Genital Herpes and Cold Sores

[Guest guest]

Genital Herpes

and Cold Sores

 

The phone rang. It was a woman who wanted to know if juice from

mayapple roots would heal her genital herpes sores. I get a lot of

strange questions out of the blue, but there's usually a reason for

them.

 

This particular woman had heard me speak several months earlier at

a seminar on shamanistic alternative medicine. At that time, I had

mentioned four compounds in mayapple that together gang up on the

Herpes simplex virus.

 

What's interesting here is that when you try each of these compounds

individually, you get much less anti-herpes action. The " magic

bullets " that the pharmaceutical industry so loves to extract from

herbs simply aren't there. In other words, when it comes to

mayapple, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That

happens with a lot of herbs, which is why I'm a whole-herb

herbalist.

 

I advised against using mayapple juice, as it can be caustic, and

mayapple resin is downright dangerous. But I didn't leave her

stranded.

 

Instead I ended up settling on a different herb--lemon balm--to

treat her problem. But before we get into discussing all the herbs

that I recommend for this problem, let's take a closer look at this

herpes bug.

 

Know Your Enemy

 

H. simplex comes in two forms, cold sores and genital herpes. This

virus is a cousin to H. zoster, which causes another type of painful

skin lesion called shingles.

 

Cold sores develop around the mouth, generally on the lips. In

women, genital herpes occurs in and around the vagina and cervix. In

men, it shows up on and around the penis. In both sexes it also

occurs around the anus. Herpes is very contagious, and it shows

pretty much the same pattern whether it develops on the mouth or the

genitals.

 

Following initial contact with the virus, the first symptoms

typically occur in four to seven days. These include tingling,

burning or a persistent itch, followed a day or so later by pimple-

like bumps over reddened skin. The pimples turn into painful

blisters that burst and exude blood and yellowish pus. Five to seven

days after the first tingling, scabs form and healing begins.

 

People with active lesions shed the virus and are contagious. But

viral shedding also occurs during the tingling stage before any sore

is visible.

 

That's one reason that herpes affects so many people. People who

have it can't always tell when they're contagious. Although most

people develop sores within a week of infection, it's possible to be

infected with the virus for quite some time before developing any

sores.

 

Some 30 percent of American adults have had either oral or genital

herpes. Sometimes the lesions recur periodically. Sometimes they

appear once and never again. And sometimes they recur for a while

and then stop. Probably everyone harbors the virus, but it remains

dormant in most people.

Technically, there are two types of herpesvirus, one originally

considered oral and the other genital. But oral sex can spread each

type from the mouth to the genitalia and vice versa, so the

distinction is increasingly meaningless. And in any case, both types

respond to treatment with the same herbs.

 

Green Pharmacy for Genital Herpes and Cold Sores

 

Now to the anti-herpes herbal lineup. Here are the leaders of the

virus-fighting pack.

 

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis). Also known as melissa, lemon

balm's demonstrated antiviral, anti-herpes properties seem to result

from compounds in the herb, including tannins, that are known as

polyphenols.

 

Here's how these compounds work to tame herpes outbreaks.

 

The body's cells have receptors that viruses latch on to when

they're trying to take over the cells. The polyphenol compounds have

the ability to latch on to the cells' viral receptor sites.

 

They take up those spaces and prevent the viruses from attaching to

the cell, thus preventing the spread of infection.

This is a first-choice herbal treatment. In fact, I told the woman

who was desperately seeking something to heal her herpes sores that

I'd personally recommend making mixed mint tea, heavy with lemon

balm. She could drink the tea, then apply the dregs from the tea

bags directly to the lesions.

 

Mints, especially lemon balm, contain antioxidant vitamins and

selenium, which strengthen the immune system. (antioxidants are

chemicals that mop up free radicals, the naturally occurring oxygen

molecules that damage the body's cells.) All mints also contain at

least four antiviral compounds that target the herpesvirus.

