Herpes Simplex Virus Treatment Options; Impact of Arginine
by Ask a Healer
This is part of a series on HSV-1, HSV-2 and Herpes Zoster. Part One is here Hidden Dangers of Herpes Infections and you can read Part Two here Herpes of the Brain
As a wellness counselor, I’ve read a lot of research on the herpes simplex virus and it’s various forms….fever blisters, genital herpes, shingles, ocular herpes, brain herpes, etc.
There are many alternative medicine supplements available which help the body fight HSV, such as lysine, melissa, tea tree oil and other anti-viral essential oil blends, etc. Since they have the capacity to pass the blood/brain barrier, pure essential oils may be the most potent natural weapon available, against the herpes virus. However, the FDA has announced, proclaimed, decreed that essential oils cannot be represented as a herpes treatment though, as far as I know, they can be referenced for pain relief and as healing agents topically.
So far, the only medications approved for treatment of herpes are valtrex, acyclovir and famvir.
One of the main things that is echoed on almost every website geared toward helping those with herpes is that high-arginine foods should be avoided. This is because the amino acid arginine can trigger a herpes outbreak. However, the heart needs arginine so there has to be a better way to maintain a breakfree existence than totally eliminating this important amino acid.
My concern about this ban on arginine has to do with my knowledge of the research being done on this particular amino acid and it’s importance to a healthy cardiovascular system. Is it a coincidence that one in four sexually active people have herpes AND that cardiovascular disease is a number one killer?
Oh, lord, there will have to be exhaustive studies on that one before I could say a word about it but what if….what if this all-out ban on a vital amino acid is doing more than just preventing herpes outbreaks? This is rather an older article, where I reviewd Cardio Cocktail, a high arginine supplement I was taking at the time. Even though it's older content I'm keeping it up because it still may be relevant for someone.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I’m in my third day of taking a product called CardioCocktail. I’m not ready to give it my thumbs up yet but I can say I’m noticing more energy. And one kind of bizarre confirmation that it might be working to increase blood flow, oxygen, etc. happened at the Cracker Barrel restaurant yesterday.
As I’m sure most who eat a Cracker Barrel may have also done, I normally grab those little triangular games with the pegs and try to see if I’m dumb, pretty smart or a genius. If you’re not familiar with the games (there’s a study on wealth manifestation…would love to interview the man who created those and then got Cracker Barrels all over to buy them), they are little triangular pieces of wood with holes in them. There are pegs in every hole except one and the object is jump pegs until there is only one peg left.
In the past, and I’m talking 20 years of eating there, I have only done this one time and that was with specific help from a waitress there who knew how to do it. That one success was probably at least 5 or 6 years ago. Well, yesterday, I sat down and did it, first try. I was looking around for somebody to tell. I tried again and failed, and then tried again, and succeeded a second time. Now this….is amazing to me.
Is my brain getting more oxygen now? Or is this just one of those strange, inexplicable little events that have nothing to do with anything else.
Anyway, I ramble. Back to the arginine studies. When a Nobel Prize is awarded for research, I tend to notice it. In 1998, the Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to Dr. Lou Ignarro for his research on Nitric Oxide in the body. What does this have to do with arginine? Well, L-Arginine, taken in large doses and with near-full absorption, helps our body produce Nitric Oxide, which in turn helps get more blood flow and oxygen through your system.
When I had the Digital test done, the technician commented that a lot people die of heart attacks in their sleep because they are not producing any nitric oxide. You have to be moving to produce it, as in exercise…. or you can take arginine. (ps. Another product that can help increase nitric oxide levels is organic beet juice but must stress "organic". Almost all beets grown in US are gmo unless certified organic.)
So I like the results I'm getting from Cardio Cocktail but is the very high arginine dosage going to be a problem for the one in four sexually active people who are estimated to have herpes? Can they take such large doses of arginine or is it dangerous? On the bottle, there is a warning for those who have ocular herpes (herpes of the eye) or brain herpes but not of the other forms.
One Theory About Herpes
What if using medicines to keep the herpes virus latent are not the best way? Could it be that the herpes virus has to be weakened by repeated attack, just the same way that it weakens a person’s system from within by repeated attack? And if that's true, how how do you attack something that is hiding in your system? Flush it out and then kill it, over and over until it can't come back?
What kills herpes? Tea tree oil will kill HSV on the skin surface and I've read that it will kill surfacing virus if applied repeatedly when prodome symtoms appear but there's a complication... If something only kills on surface or near surface cells, someone would already be starting toward an outbreak to use it That’s the thing anyone with herpes doesn’t want to think about, risking an outbreak to kill the virus. But what if that could work?
Anyway, I am saying all this to say that this research on arginine has been enough to make me rethink how I counsel people with herpes. While it's true that avoiding arginine may help reduce outbreaks, what are we doing to the rest of the body, particularly the heart, when arginine is avoided? I hope the company that created CardioCocktail will research this vital issue. To me, they are onto something with this formula and it would be a true shame if the huge numbers of people with herpes couldn’t benefit from it.
Maybe the folks at Formor can look at adding melissa (lemon balm) to the formula and then doing some controlled tests with people who have herpes. Lemon balm is a wonderful tonic herb anyway and can be taken longterm with no ill effects. It’s a good tea to drink all the time, for general toning and health on it’s own. Might it be added to the formula for those who have herpes and might that help their body kill the virus as soon as the arginine flushes it out of it’s hiding place? And, over time, might that not weaken the virus to the point that something changes, some antibody forms, some mechanism of natural body wisdom takes over? And might there be a cure for herpes after all?
Health Disclaimer: The articles on herpes and treatment options for HSV on this website are all educational in nature and intended to replace any needed medical testing, evaluation or treatment. Hopefully, you will choose a doctor who is open to the idea of further supporting the body with natural antivirals and not just suppressing symptoms with Valtrex.
