Lysine for Herpes

nutrition-vs-pills - herpes treatment - treatment for Herpes

Understanding Your Options for Herpes Treatment

Understanding Your Options for Herpes Treatment

Herpes has been around practically since the dawn of humankind.  Modern (a.k.a. “Western”) medicine has been around since the late 1700’s.  Traditional medicine has been around at least for a couple of thousand years, if not longer; and the use of botanical (plant) remedies dates back at least 60,000 years according to the University of Minnesota.


Pharmaceuticals

When we have been diagnosed with herpes, most of us are offered pharmaceuticals to help calm an outbreak or use as a prophylactic so we do not give it to a sexual partner.  Commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals for herpes include Acyclovir (Zovirax), Famcyclovir (Famvir), and Valacyclovir (Valtrex).

Pharmaceuticals can help with an outbreak once you have it, but they cannot make the outbreak just “go away.”  Once an outbreak has begun, it has to run its course.  Taking a pharmaceutical can reduce the duration and severity of the outbreak, but the efficacy can vary dramatically from one person to the next.  That means that it may help one person significantly more than it helps the next.

In terms of prophylaxis (prevention), pharmaceuticals are not recommended for long-term use due to potential harm to the kidneys.  For people with herpes who are sexually active with a partner who does not have herpes, this causes an ethical dilemma.  Do you put your own health at risk by taking antiviral pharmaceuticals long-term, or do you stop taking them and put your partner at a higher risk for contracting herpes?

Technically, most otherwise healthy people do not need treatment for herpes in terms of their own health.  Outbreaks happen and they run their course.  They are unpleasant, but that’s about the worst of it.  Exceptions to this are pregnant women and people who have compromised immune systems.  These people should consult with a physician regarding appropriate pharmaceutical treatments.  For pretty much everyone else, there are other options.

 

Nutritional Supplementation

It is possible to help control the frequency and severity of herpes outbreaks through modifying nutritional intake – either through food selection and/or taking a supplement.

Yes, it sounds too easy, but it is backed up by actual science.  This article published on the National Institutes of Health library website confirms that taking the supplement L-lysine can help to reduce the number of outbreaks, reduce the symptoms experienced during an outbreak, and speed up the healing time of lesions.

You can learn how lysine helps prevent herpes outbreaks here.

 


Botanical Products

Botanical products have recently been rediscovered as a treatment for herpes outbreaks.  One of the most effective plants is Melissa officinalis, also commonly known as “Lemon Balm” for its lemony scent.  Lemon Balm has been scientifically studied (See article at Nation Institutes of Health here.) and has been shown to act directly on exposed herpes virus and has been suggested as an effective topical treatment.

Likewise, tea tree oil not only has been shown to have anti-viral properties against the herpes virus, but it also has pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory, and healing properties to boot. Peppermint oil has also been shown to be an effective essential oil in the external treatment of herpes lesions (See National Institute of Health article on tea tree and peppermint oils here.)


Understanding Your Options for Herpes Treatment

So, while pharmaceutical products exist to help with herpes, they are not the only source of assistance. For people who do not like to take pharmaceuticals, can’t take pharmaceuticals, or need a break or supplement for pharmaceutical treatments, natural alternatives for herpes such as taking L-lysine and using externally the essential oils of Lemon Balm, Peppermint, and Tea Tree can help significantly.

Calming Your Mind

Most of us don’t realize that we have a lot of stress that this can counteract our other best efforts to control our outbreaks. 

Most of us do not rest well, and we carry around a lot of stress in the forms of negative self-talk and just keeping up with our crazy-busy lives.

My personal journey led me to The Gupta Program.  The Gupta Program helps you calm your mind and body.  It teaches you how to take advantage of the brain’s neuroplasticity, or ability to change. 

Identifying our thought patterns that we have that do not serve us and only add to our existing stress levels – we are able to reprogram our brains through simple exercises.

The Gupta Program helps you identify those patterns.  It also  teaches you how to train your brain to have new, healthy patterns of thought that do not obsess over the condition. 

It seems too simple to be truec, but once you learn these techniques, your stress levels drop, your sleep improves, and your body is less likely to experience outbreaks as often.  

how to prevent herpes outbreak

How Lysine Helps Prevent Herpes Outbreaks

How Lysine Helps
Prevent Herpes Outbreaks

Before we can understand why lysine can help with herpes, we first need to examine what lysine is.  Lysine, also known as l-lysine, is an amino acid.  Ok, but what does that mean?

Why Our Bodies Need Lysine

Our bodies build proteins by stringing together amino acids in a chain.  In order to build proteins, it is necessary to have all of the necessary amino acids present.  Our bodies produce some of these proteins, but there are some we are unable to synthesize.  These are known as “essential amino acids” because they are essential for us to get in order to survive.  If you are missing just one amino acid, proteins cannot be synthesized.  When we cannot synthesize proteins, we cannot grow or repair our bodies.

Think of it like building a house.  If you have lumber, shingles, and concrete for the foundation you are pretty well on your way to having a nice home.  Without nails, though, you won’t get very far.  Essential amino acids are like the nails.

