Herpes trigger foods???

Grace,

Hi there I wanted to ask you a question, I have hsv1 as you may already know, I was diagnosed new year eve.  I am taking 500mg of Valtrex daily and 1250mg l-lysine daily.  I have some questions regarding so called trigger foods.  I do not eat alot of sugar, I do have a bowl of cereal one bowl every night.  Could be apple jacks, rice krispies whatever, but that is usually the only excess sugar i eat.  I do drink some coffee, but I use more decaffinated and mix just alitle caffeine coffee just to prevent any headaches from withdrawals.  I do eat light wheat bread at leat 2 serving a day and try to eat a yogurt every morning.  Fat free of course.  Now here is my question, I am reading on other sites about trigger foods and everything I like is a possible trigger, like my cereal which has oat flour and rice krispies which is high in arginine.  I am reading that list and if I follow that I could never eat right again without triggering an OB??  I am also making a trip this July to Germany with my Mom to visit our family, everything over there is bad for you.  They love chocolate, they eat alot of sausages and I know I have to avoid it now, they do not have all the fat free sugar free foods we do here, please what is your suggestion on this matter.  I am so paranoid I feel like I must starve myself or go through another hellish outbreak.  Plus, sorry its so long, but my Primary outbreak was about 7-8weeks ago and I still have some soreness where the sores once were and I look at myself at leat 8 times aday just to make sure there is no sores to be seen, which there is not.  The area that had my ulcers, is still alittle more red than the other skin areas.  I had open ulcers that never scarred, they just formed new skin once i started using zovirax cream on them.  Could this be scar tissue that is bothering me?  I know they say they do not scar, but I am telling you my sores were very deep and open>  Sorry for the graphic nature, just wanted to be detailed so that maybe you could better help me.  Thanks grace!!

[speedmamma]

sorry I have hsv1 genitally.  Dont know if that helps any:))

[waringblender]

I don't think there's any evidence that foods trigger outbreaks. Because your type 1 is genital, you should statistically have fewer outbreaks than those with type 2 anyway, on balance. So you can eat whatever you want and it won't affect your herpes. What's up with the lysine? Isn't that a bogus "treatment?" I was under the impression there were no decent studies indicating lysine was helpful.

You might want to back off on the carbs, though. Wheat bread and Rice Krispies? Grains aren't any good for you, but that's just my opinion. I follow a low carb diet and you couldn't pay me enough to eat grains. There's nothing health-promoting about grains. All complex carbs are broken down in your body the same way as refined carbs and simple sugars. So it's all the same to your body.

[speedmamma]

I have read that lysine helps prevent outbreaks.  So I take it for my peace of min I guess, so tell me what type  of bread to you suggest, and what types of cereal are good for me, I try not to completely cut all sugar out.  I walk 5 miles daily with my dog and do winsor pilates, so I figure I can have some sugar??  I guess maybe I am trying to get to much info on this virus and for someone like me who worries about everything alittle knowledge could be deadlY  :))  I just need some info I like cereal and everytime I read the label, it has something the food trigger list says I cant have!  Thanks Take care friend!

[waringblender]

You already take Valtrex. Why would you piggyback lysine on top of that? You're wasting your money on it.

I've never understood how knowledge can be "deadly." Knowledge is empowering. Knowing that lysine is completely ineffective in treating herpes would save you money. Knowing that foods don't trigger outbreaks would save you emotional grief about what to eat.

The "food trigger" list? There are no foods that trigger outbreaks. Eat whatever you want. You might want to stop mainlining the sugar, though. Cereals are full of it. Carbs are not necessary for any function except perhaps if you are training for a triathlon or a marathon, you can add some back in to fuel your workouts. For a daily walk, you don't need any.

