How To Take Acyclovir For Herpes Outbreak

Usual Adult Dose For Herpes Simplex

Treatment of First Episode of Genital Herpes:200 mg orally every 4 hours 5 times a day for 10 days 400 mg orally 3 times a day for 5 to 10 days Severe Disease or Complications Requiring Hospitalization:5 mg/kg IV every 8 hours for 5 days 5 to 10 mg/kg IV every 8 hours for 2 to 7 days or until clinical improvement is observed, followed by oral antiviral therapy to complete at least 10 days of total therapy Episodic Therapy: Effective treatment requires therapy initiation within 1 day of lesion onset or during the prodrome preceding an episode/recurrence200 mg orally every 4 hours 5 times a day for 5 days 400 mg orally 3 times a day for 5 days OR 800 mg orally 2 times a day for 5 days OR 800 mg orally 3 times a day for 2 days

Avoid The Following While You Are Using Acyclovir Buccal Delayed

• Do not chew gum, touch, or press the buccal tablet after it has been applied.
• Do not wear upper dentures.
• Do not brush your teeth until it dissolves. If your teeth need to be cleaned while the tablet is in place, rinse the mouth gently.

Shake the suspension well before each use to mix the medication evenly.

Your symptoms should improve during your treatment with acyclovir. Call your doctor if your symptoms do not improve or if they get worse.

Take or use acyclovir until you finish the prescription, even if you feel better. If you stop taking acyclovir too soon or skip doses, your infection may not be completely treated or may become more difficult to treat. The delayed-release buccal tablet is applied as a one-time dose.

Home Remedies And Lifestyle

At-home treatments for herpes are used to relieve pain. They do nothing to alter the course of the infection but can make you more comfortable as the herpes sores begin to heal.

There are several things you can do if have an outbreak of oral or genital herpes:

• Use a cold compress. Place a cloth-covered ice pack on the sores for 15 minutes several times daily to reduce pain. Keep the ice pack moving to prevent frostbite.
• Do not touch or scratch. Avoid touching and rubbing the sores. Doing so can spread the infection to other areas of the skin.
• Keep the sores clean. Herpes sores can become infected with bacteria if touched with soiled hands. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after going to the bathroom or before applying medications.
• Reduce stress. Stress can increase your sensitivity to pain during a herpes outbreak. You can reduce stress by performing gentle exercises or practicing mind-body therapies like meditation, yoga, and guided imagery.

To reduce the risk of spreading herpes, avoid kissing and sharing objects that come into contact with saliva, like drinking straws and eating utensils.

It’s important to note that oral herpes can be spread to the genitals, and that genital herpes can be spread to the mouth. To reduce the risk of infection, use condoms and dental dams during oral sex. Better yet, avoid sex altogether if you are having an active herpes outbreak .

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What Drugs And Food Should I Avoid While Taking Acyclovir

Avoid brushing your teeth, chewing gum, or wearing an upper denture while you have a buccal tablet in your mouth. You may rinse your mouth gently. Drink plenty of liquids to prevent dry mouth.

Herpes infections are contagious and you can infect other people, even while you are being treated with acyclovir. Avoid letting infected areas come into contact with other people. Avoid touching an infected area and then touching your eyes. Wash your hands frequently to prevent passing the infection to others.

Taking this medicine will not prevent you from passing genital herpes to your sexual partner. Avoid sexual intercourse while you have active lesions or the first symptoms of an outbreak. Genital herpes may still be contagious through viral shedding from your skin, even if you have no symptoms.

Using Valacyclovir To Treat A Primary Outbreak Of Genital Herpes

Valacyclovir can be extremely helpful for treating an initial herpes outbreak. Used early, it acts to suppress the virus and prevent it from multiplying, providing relief from the physical symptoms of a herpes outbreak and helping you recover faster.

Because primary herpes outbreaks tend to be the most intense experience infected people will have with the virus, treatment involves a relatively high dose of valacyclovir.

The standard dose of valacyclovir for an initial outbreak of genital herpes is 1,000 mg twice a day. This is typically continued over a 10-day period to continually suppress the virus and help the lesions caused by the viral infection to close and heal.

If you believe you may experiencing the first signs of a genital herpes outbreak, its important to see your doctor as soon as possible about treatment options. Valacyclovir is most effective if its taken as early as possible during an outbreak.

Your doctor may also recommend the use of pain relief medication to manage the other physical symptoms of a primary herpes outbreak.

