Genital Herpes

---

Genital Herpes

Love can hurt. Just ask anyone with genital herpes, also known as herpes simplex type 2. (Type 1 usually results in cold sores on the mouth and hands.) And the way it’s passed isn’t too complex: Have sexual intercourse with an infected person who is in the contagious stage—that is, with herpes sores on the body—and you might join the 500,000 people each year who get genital herpes, a condition that stays with you for life.

The virus may lie dormant for years, which is one reason why three of four people with genital herpes are unaware they have it. But during an outbreak, it doesn’t exactly put you in the mood for sex. One or more open sores can appear on the genitals, creating a painful burning sensation. Not having sex with someone who’s infected is how to avoid genital herpes, and the prescription drug acyclovir is the best way to control outbreaks. And the natural remedies in this chapter—in conjunction with medical care and used with the approval of your doctor—may help prevent outbreaks, relieve the symptoms of herpes lesions or speed their healing, according to some health professionals.

See Your Medical Doctor When... You notice a blister or sore that suddenly appears on your genitals, whether or not it is painful. Your itching or pain is so bad that you want medication for relief.

Aromatherapy

Apply a single drop of tea tree essential oil directly to herpes lesions once a day after showering, recommends San Francisco herbalist Jeanne Rose, chairperson of the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy and author of Aromatherapy: Applications and Inhalations. “tea tree oil is gentle to the skin and helps any kind of external sore heal faster,” says Rose.

For information on preparing and administering essential oils, including cautions about their use, see page 19. For information on purchasing essential oils, refer to the resource list on page 633.

Food Therapy

“For some people, changing the diet to make it more alkaline can help prevent herpes outbreaks and help get over them more quickly,” says Elson Haas, M.D., director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, California, and author of Staying Healthy with Nutrition. That means eating more fruits (with the exception of citrus fruits, which are too acidic), vegetables, sea vegetables such as kelp and seaweed, millet, seeds and herbs and less meats, fish, eggs, milk products, breads and baked goods, nuts and alcohol, according to Dr. Haas.

Herbal Therapy

Try a wash made from lemon balm, says Varro E. Tyler, Ph.D., professor of pharmacognosy at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The fragrant leaves and flowering tops of the lemon balm plant have antiviral properties, he explains.

To make the wash, Dr. Tyler says you should pour ½ cup of boiling water over two to three teaspoons of finely cut leaves, available in most health food stores. Let it brew for 20 to 30 minutes, then strain it and saturate a clean cotton cloth with the solution. Dr. Tyler suggests applying the wash to herpes lesions three or four times a day.

Vitamin and Mineral Therapy

Use the food sensitivity diet (see “Food Sensitivity: How to Discover the ‘Healthy’ Foods That Can Cause Disease” on page 52) to eliminate any foods that may aggravate outbreaks of genital herpes, suggests David Edelberg, M.D., an internist and medical director of the American Holistic Center/Chicago. He also says people with genital herpes may want to use the following nutritional regimen to help control recurrences: 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C twice a day; one gram of citrus bioflavonoids a day; and 500 milligrams of lysine a day, increasing the amount to 3,000 milligrams during a flare-up. Citrus bioflavonoids are available in most health food stores.