 

Not too long ago in Peru, naturopath Stephen Morris, N.D., taught

our Amazonian Medicine Workshop how to make our own herpes ointment.

We carefully heated some olive or palm oil, incorporating melted

beeswax at a 1:4 ratio. To the cream, we added powdered lemon balm,

mixed and strained it and then allowed it to cool. Our host,

Socorro, smiled as we did all this over an open fire in her open-

air, outdoor " kitchen. "

 

You really don't need to get this elaborate, however. Varro Tyler,

Ph.D., dean and professor emeritus of pharmacognosy (natural product

pharmacy) at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and

author of The Honest Herbal, tends to be conservative when it comes

to herbs.

Dr. Tyler says that you can get results by using topical

applications of lemon balm tea, which you can brew using two to four

teaspoons of herb per cup of boiling water. Then apply it with a

cotton ball several times a day.

 

" This treatment is probably as effective as any other self-selected

remedy for cold sores, " says Dr. Tyler.

 

 

European Know-How

 

Think Americans have the best of everything? Guess again. When it

comes to herbs, European commercial products are often better than

our own.

An herbal ointment for treating herpes, which is widely available in

Europe, has lemon balm as the active ingredient.

 

The herbal content is quite concentrated--700 milligrams of dry

leaf material per gram of ointment.

 

In a rigorous scientific test of 116 people with herpes, the

ointment containing lemon balm was 2.5 times as effective as a

similar cream without the herb (a placebo).

 

The herbal product was especially effective when treatment was

begun early, as the lesions were first erupting.

 

In another study involving 115 people using lemon balm, 96 percent

had healed completely by day 8, with no significant side effects.

 

Normally it takes anywhere from 10 to 14 days for herpes sores to

heal. If I had herpes, and if European lemon balm cream were

available here, I'd try it. Unfortunately, it is not, so I stick

with my garden " melissa " .

 

 

 

Echinacea (Echinacea, various species). Also known as coneflower,

echinacea has been shown in many studies to have both antiviral and

immune-stimulating properties.

 

Consider, for example, the following case report from the British

Journal of Phytotherapy:

 

After suffering for 12 years with recurrent genital herpes, a man

took echinacea. He found that if he took it within an hour or two

after he noticed the initial tingling, he had far less pain and the

outbreak stopped.

 

Herbalists generally recommend taking echinacea in a tincture. Add

about a half-teaspoon of the tincture to tea or juice and take it

three times a day.

 

Some tinctures are a mixture of echinacea and goldenseal, which also

has antimicrobial, immune-stimulating benefits.

 

Mint family herbs. Lemon balm is not the only mint with antiviral,

anti-herpes activity. There are a whole bunch of other herbs in the

mint family that are almost as effective.

 

Here's where I plug my Happy Herpicide Tea, which is made from

several herbs that are members of the mint family:

 

hyssop, lemon balm, oregano, rosemary, sage, self-heal (yes, this is

the name of a widely available herb) and thyme.

 

To make the tea, fill a saucepan half full of water. Bring the water

to a boil, then add fresh lemon balm leaves until the pan is about

three-quarters full. If you don't have access to fresh leaves, you

can use about a quarter-cup of dried lemon balm.

 

(This is an unusually high amount of herb for brewing a tea, but you

really need a lot of it to get the antiviral action that you want.)

To the lemon balm and water, add two parts each of dried oregano and

self-heal and one part each of hyssop, rosemary, sage and thyme.

 

Aside from the lemon balm, the actual amounts of the other herbs

don't make much difference; just make sure you use twice as much of

the oregano and self-heal as you do of the others. Finally, toss in

a little licorice root to sweeten the tea and steep it for 20

minutes.

 

This mixture contains a dozen compounds that are active against

herpes.

 

The list of chemicals in this brew is rather imposing, but you

should know what you get for going to all this trouble:

caffeic acid, geraniin, glycyrrhizic acid, glycyrrhizin, lysine,

protocatechuic acid, quercetin, rosmarinic acid, tannic acid,

thymol, tocopherol and zinc.