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Patients Materials And Methods

Subjects and setting. Healthy men and women who were seropositive for HSV-2 were considered for enrollment. Patients were eligible if they had a diagnosis of a first episode of genital HSV-2 infection 6 months before enrollment. Alternatively, patients were eligible if they had longstanding genital herpes infection and a recurrence rate of 6 episodes during the preceding year. Patients who had been receiving recent suppressive therapy were eligible if they reported 6 recurrences/year before initiating suppressive therapy. Suppressive therapy was stopped for at least 1 month before enrollment, and at least 1 recurrence was required during that time. Subjects were excluded if they were immunocompromised, HIV positive, had abnormal renal or hepatic function, or had a history of malabsorption or of ocular HSV. Women of childbearing potential had to use an effective method of contraception throughout the study. Study participants were recruited by newspaper advertisements, flyers, and local health clinics at 2 centers: the University of Washington Virology Research Clinic in Seattle and the Westover Heights Clinic in Portland, Oregon. Enrollment took place between August 1995 and July 1996. The protocol was approved by human subjects review committees, and all subjects gave written, informed consent.

When To Talk With A Doctor

Herpes isnt curable, but it can be treated with antiviral medications. These medications can reduce the severity of an outbreak.

If you suspect you have herpes, make an appointment with a doctor. Its also a good idea to talk with your doctor about a herpes screening if:

• your current or previous sexual partner has herpes
• youre planning to have sex with a new partner
• you had a risky sexual encounter

If youve already been diagnosed with herpes and youre currently experiencing an outbreak, the outbreak might go away without causing complications and without treatment.

However, its wise to make an appointment with your doctor if:

• the outbreak is particularly painful or unbearable
• youre experiencing symptoms of other STIs
• youre experiencing frequent, severe outbreaks

If youre sexually active, its a good idea to have regular STI screenings. You can book appointments for STI screenings with your doctors office. You could also try a local clinic, certain pharmacies, or Planned Parenthood.

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Complementary And Alternative Medicine

Some people use natural therapies to treat herpes, either on their own or to support standard medical care. The research supporting their use is generally weak, with little evidence that they can reduce either the severity or duration of an outbreak. Even so, many people swear by their effectiveness and consider them a vital part of managing herpes outbreaks.

Complementary and alternative therapies sometimes used to treat herpes include:

• Propolis: This is a sticky substance produced by bees that may help speed the healing of genital herpes. A 2017 study found that people who used propolis ointment experienced better healing by the 10th day of treatment compared to those who used a sham ointment.
• Algae extract: Lab studies suggest that algae extract can inhibit the growth of HSV-2 in test tubes. Whether it can do so in humans has yet to be proven.
• Acupuncture: A 2011 study concluded that acupuncture was mildly effective in reducing pain caused by the herpes zoster virus , the type of herpes virus that causes shingles. While this suggests that acupuncture may be useful in easing genital herpes pain, this has yet to be proven.

Treatment Of Primary Infection

Antiviral therapy is recommended for an initial genital herpes outbreak, especially if the patient has systemic symptoms or is immunocompromised.2 Oral acyclovir is effective in reducing symptoms1. Intravenous administration may be required in immunocompromised patients and those with severe disseminated infection.1 Topical acyclovir reduces the duration of viral shedding and the length of time before all lesions become crusted, but this treatment is much less effective than oral or intravenous acyclovir.1

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Suppressive Therapy For Recurrent Hsv

Suppressive therapy reduces frequency of genital herpes recurrences by 70%80% among patients who have frequent recurrences . Persons receiving such therapy often report having experienced no symptomatic outbreaks. Suppressive therapy also is effective for patients with less frequent recurrences. Long-term safety and efficacy have been documented among patients receiving daily acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famciclovir . Quality of life is improved for many patients with frequent recurrences who receive suppressive therapy rather than episodic treatment . Providers should discuss with patients on an annual basis whether they want to continue suppressive therapy because frequency of genital HSV-2 recurrence diminishes over time for many persons. However, neither treatment discontinuation nor laboratory monitoring is necessary because adverse events and development of HSV antiviral resistance related to long-term antiviral use are uncommon.

Valacyclovir 500 mg orally 2 times/day for 3 daysOR

Valacyclovir 1 gm orally once daily for 5 days

*Acyclovir 400 mg orally 3 times/day is also effective, but are not recommended because of frequency of dosing.

Mechanism Of Action Of Aciclovir

To become effective, aciclovir must first be changed to aciclovir monophosphate by an enzyme that is only found in viruses, called thymidine kinase . It is then converted to its active triphosphate form by human enzymes found inside the cells.

CMV does not produce thymidine kinase so the antiviral activity of aciclovir in CMV infections is poor.

Aciclovir triphosphate is the active form of the drug. It reduces the production of viral DNA by competing with a natural compound, deoxyguanosine triphosphate, for the viral DNA polymerase enzyme. Incorporation of AT into the viral DNA completely prevents the synthesis of new DNA.

Viral DNA polymerase binds 1030 times more strongly to AT than the cellular DNA polymerase. This means aciclovir is not toxic.

Unfortunately, only about 1520% of the dose of aciclovir is absorbed through the gut wall, which means it must be taken frequently as it only active for two or three hours in the bloodstream.

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When Treatments For Genital Herpes Are Given

• Initial treatment. If you have symptoms such as sores when you’re first diagnosed with genital herpes, your doctor will usually give you a brief course of antiviral therapy to relieve them or prevent them from getting worse. Your doctor may keep you on the drugs longer if the sores don’t heal in that time.