Lysine is more than just a building block of protein.  It also helps to convert fatty acids into energy and lower cholesterol.  Lysine helps with the absorption of calcium from the diet and is an important component of collagen which is a connective tissue that holds our bodies together.

 


Lysine Deficiency – Herpes Diet

Failure to get enough lysine can lead to reproductive disorders, slow growth, agitation, loss of appetite, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, anemia, and blood shot eyes.  People who may not get enough lysine are burn patients (because their bodies are reconstructing collagen at a rapid rate), athletes (because their bodies are in a constant state of growing and repairing muscle), and vegans who do not eat enough legumes (lentils, beans, and peas).

Although a vegan diet can be much healthier than a diet containing animal products, lysine is one thing that is not very prevalent in vegan foods.  If you are a vegan who does not watch his or her nutritional intake closely (and who really does that?), then you might just opt to take a lysine supplement.  The other nutrient vegans may wish to supplement is B12.  Like lysine, it is scarce in the vegan diet, but both can be obtained in vegan form for supplementation.

As you will see, making sure that you have enough lysine is critical to avoiding herpes outbreaks.  Call it the “Herpes Diet.”

 


What Does Lysine Have to do with Herpes?

One other function of lysine – well, not so much a function as an effect – is that it competes with another amino acid known as arginine for space in our cells.  Each of our cells has little tiny “doors” on them through which certain substances may pass.

Think of those little “doors” as the holes in the child’s toy where the objective is to put the round object through the round hole and the square object through the square hole.  The round object will not go through the square hole and vice versa.

Lysine and arginine are like two different colored square blocks.  They are both competing to get through the “square doors” on the cell walls.  Only one can pass at a time, so if there are tons of lysine blocks and only a few arginine blocks duking it out at the cell door trying to be the one that gets through, by simple probability there will be more lysine blocks that will make it in than arginine before there is no more room.

A Word on Herpes

Ok, finally we have enough information to talk about herpes.

Herpes hangs out in our Central Nervous System and waits until we are stressed – emotionally, hormonally, or physically – and then it mounts a campaign and “breaks out” of the nervous system.  The viruses that have been produced then rush to the site at which we were originally infected – usually genitals or lips – and cause sores to erupt.  This is its survival strategy to move from one person to another.


Why Is the Amount of Lysine vs. Arginine Important?

The ratio of lysine to arginine is important in preventing herpes outbreaks because the herpes virus requires lots of arginine in order to replicate, or make more of, itself.  By having high levels of lysine, we can deprive the herpes virus from a critical component of replication simply because there is no more room in our cells for arginine to fit because lysine beat it to the punch.

Without sufficient building materials to create more herpes viruses, outbreaks become far less frequent  or far less severe.  Additionally, treating herpes naturally by supplementing over the counter l-lysine as a herpes treatment can reduce the length and severity of the outbreak.  How much lysine you need to prevent herpes outbreaks can vary.

Lysine (l-lysine) is known to help both cold sores (oral herpes) and genital herpes.


How much Lysine is needed to prevent herpes outbreaks

How Much Lysine to Prevent Herpes Outbreaks?

How Much Lysine
Do I Need to Take
to Prevent Outbreaks?

This is a tough question to answer directly because it depends greatly on each individual’s specific diet.  However, nutrition is key to preventing herpes outbreaks.  Some people naturally consume high levels of lysine (l-lysine) compared to arginine and would need significantly less lysine supplementation to prevent herpes outbreaks.

Other people like vegans or athletes either consume relatively little lysine on their regular diet or utilize it so fast for muscle building and repair that they need to supplement with significantly higher doses.

 


Take a Food Inventory

The best way to approach this question is to make a list of foods that you commonly eat and then make two columns next to this list.  Title one column “lysine” and the other “arginine”.

Next, visit the SuperTracker at choosemyplate.gov and look up each food on the list.  Write down its lysine and arginine values.

SuperTracker can help you plan, analyze, and track your diet and physical activity.

 

Calculate How Much Lysine vs Arginine You Eat

Once you have the values for each of the foods on your list, do a simple tally of each column.  What is the ratio of lysine to arginine?  Is lysine significantly higher, about the same, or significantly lower than arginine?

Of course, this will not tell you your daily ratio of lysine to arginine.  In order to get that, you would have to make a list each day of those foods and tally those amounts.  Most of us will not take the time to do that, so just getting a ballpark idea of our lysine to arginine ratio is a good jumping-off point.

Even if you don’t want to track your meals every day, you might track them for one week to get a typical day-by-day ratio.  If you make your original list of foods you commonly eat in a spreadsheet, then you just need to copy and paste your data to calculate your daily values.


Estimating How Much Lysine to Prevent Herpes Outbreaks

The commonly recommended dosage of lysine to prevent herpes outbreaks is 1,000 mg three times a day.  The idea is to constantly provide your body with a supply of lysine so that you don’t have peaks of high lysine and then nothing until you take it again the next day.

