Phenylbutyrate Increases Potency of Acyclovir Against Herpes Viruses

A new paper, research report, indicates that phenylbutyrate, an existing drug, when administered along with acyclovir, potentiates, strengthens that antiherpetic drug's ability to suppress the pathogenic activities of herpes virus infections --- therefore of strong consideration when acyclovir is used to treat Meniere's disease caused by a herpes infection of the inner ear.

The report indicates that acyclovir dosages can be reduced, while still maintaining strong antiherpetic outcomes.

The report is here:
Drug for rare disorder shows promise for treating herpes viruses | UIC Today

Let's see if any of the few medical practices that prescribe acyclovir as a first-line treatment for Meniere's might investigate and eventually use this new, enhanced approach.

--John of Ohio

 

Well, virtually every drug sold, over the counter or by prescription, has toxicities at "higher doses." Not a difficult problem to solve. Take those drugs at recommended, prescribed, proven, safe dosages.

And, "Why do we need this?" I don't know the "we" being referring to. Presently, Meniere's sufferers being treated with either antiherpetic drugs, or with lysine, don't "need" phenylbutyrate. For lysine therapy, is almost surely will provide no advantages. But for acyclovir, as the report shows, it increases that drug's efficacy against herpes virus infections, at even lower doses.

For now, few physicians are going to be prescribing both acyclovir and phenylbutyrate to treat Meniere's. But, in the future, based upon the report's findings, clinical trials using both drugs together could be conducted.

--John of Ohio

 

The absolute answer to the "need" question, regarding the efficacies of antiherpetic treatment (with acyclovir, et al.) compared to my particular treatment regimen (utilizing various over the counter substances) would require the conduct of a long, large, expensive clinical trial, with sufficient numbers of participants so as to generate an acceptable p value. That would probably be a trial, over a number of years, where at least a hundred Meniere's patients would be treated with antiherpetics, compared to another arm of the study where an equivalent number would be treated with lysine and the other recommended substances listed in my regimen.

If it were a really valuable, applicable study, additional arms would include patients receiving conventional Meniere's treatments. A hundred or so would be treated with the LSD therapy, low-salt and diuretic. Other arms would provide outcomes data on injected drugs, such as gentamicin. Finally, in a complete study of all that has been used to treat Meniere's disease would be other, additional clinical study arms assessing the successes of the various surgical approaches.

Such a study would cost millions of dollars, and take a number of years, coordinated among a multitude of hospitals and clinics.

Of course, it won't happen. First, conventional medical practice, understandably, is repelled by new, off the street therapies using over the counter substances, contrived by non-medical parties (such as me). No reason to conduct clinical trials with any of those. On the face of it, they can't work; or are simply unworthy of clinical trial validation or negation.

Secondly, the dollars spent on antiherpetics for the treatment of Meniere's disease, a relatively rare or uncommon one, doesn't justify any pharmaceutical company making such drugs spending millions of dollars for this narrow, peculiar application.

Therefore, each person with Meniere's must make his or her own, informed decisions on how to deal with, treat the disease. For me (and probably several hundred others with Meniere's), my lysine-based treatment regimen has been equal to, or superior to conventional medical approaches. The amino acid lysine is known to disrupt or complicate herpes virus replication, thereby effectively suppressing herpes virus pathologies, which, in most cases, includes Meniere's disease. Dr Gacek has had great success with antiherpetic drugs, which, likewise suppress herpes virus activities.

From my standpoint (and experience) I would (and did) personally elect to treat my Meniere's with my lysine-base regimen. I never used any of the antiherpetic drugs. Had no need. So, for me, there is no need for those drugs to be used against Meniere's. Nonetheless, they are valuable, and in the same way as lysine, do suppress herpes virus activities in the inner ear. Just because my regimen works, doesn't necessarily therefore negate or disqualify antiherpetics.

Lastly, no Meniere's therapy, except for complete surgical removal of the inner ear, provides universal efficacies. The data I have from 280 users of my regimen reveal about an 88% treatment success rate. But, clearly, the regimen can't work for everyone. Clinical data from those using antiherpetic drugs, likewise, fail to reveal 100% success. Herpes viruses are not the only cause of Meniere's symptoms. Therefore, for that minority of sufferers, neither antiherpetic drugs or my regimen can provide relief. People with Meniere's disease have to be open and receptive to new or additional therapies, after the ones they've tried have failed. They must keep looking for and trying new therapies. I know of no other source of such valuable information than on this website, itself.

--John Ohio