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Last weeks of pregnancy

My daughter has been HSV2 positive for appx three years but has not had any outbreaks since the first year. She is in her last five weeks of pregnancy and her doctor has prescribed acyclovir 400mg once a day. My understanding has been that acyclovir is a twice a day medication. Is the medication going to benefit her at this dosage or does it need to be changed? Thank you!
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101028 tn?1419603004
her obgyn really needs to bone up on her herpes and pregnancy info as well as how herpes antivirals work. once daily acyclovir is never effective for herpes suppression :(  

she really needs to be on the 3x/day dose if she is going to bother to take it.  not worth taking anything less than that.  Odds are in the future that the doses are going to be even more frequent than that and higher doses based on some recent research on herpes and pregnancy but for now that is the recommended dose.
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Avatar universal
She didn't get to take the printout to her doctor but did question her. She was told that since she doesn't have outbreaks the dose of 400 mg once a day was enough. The doctor stated she didn't want to use the higher dose if it was not necessary. She has went against doctors orders and is taking it twice a day for now. She is thinking of increasing to three times a day the last week before being induced.
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101028 tn?1419603004
indeed she has changed that section a lot I see.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3332182/  is a terrific article to print out and take with you that lists the doses for acyclovir ( the valtrex dose appears to be a typo - it's supposed to be 500mg twice a day ).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9790357

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Avatar universal
The recommended dosage for the last weeks of pregnancy is not specified in the handbook :(
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Avatar universal
Can I print out the whole handbook and send with her? I sometimes feel as if I'm more knowledgeable about herpes than the the doctors are :) When she was first diagnosed I researched the heck out of it and was so relived when I found you (on another forum) and found real facts.
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Avatar universal
She was diagnosed with a culture and a blood test. I will look at the handbook and print out that info before her next weekly appt. and see if her doctor will up the times per day and give her a new prescription. She only had a prescription for 90 pills and has taken about five of them.
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101028 tn?1419603004
actually the doses for pregnancy are much higher due to the natural immunosuppression that the body experiences during pregnancy. she should be taking acyclovir 400mg 3x/day until she delivers.

how was she originally diagnosed?  

the free herpes handbook we recommend in our read before posting post has a whole chapter on herpes and pregnancy too :)

grace
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