Conventional genital herpes medication includes most common antiviral agents acyclovir, valacyclovir and famciclovir usually known by their respective brand names Zovirax, Valtrex, and Famvir. If your doctor has already diagnosed you with genital herpes, you probably know about the most common genital herpes medicines. You may also have heard of suppressive therapy as a genital herpes treatment. Suppressive therapy consists in taking herpes drugs daily to prevent the reoccurrences and to limit transmission of genital herpes.
Genital herpes medicines are quite efficient for most patients, especially when used as suppressive agents. Genital herpes drugs are considered safe, proven and with little or no side effects.
Nevertheless, I find genital herpes medication very expensive, especially if taken as a daily treatment. Actually, genital herpes medicine prices in North America are about triple the ones in Other countries like Australia and France.
Genital Herpes Medication List:
Acyclovir (Zovirax) – Famciclovir (Famvir) – Valacyclovir (Valtrex) – Zovirax Cream
Here is a small abstract from the first version of how to cure herpes naturally. I’ve added new information to this section in the latest version.
Genital herpes medication: Acyclovir – ZOVIRAX
First discovered in 1977, acyclovir was released in its oral form in 1985. It is now known as Zovirax. It is now proven that when taken at prodrome time, acyclovir can shorten an episode; as I mentioned, it has completely stopped one or two of my episodes. Oral acyclovir can also prevent most outbreaks when taken daily and can reduce the length of a primary infection by approximately one week.
Here are some common Zovirax prescriptions for each case.
Primary infection:
400 mg three times a day for 7 to 10 days or
200 mg 5 times a day for 7 to 10 days
Recurrences:
400mg 3 times a day for 5 days or
200 mg 5 times a day for 5 days
Suppression*:
400 mg twice a day
This genital herpes medication is also available intravenously for very severe cases, including babies.
*Suppression is a daily medical treatment that aims at preventing recurrences. Sometimes the virus is present on the skin but doesn’t cause any outbreaks. This is called spreading. At such times, the virus can be transmitted to a partner through the skin. Suppression therapy can greatly reduce spreading and therefore reduces the risk of transmission.
Side effects: a headache, nausea, and diarrhea.
Genital herpes medication: Famciclovir – FAMVIR
Famciclovir is a genital herpes medication distributed by Novatris Pharmaceuticals Corp. Its scientific name is Famciclovir. It quickly breaks down to penciclovir when ingested. Its absorption rate is evaluated at 77% against 15% for acyclovir. Famciclovir can quickly provide a lot of penciclovir to the site of infection and immediately stop herpes virus replication on site.
Famvir is not intended to treat primary infections.
Here are standard prescription guidelines for Famvir:
Recurrences: 125 mg twice a day for five days.
New: You can now take 1000 mg twice daily within 6 hours after the first symptoms just for one day and expect much milder outbreaks
Suppression: 250 mg twice a day every day.
Patients with HIV: 500mg twice a day for 7 days.
You should consult a doctor in his office (i.e. not online) if you want to use Famvir herpes drug, especially if you have kidney problems.
More recently 500 mg Famivr herpes pills have been accepted to PBS by the FDA. That means that 500 mg Famvir herpes pills will be available with a prescription soon and people will be less likely to skip taking a pill.
Common Side effects: a headache, nausea, and diarrhea.
For very detailed information on Famvir click here.
Famvir is usually quite expensive in the US but I have found an online pharmacy with very competitive prices. It is located in Australia. This may increase delivery time but it reduces the cost of suppressive therapy to about $70 a month (prices may vary). You will need to fax your prescription to receive your order as for any other herpes medications on this page.
You can purchase 250mg Famvir here and 500mg Famvir here
Genital herpes medication: Valacyclovir – VALTREX
Oral valacyclovir breaks down to acyclovir in the liver. Its absorption rate is 55%. When ingested, valacyclovir can deliver much greater amounts of acyclovir to the body than acyclovir itself. It is not intended for people with HIV. It can limit spreading and outbreaks and has been recently approved by the FDA as a treatment for preventing herpes transmission.
New: now available in generic valacyclovir
Valtrex dosing schedule follows:
Primary infection:
100 mg twice a day for 10 days.
Recurrences:
500 mg twice a day for 3 days.
Suppression:
1000 mg once a day for people who have 10 or more
outbreaks/ year.
500 mg once a day for people who have 9 or fewer outbreaks
a year
Common side effects: headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and dizziness.
Valtrex is usually quite expensive in the US but the online pharmacy I mentioned above has also very competitive prices on Valtrex. It reduces the cost of monthly 500 mg a day suppressive therapy to less than $50 (prices may vary).
You can purchase 500 mg Valtrex here and 1000 mg Valtrex here.
Genital herpes medication: Zovirax CREAM:
Zovirax cream is a topical genital herpes medication. It usually given in combination with oral anti-herpetic treatments. It should be applied to the skin at the first signs of an outbreak, preferably before any blisters appear. Unfortunately, Zovirax is much less effective topically than orally. Research indicates that Zovirax cream alone can only have a very small impact on genital herpes outbreak length and severity, so it is not usually recommended for genital herpes. Zovirax is a much more powerful genital herpes medication when taken orally. Nevertheless, some people find Zovirax cream very soothing.
I used it once or twice as a genital herpes treatment and I didn’t find it very helpful. I also found the oral treatment to be much more effective.
Side effects of Zovirax cream include swelling, itching, mild burning and redness. Nursing or pregnant women should avoid it. Ask for a recommendation from your doctor.
Genital herpes medication conclusion:
As you have seen genital herpes medications are really interesting for preventing recurrences but they don’t always prevent all outbreaks. Famvir new one-day genital herpes treatment makes it a very interesting genital herpes medication for the temporary relief of genital herpes symptoms.
However, many don’t react to zovirax cream, some experience side effects and all herpes medications fail to cure herpes.
So what else besides genital herpes medicines can you take to prevent herpes outbreaks from reoccurring? You’ll find links to many alternative or genital herpes treatment below.
