Dear Susan,
Q: Thank you for the newsletter. Love
all your stuff and have been following you for years. Question: I have a friend
who has recently broken out terribly, for the first time with genital herpes.
Her MD is recommending she remain on anti-virals for the rest of her life.
Meaning taking Valtrex every day. Do you suggest another method of dealing with
this?
Thank you.
A: Hello, thank you for writing. We are so glad you enjoy
Susun's work, and will be sure to share your words with her.
I do not know any reason to live on a drug for life for genital herpes. Is there something more to the situation than what most people get, prompting the doctor to suggest this?
The first breakout is usually the worse. Yes, it is viral. It lives in the nerves and comes out when stressed. More people have it than most of us realize. Many learn to live with it. In fact some use it as a wonderful barometer, alerting us to sexual, physical, emotional stress we may have been ignoring. It also can react to the simple stress of wearing pants too tight, or not allowing the free circulation of air. Some find they have a breakout when feeling sexual guilt.... Anyway, subsequent breakouts are usually a lot less severe than the first. Many go years without a breakout. Compare this to any detrimental effects of the antiviral, I personally would opt out.
Rosemary Gladstar has a wonderful section in her Family
Herbal for those with herpes viruses. She writes about what can bring on
an outbreak, how to prevent an outbreak more naturally and herbs to help
relieve one already happening. I personally have only needed one
wonderful herb, an antiviral, Hypericum. The tincture I take while having
an outbreak or if I feel one coming, and the oil I put on topically. Both
are made from the fresh flowering tops of Hypericum perforatum, called
St.
John's Wort or St. Joan's Wort. Though in my
over 10 years working with herbs I have only needed this about 3 times (and was
glad too for the chance to experiment on myself). I have also recently
discovered chocolate seeming to encourage a breakout once, though not each
time, thank goodness :)
Here is a bit Susun writes from the November 2001 Newsletter :
"Hypericum perforatum, also known as St Joans
(Johns) wort is the herb I choose when herpes is the problem. The oil of the
fresh flowers rubbed on the places where the sores appear can prevent them from
coming out. Frequent applications is the key. Really frequent, like every 10-15
minutes if you can do it.
The tincture of the fresh flowers can be used to kill the virus. A dose is
a dropperful, taken as frequently as every two hours if an outbreak seems
close. I have seen this one-two punch get rid of shingles, which is a severe form
of herpes, but it must be used at the time of the outbreak.
To get behind the scenes, you will need to use other herbs inbetween times.
Recipes and suggestions for these can be found in either of my books Breast Cancer? Breast Health! the Wise Woman Way or Healing Wise. "
Blessings,
Karen Joy
wisewoman@herbshealing.com
www.wisewomanweb.com
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