Stopping antivirals

sorry to hear that hopeful, I am assuming you were on the 3000 mg, if not maybe give it another try, but happy to hear you are getting relief from a chiropractor. Any way we can get relief from this disease is wonderful.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what dosage and brand (if generic) were you taking?

Personally, i would try every brand for six months before quitting.

 

although both suppress HSV's they work very differently and lysine takes a lot longer to get results,
I believe JOH has said. But he is a better one to respond to if 4500 mg of lysine would do the same as 3000 mg, of I assume, Valtrex.

 

There are and have been any number of postings where Meniere’s sufferers have been ultimately concerned about two things:

a) A concern that they are taking “too much” of either/and/or antiherpetic drugs and lysine; and

b) That they really need to cut back on either of these just as soon as possible.

The unfortunate result of either of these approaches is simple — neither of these agents have had long enough to work, and/or not enough has been taken to work.

For unknown reasons, some regard both lysine and the prescribed antiherpetics as inherently dangerous, “hard to get it right” drugs, presuming that taking either one for “too long” or “too heavily” will somehow adversely endanger one’s health.

Frankly, nothing could be further from the truth.

Let’s take lysine, for example. Lysine is a common amino acid found in all protein foods. Thousands of people with herpes cold and genital sores take up to (or exceeding) 4500 mg per day for months or years, with no adverse outcomes.

Same thing for the antiherpetic drugs. They are extremely safe, with virtually no side effects at the dosages and durations Dr. Gacek recommends. Hundreds of patients with other herpes diseases (shingles, cold sores, etc.) take high doses for extended lengths of time with no adverse outcomes.

It must be understood that herpes (and other) viruses are not living organisms. They are not bacteria or fungi. Lysine and antiherpetic drugs don’t “kill” the viruses. Viruses are not alive; they are merely packets of genetic material that, given the right conditions inside the cell, take over the cell’s normal genetic machinery, hijacking it and causing the normal cell to make lots of new viral virions (infective viral particles). Those are eventually shed by the infected cell and they go off and infect other cells. (All of that causes the inflammation in inner ear tissues that bring about all of the typical Meniere’s symptoms: hydrops, tinnitus, etc.).

Lysine and antiherpetics are able — after a period of time; often longer than we’d like — to chemically interfere with the production of new virions. That takes time, often weeks or months. And in both cases, both with lysine (which always takes longer) and with antiherpetics, herpes viral activity almost always elevates when either lysine or antiherpetics appear. So, instead of getting initial relief, symptoms actually get worse for a time, often for several weeks or longer. Those unaware of the unique viral suppression mechanisms of either of these two agents soon enough (too soon) come to believe that a) they aren’t working at all, or, b) (incongruously) they are taking too much and need to, for some strange reason, cut back on the dosages.

I have over 260 emailed or posted accounts from users of my regimen. Several mentioned that they were very frustrated and alarmed at how the regimen first worked out. It didn’t. As noted, things actually got worse. But because they actually had all of the elements of the regimen in hand, they decided to press on, no matter what. One person (perhaps unique — or perhaps not!) didn’t get relief until about six months after starting the regimen. For that person, it took that long for the lysine to accomplish adequate viral suppression. Most would have given up before that.

The startling, supporting fact is this. Both Dr. Gacek’s protocols of antiherpetic therapy, and my regimen, centered on the over the counter lysine, have an approximate 90% success rate. Nine out of ten users of either approach claim — after enough time and dosages — adequate and welcome symptomatic relief.

In short, take as much as you can for as long as you can. Persist. Expect things to get worse at the start, and perhaps, stay bad for some time. But in virtually every case I’ve reviewed, when symptoms got worse at the beginning, it virtually always meant that continued therapy at adequate (not reduced) dosages and durations would finally bring relief.

It appears, at least for my regimen, that a few will have to persist much longer than others to get relief. Dr. Gacek rather implies this with his statements regarding antiherpetics, too.

I note that so many, facing these difficulties, are quick to pursue other therapies. Frankly, the hard evidence does not support this. No other Meniere’s treatment therapies — other than inner ear surgeries — have efficacy rates anywhere near those of Dr. Gacek and my regimen.

My best wishes to all with this difficult, often recalcitrant malady. Stay at it, adequately, please.

(Information on my regimen is here:
http://www.zoominternet.net/~kcshop/JOH.pdf )

–John of Ohio

 

Lysine may or may not work. Valtrex has been proven to work. Also, there is no empirical evidence that combining the two has additional benefit, much less to the point where one makes up for an undersized dose of the other.

Even folks who have the virus completely under control can't maintain that state at the dose you're taking.

Take 3000mg of valtrex per day for six months before deciding whether or not to quit. If you want to add lysine, it won't hurt.