[speedmamma]

Thanks for the info.  I did not mean that knowledge is deadly in a bad way, For me,  Little Miss worry Wart, it can sometimes become overwhelming and then play trick with my emotional well being.  I know this has always been a problem for me even before herpes!!  But tell me something why is there so many web sites that stress watching certain foods you eat and supplementing lysine.  I know it is probably all to make a buck off the people desparetly trying to make themselves feel better and to avoid outbreaks at any cost.  And that is where my problem lies, In my mind I want to stop an outbreak at any cost so I do what they say.  I know it sound foolish, and I am a smart women(but this virus has taken me for a ride) and I do not always think clearly.  Thanks again, you have been a great source of information and  need all I can get!  TAke care

[speedmamma]

Oh just for your info, there is a website called Herpes and cold sores and they are the ones that tell you how much lysine is good to prevent ob and the food trigger list, maybe go there and take a look if you like.  That is where most of my info has come from.

[gracefromHHP]

The website you are referring to isn't an accurate one unfortunately speedmamma if it's the one I"m thinking of  :(   The lysine/arginine theory never panned out outside of the test tube.  None of the herpes researchers advocate lysine supplementation and neither does any of the reputible websites - only that one and unfortunately since it has herpes in its name it comes up early on the search engines.  Most of us get more than enough lysine in our diet normally anyways so additional supplementation isn't really worth it.

Do some folks have a food trigger? Yes certainly some folks seem to do but in order to figure this out you would need to not be on suppressive therapy and would have to keep careful track of your recurrences and dietary intake for months and months to determine it.  Suppressive therapy pretty much takes away any worry about triggers.  The majority of folks who have herpes don't have food triggers. Think about it dahlin' - if the vast majority of folks who have genital and/or oral herpes don't even know they have it because they aren't getting obvious ob's - do you think it's because they are eating differently than the rest of us are?  Nope they are still eating  bread, tastykakes, rice krispies and washing it all down with a  soy mochagrande just like we are ( one day I will convince you waring dahlin' that carbs are oh soooooooo good....he he he )  :) So don't avoid whole food groups just because you are trying to avoid ob's.  With hsv1 genitally - even if you lived on soy, coconut, chocolate, cashews, coffee, diet pepsi max and peanut butter sandwhiches - chances are good that you wouldn't have a reoccurence anyways ( I am so making myself hungry now...lol ).  

I know you are overly paranoid about all this yet no matter how many times I tell you you shouldn't be speedmamma but could you do 2 things for me though? 1 - put away the mirror and professional quality spotlight that you use for examining your genital area several times a day.  You are just making yourself more concerned about this than you need to be.  Unless you have pain that causes you to go "oooowwwwweeeee" or an itch that is driving you insane half the day - don't look at your girlie parts for the next couple of months.  Inspecting yourself all day long just reinforces all your negative feelings about this all ( yeah I know - there's a tv writers strike going on so pickins are slim on tv but I'm sure you can find something else to do with your time right?  I mean come clean my house for me! I still have 4 rooms left to paint too!  Organize my computer desk and my kitchen and I'll worship you for life!  train my dogs and exhaust them for me and I'd probably sign over my 401k to you!!  )   2 - go back to your doctor and get an exam and get tested for yeast and bacterial infections just to err on the side of caution. If you are still sore it could be from either of them even if you don't think you see any signs of either. Also let your doctor know that you are still sore and have some areas that seem to be scarring and talk about it.  Acyclovir cream is pretty much a waste of time for genital herpes ( and still way too $$$ considering how long it's been on the market ) so I don't advocate wasting much time with it.  Perhaps you really just have developed some genital dryness from the stress of all this or general irritation that could be better treated with something else?  Meanwhile until you are seen - try something like desitin, zinc oxide, a&d , bag balm etc once or twice a day on your genital area to help soothe irritated skin and protect it from further irritation ( clothes rubbing, urine, your 8x/day inspections! ).  That might help you a lot too.

Oh and wait make that 3 things I want you to do for me!! When you go to germany - get yourself a box of those incredible liquor filled chocolates that they make there!!  They are DIVINE!!!  I used to date a guy who had family there and he'd bring me a box everytime he went there.  oh and you have to eat them soon after you get them so they don't go bad ( that's my story and I'm sticking to it ).  

Hang in there - you are taking good solid baby steps with all this :)

grace