Increase in herpetic outbreaks

I've had herpes for approx 8 years with outbreaks maybe twice a year, but recently my outbreaks are every 3 weeks right before my menstural cycle. The severity of the out break has also increased significantly extremely painful nothing like before. The medication acyclovir doesn.t seem to be helping the out breaks are lasting about 2 weeks to resolve completely. Why is this happening? Is it age related?( i just turned 38) Can it be related to my diet? (transitioning to veganism)What kind of specialist or doctor can i consult?(my ob/gyn is clueless) the same thing is happening to my husband. we've actually stop having sex to see if we were passing it back and forth and that hasn't helped. help....

[gracefromHHP]

You aren' t going to trigger herpes in one another.  Did they check you for yeast?

Changing to veganism won't cause genital sores.  Just make sure in general that you are taking all your supplements - there are things you just can't get from a vegan diet so you need to supplement them.  I say that just to keep your body healthy in general - there are a few amino acids you can only get from meat/dairy.  

I'd try another obgyn and/or a dermatologist.  Since hubby is getting rashes too, both of you making appointments with a dermatologist is probably a good idea.  What sort of testing have they been doing on you?

grace

[inpain813]

Basically nothing just exam and keep giving me acyclovir...I'm going again on thursday..what test or work up should i ask for? Funny you mention that cause it's exactly what this outbreaks seems like a combination of both! they're horribly uncomfortable:(

[gracefromHHP]

They should be testing your vaginal secretions for yeast and bacterial infections for starters.  

Are you taking acyclovir 400mg 2x/day every day and then when you have recurrences upping it to either 400mg 3x/day for 5 days or 800mg 3x/day for 2 days?

grace

[inpain813]

You won't believe me they actually lowered the dose to 200mg twice a day for 5 days. Its not even putting a tickle on the outbreak. So I've been taking 400mg only twice a day, on my own recommendation, because of lack of refills. I'm planning on changing my doctor but it's so complicated with my insurance plan. Do you happen to know what the long term effects can be for prolonged use of the acyclovir?

[gracefromHHP]

There are no long term issues with using acyclovir. They have info on folks using it non-stop suppressively for over 20 years without any issues.

200mg 2x/day isn't going to do squat. You need to have it increased to the proper doses for it to do any good at all.  

grace