and rebuilding skin tissue to speed up healing.
• B-complex : B vitamins help your body deal with stress and can prevent outbreaks.

4. Try Essential Oils

Related: How to Use Witch Hazel to Clear Up Your Skin Fast

Also Check: Does Herpes Cause Alzheimer’s

Pay Attention To What You Eat

ASHA reports that some people believe foods containing the amino acid arginine, such as legumes and whole grains, can contribute to outbreaks. A few older studies, conducted in 1981 and 1987, showed a possible connection, but ASHA states there is no clinical evidence to support these studies. However, because triggers may vary based on the individual, keep track of the foods you eat to determine if there is a connection.

How K Health Can Help

Did you know you can get affordable primary care with the K Health app? K doctors are able to treat herpes with medication, but patients must be diagnosed already. If youre worried that you might have genital herpes, a K doctor can refer you to a physician for an in-person visit. to check your symptoms, explore conditions and treatments, and if needed text with a doctor in minutes. K Healths AI-powered app is HIPAA compliant and based on 20 years of clinical data.

K Health has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references.

Also Check: How To Treat Feline Herpes

Are Cold Sores Contagious

Oral herpes is contagious to others who do not have it.

The virus is spread from person to person by kissing, by close contact with herpes lesions, or from saliva even when sores are not present. Infected saliva is a common means of virus transmission. The contagious period is highest when people have active blisters or moist sores. Once the blisters have dried and crusted over , the risk of contagion is significantly lessened. HSV can also be spread through personal items that are contaminated with the virus, such as lipstick, utensils, and razors. Despite popular myth, catching herpes from surfaces, towels, or washcloths is a very low risk, since the virus does not usually survive long on dry surfaces.

Also Check: Why Do I Keep Getting Genital Herpes Outbreaks

Herpes And Moldy Food

Molds and other fungi produce substances called mycotoxins that can weaken the immune system and have other detrimental effects on human health.

Weakening of the immune system is a trigger for herpes outbreaks in people infected with the virus.

For this reason, one way to avoid the harmful effects of mycotoxins in nutrition is to avoid the ingestion of moldy food.

To avoid the ingestion of mycotoxins that could come from the consumption of meat and milk, more than 100 countries have joined the initiative to regulate the limits of mycotoxin content in animal feed.

The FDA has implemented several inspection programs for industries producing animal feed since 1985. Among the products that are subject to inspection are corn, tree nuts, cottonseed and peanuts.

Bread is very prone to mold if you place it in a plastic bag because this type of bag, besides preserving it, contributes to the growth of molds.

Remember that the diet for herpes sufferers has special requirements that, besides helping you avoid outbreaks, will help you to be healthy.

Also Check: How Much Is Herpes Medication Without Insurance

Dos And Donts For Herpes Outbreaks

With oral herpes outbreaks, avoid irritating the inflamed area any further. Eat bland, healthy foods while avoiding salty, sour, acidic and spicy foods.

Switch to a softer toothbrush to avoid irritating your lips and gums. For genital herpes outbreaks, air drying speeds healing.

Try to wear loose fitting clothes and breathable cotton underwear. Wash sores gently and dry them, but do not bandage them tightly afterward.

Never pick at or open up herpes sores, as this can worsen the infection and and even spread the infection to other parts of your body.

List Of Foods High In Lysine And Low In Arginine

Food specialists elaborated a table applying the described procedure which contains an ordered list of foods in which the lysine-arginine ratio is greater than 1, i.e., they are foods that contain more lysine than arginine.

The Ultimate Herpes Protocol

The Ultimate Herpes Protocol.

The information provided in the table is very useful for the conformation of a diet for herpes sufferers.

Read Also: Can You Have Multiple Herpes Outbreaks At Once

Other Triggers For Genital Herpes Outbreaks

Other triggers of genital herpes may include:

• Sexual intercourse. Some people find that the friction of sexual intercourse irritates the skin and brings on symptoms. Using a water-based lubricant can help reduce irritation. Don’t use one that contains the spermicide nonoxynol-9, however. Nonoxynol-9 can irritate mucous membranes, such as the lining of the . Oil-based lubricants are a no-no, too. They weaken latex, making condoms more likely to break. Even if the friction of intercourse seems to be a trigger for symptoms, it probably won’t cause a flare-up every time you have sex.
• Colds and sunlight. The common cold and sunlight seem to trigger outbreaks of oral herpes , but no proof exists that they trigger genital herpes outbreaks.
• Hormones. Hormonal changes, like those that occur in the menstrual cycle, can affect genital herpes outbreaks. No one knows why.
• Surgery, weak immune system. Trauma to the body, such as having surgery, may make herpes symptoms appear. It’s possible that having a weakened immune system does, too. People whose immune systems are weakened by HIV, for example, tend to have outbreaks more often than people with normal immune functioning.

Remember that triggers may not be the same for everyone, and doctors are not certain how much lifestyle affects outbreaks of herpes symptoms. If you think something in particular triggers symptoms, ask your doctor what you should do about it.

Show Sources