Whether or not this dose will be effective for you is based on what kind of diet you eat and what your body’s need for lysine is.  If you eat meat, dairy and eggs, you probably will need less lysine than a vegan who consumes lots of nuts and seeds.   This is because animal products have a lot of lysine whereas the nuts and seeds eaten by vegans typically have high levels of arginine.  Vegans have a rather difficult time keeping their lysine numbers high, so their doses are likely going to be considerably higher than that of a meat eater.

So, to estimate your dosage of lysine, have a look at the values you calculated and see if your diet is high in lysine, moderate in lysine, or low in lysine compared to arginine.  If you are moderate in lysine, try starting with the 1,000 mg three times per day.  If you are high in lysine, try 1,000 mg twice a day.  If you are low in lysine, try 1,000 mg four times a day.

If you find that you are still experiencing outbreaks, try upping the frequency of your dosage or try a higher dose.

 


Who Should Not Take Lysine?

As always, before taking any supplement, it is wise to consult your physician first.  Some people may have medical conditions that make taking lysine to prevent herpes outbreaks inadvisable or that may indicate smaller amounts of lysine would be more appropriate.  Lysine does more than just help prevent herpes outbreaks, so be sure that you are not at risk for other possible interactions before taking high doses of lysine.

If you have high cholesterol, heart disease, or high triglycerides you may wish to avoid taking lysine or keep a close eye on your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers.  It is important to realize that just because a supplement may help one condition that it also affects other systems in the body and may cause problems for you in other areas.

If you take a calcium supplement, be aware that lysine increases the amount of calcium your body can absorb.  You may also wish to have your calcium levels checked and possibly reduce your dose.


Lysine for Herpes - reduce duration of herpes outbreak

Can Lysine Reduce Symptoms of a Herpes Outbreak?

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Can Lysine Reduce the
Symptoms of
Herpes Outbreak?

Lysine (l-lysine) is an amino acid that has been shown to be effective at helping prevent herpes outbreaks.  It works by flooding the body with lysine, so that another amino acid, arginine which the herpes virus needs to replicate, or make more of itself, gets crowded out of the cells where the herpes virus lives.  Without enough arginine, herpes viruses can’t make more herpes viruses.

There is a lot of literature on the use of lysine to prevent herpes outbreaks, but there is much less literature regarding using lysine to reduce the length of a herpes outbreak.


What the Evidence Says About Lysine

It is generally agreed that lysine can help prevent outbreaks.  While some studies show that lysine helped reduce the duration of outbreaks while other studies showed that it did not.  This is hardly clear evidence one way or the other.  This is frustrating because there are so many people who have clearly benefitted from taking lysine and say that it will reduce symptoms of herpes outbreaks.

Since the jury is still out on this topic, you might want to keep a journal of your outbreaks for a while without taking lysine, say for about 3 months.  Be sure to record everything from the day you notice the tell-tale tingling symptoms that an outbreak is coming, the day you notice the outbreak is actually present, the duration of the outbreak, and the day it resolves.  Also, make note of the severity of the outbreak – as in how many lesions did you get, were they small or large, were they painful or just itchy, did they weep or not, etc.

Next, try taking lysine at a dosage of 1,000 mg three times a day.  Do this for another three months and then compare the data.  Did your outbreaks seem to be reduced in severity?  You may try to increase your dosage and repeat this process to see if a higher dosage produces more positive results.


Why Would Lysine Reduce Symptoms of Herpes Outbreak?

The theory behind why the severity of the outbreak and / or its duration might be minimized lies in the way in which lysine helps prevent outbreaks.  Essentially, you are trying to fill up your body with lysine so that it is more available than arginine.

Lysine and arginine compete for the same entry way into cells.  If lysine beats arginine at filling up the cells, the herpes virus is unable to get enough materials (arginine) to make more of itself.  This is what can prevent herpes outbreaks.  However, this article is looking at whether or not taking lysine once the outbreak has happened may reduce the duration and severity of the outbreak.

Logic states that if you can begin taking lysine at a sufficient dose at the very beginning of an outbreak, then you may be able to prevent as many herpes viruses from being manufactured, thus halting the onslaught of viruses that attack your healthy cells and cause lesions.


Why Might Lysine Not Help an Outbreak

Naturally, there are a number of extenuating circumstances that might affect the outcome of whether or not lysine helps you once an outbreak has occurred.  Probably the most important factor is how soon you start taking the lysine once you realize that an outbreak is imminent.  Some people feel a tingling sensation a couple of days in advance of the appearance of lesions, while other people only have a window of a few hours.

No one knows why there is so much difference in the amount of time it takes from the initial tingling to the presentation of lesions.  It may have to do with the amount of stress someone is experiencing at the time, to their hormonal levels, to their diet.  Stressed people often have more frequent and more severe outbreaks.

Women tend to have outbreaks around the time of their periods due to shifting hormonal levels.  Vegans tend to develop more outbreaks because their diets are typically lacking in lysine.  Athletes may have more outbreaks because they utilize more lysine in muscle growth and repair.

Since there are some studies that have shown lysine to help shorten the length of a herpes outbreak or lessen its severity, there is a good chance that there is something to that.  It will take more studies to figure out why treating with lysine is sometimes effective and sometimes it is not effective.  The only way to really know if lysine will reduce symptoms of your herpes outbreaks is to try it yourself.