 

Red pepper (Capsicum, various species).

 

The hot ingredient in red pepper is capsaicin. Tests on laboratory

animals show that capsaicin can prevent outbreaks of herpes in the

eye for up to two months, and topical capsaicin preparations

(Zostrix, Capzasin-P) are used to relieve the pain of shingles. (If

you use capsaicin cream, always wash your hands thoroughly afterward

to avoid the possibility of getting it in your eyes. Also, you

should test it on a small area of skin before using it on a larger

area. If you experience irritation, discontinue use.)

I wouldn't recommend sprinkling cayenne on any herpes lesions,

especially those on the eye, since that could really hurt. But why

not season your Happy Herpicide Tea with hot-pepper sauce? Although

you drink it rather than dab it on, you'll still benefit from the

active ingredients.

 

St.-John's-wort (Hypericum perforatum). One compound in St.-John's-

wort, hypericin, helps kill H. simplex and several other viruses.

Although ointments containing hypericin are effective against herpes

sores, you don't need to buy one. Try brewing a strong tea, and

after it cools, dab it on with cotton balls.

 

Garlic (Allium sativum). In test-tube studies, garlic has shown

viricidal effects against both types of herpesvirus and many other

viruses, including those that cause colds and flu. You can make

garlic into a tea, but you will probably enjoy it a whole lot more

if you just toss a few minced cloves onto a plate of pasta or add

them to a mixed green salad.

 

Amino acids. Now let's wiggle a toe into nutritional waters. An

amino acid, arginine, is considered necessary for viral replication.

A preponderance of another amino acid, lysine, over arginine is

supposed to suppress viral replication.

 

Hence, those who value this theory seek foods with a high-lysine,

low-arginine content.

 

Several plants have high-lysine/low-arginine ratios, including star

fruit (nearly 4:1), papaya (about 3:1) and grapefruit, apricot,

pear, apple and fig (around 2:1).

 

Some people take a daily supplement of 1,300 milligrams of lysine at

the first inkling of a herpes outbreak.

 

It would take a little more than two pounds of fresh watercress to

provide that amount, but only a half-cup of dried watercress. While

you wouldn't want to eat this much watercress, there are a few other

foods that will give you a fairly hefty dose of lysine.

 

A cup of black beans, lentils, non-gmo soybeans or winged beans

provides more than 2,500 milligrams of lysine.

 

If you're making bean soup with these ingredients, spice it well

with hot-pepper sauce for a little extra anti-herpes action.

 

Assorted essential oils. Aromatherapists note that combinations of

essential oils, such as lemon and geranium or eucalyptus and

bergamot, can be helpful against herpes if applied at the first sign

of an outbreak. Some aromatherapists say that rose oil and lemon

balm oil have contributed, in some cases, to complete remission of

H. simplex lesions, sometimes after only one application.

 

This approach seems worth a try. You can apply any of these oils

topically using a cotton ball.

 

Warning: Essential oils are highly concentrated plant extracts. Make

sure you never ingest them unless they've been prescribed by a

reputable herbalist or aromatherapist. Small quantities of some

oils, on the order of a single teaspoon, can be fatal.

 

Drug-herb combination. I'll report news of a surprising study by

Japanese scientists. They combined the pharmaceutical anti-herpes

drug, acyclovir (Zovirax), with any one of four tannin-rich herbal

extracts: Japanese avens (Geum japonicum), Javanese sumac (Rhus

javanica), cloves (Syzygium aromaticum) and chebula (Terminalia

chebula). The combination treatment worked significantly better than

acyclovir alone or the herbs alone. Because acyclovir is a

prescription drug, you'll have to ask your doctor about trying this

one.

 

Healing beverages. Tea and the juices of apple, cranberry, grape,

pear, prune and strawberry all seem to help kill viruses. Tannins

are usually the active components in these juices. Pear juice, which

is rich in anti-herpes caffeic acid, might be your best juice

choice.

 

http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/41/55.cfm

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