After the first treatment, work with your doctor to come up with the best way to take antiviral therapies. There are two options:

• 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, but taking the drugs can make the symptoms less severe and make them go away faster.
• Suppressive treatment. If you have outbreaks often, you may want to consider taking an antiviral drug every day. Doctors call this 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.

Continued

Does Valacyclovir Each Day Keep Hsv

Am Fam Physician. 2004 Oct 1 70:1363-1364.

Sexual transmission of herpes simplex virus type 2 has been demonstrated from both symptomatic and asymptomatic reactivations in the infected partner. Daily antiviral therapy has been shown to decrease the frequency and amount of genital HSV shedding. Corey and colleagues tested daily valacyclovir for efficacy in preventing sexual transmission of HSV-2 from infected persons to their uninfected partners.

The study enrolled monogamous, immunocompetent, heterosexual couples in which only one partner was infected with HSV-2, as demonstrated by Western blot analysis of antiHSV-2 serum antibodies. Of the initial 4,034 couples screened, 1,385 asymptomatic partners already had serologic evidence of HSV-2 infection and were ineligible, and 799 of the source partners were symptomatic but had negative HSV-2 serology. After informed consent, 352 couples declined to participate, and 14 persons declined to take the study medicines, leaving 1,484 couples available for randomization.

The authors conclude that daily valacyclovir halves the transmission rate of HSV-2 to an uninfected partner over an eight-month period.

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About Genital Herpes Treatment

• Taking genital herpes treatment

  Start taking Aciclovir as soon as you feel an outbreak starting.

  Take 1 tablet 3 times a day for 5 days. Complete the course of treatment.

  If you haven’t been diagnosed with herpes previously but think you may have herpes, use our .

• Side effects of Aciclovir tablets

  A small number of people will experience some side effects when taking Aciclovir, however these are generally mild and should pass quickly. These may include headache, dizziness, nausea, diarrhoea or tiredness.

  For full information on side effects and correct use, see the patient information leaflet. If any side effects concern you, contact us via your Patient Record.

• Effectiveness of Aciclovir tablets

  This treatment is for acute outbreaks of genital herpes only.

  If taken within 5 days of the start of an outbreak, Aciclovir should shorten your outbreak by 1-2 days and make the symptoms less severe. It might even prevent the outbreak if taken early enough.

  There is no cure for herpes, so it may return. This treatment does not affect how often you get future outbreaks, or how severe they will be. However, you can minimise the inconvenience and discomfort of the outbreaks by considering herpes suppression treatment.

• How genital warts treatment works

  Aciclovir is an antiviral that works to prevent the herpes virus from multiplying. This reduces the severity of the infection.

Common Side Effects Of Valtrex

Taking Valtrex may cause side effects, such as:

• Headache
• Diarrhea
• Joint pain

Its unknown whether Valtrex causes other adverse effects like hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth, or any other symptoms not listed by the United States Food and Drug Administration . This is not a complete list of side effects. Other side effects may occur. Consult your healthcare provider if you have questions about side effects of Valtrex.

A frequently asked question about Valtrex is whether it will make you urinate more often. It wont necessarily make you pee more, but you should drink plenty of water while taking Valtrex to help the kidneys process it as best they can. Therefore, this extra hydration can result in frequent urination.

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What Other Drugs Will Affect Acyclovir

Acyclovir can harm your kidneys, especially if you also use certain medicines for infections, cancer, osteoporosis, organ transplant rejection, bowel disorders, high blood pressure, or pain or arthritis .

Other drugs may interact with acyclovir, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products. Tell your doctor about all your current medicines and any medicine you start or stop using.

Whats The Difference Between The Different Aciclovir Dosages

There are multiple different Aciclovir dosages that are used to treat a range of infections and conditions. You can find out more about what this prescription treatment can do on our What Is Aciclovir Used For? page.

There are three main Aciclovir doses that are available in tablet or capsule form: 200mg, 400mg and 800mg.

There are also other different forms of Aciclovir: creams, oral suspension , or injection. Injections are usually only done in a hospital.

Here at The Independent Pharmacy, we offer Aciclovir 400mg tablets. These can be used to treat an outbreak treatment or as ongoing suppression treatment for genital herpes.

Below you can find some more information about the different Aciclovir dosages available:

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Acyclovir May Cause Side Effects Tell Your Doctor If Any Of These Symptoms Are Severe Or Do Not Go Away:

• upset stomach

• numbness, burning, or tingling in the arms or legs
• temporary inability to move parts of your body
• shaking of a part of your body that you cannot control
• seizures
• loss of consciousness

Acyclovir may cause other side effects. Call your doctor if you have any unusual problems while you are taking or using this medication.

If you experience a serious side effect, you or your doctor may send a report to the Food and Drug Administration’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online or by phone .