Part One:

800,000 people or more will contract Genital and Oral Herpes
(Herpes 1 and 2) this year in North America alone. It's
estimated that 60% of the population has Herpes. A majority of
the people with the disease are unaware that they carry the
virus- making them much more likely to pass it on to others.
With so many people affected by this epidemic, it's a wonder
that Herpes doesn't get more media attention. It's been labeled
an incurable disease which left untreated can have serious
consequences such as the death of a infant born to a mother
having an outbreak during delivery and vastly increasing one's
chances of getting AIDS and other opportunistic infections.

The sad fact is that there's still a pervasive wall of shame
and silence over this disease. People are much more likely to
publicly declare their HIV positive status than admit to having
Herpes. There are numerous charities and foundations with their
high-profile celebrity spokespersons leading the very public
campaign of AIDS awareness and research. There's an ever
increasing amount of sympathy and support for AIDS victims from
the general public. But I challenge you to name a public
spokesperson for Herpes? Better yet, can anyone even name one
single Herpes charity? I'm sure they exist, but their public
profiles are next to nonexistent. Have you ever seen a telethon
to raise money for Herpes research? It's inconceivable to me why
Herpes is treated as such a "dirty" disease. Is it the modern
leprosy? I have worked with many Herpes sufferers who do not
tell their lovers of their status for fear of being rejected.
I'm not sure what the answer would be to gaining more support
and sympathy for the sufferers of Herpes, but it's something we
could all work on. The Acyclovir family of drugs-including
Valtrex and Famvir, has been the long standing therapy
prescribed by doctors for the treatment of Herpes 1 and 2.
Although the drug has proven itself to be somewhat effective in
the reduction of the duration and severity of outbreaks when
used topically and in the suppression of some outbreaks when
taken orally, this effectiveness can come with a steep price.

Acyclovir does not cure Herpes, and must be taken indefinitely.
Like many other drugs there are serious possible side-effects,
including kidney dysfunction, toxicity in the nervous system,
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea seizures, confusion and tremors,
severe headaches. Beyond these perhaps the biggest problem with
taking these drugs for Herpes is the creation of drug-resistant
strains of the virus that will make treating people in the
future much more difficult. I have been using natural remedies
to help people suffering with Herpes for fourteen years now.
One of the principle natural tools used in controlling Herpes
has been L-lysine-an amino acid that has been proven to reduce
the frequency of outbreak in some people. Unfortunately
L-lysine has now been shown to have it's own serious
side-effect. Since it's main action is to inhibit arginine in
the cellular environment, the long term effect of taking
L-lysine is the lowering of the body's immune function. Which
is a less than a desirable outcome.

Part Two:

A Comprehensive Programme for Managing Herpes Safely and
Effectively

Fifteen years ago I contracted Herpes myself in the context of
a monogamous relationship. Being open-minded and desperate I
tried drug therapy and immediately got migraine headaches for
the first time in my life. It was clear that I had to find a
natural way of managing the disease for myself since I was
going to have it for the rest of my life and I needed a way of
being able to resume my sex life without the dread of the
likelihood of passing it on to others. In the next two years I
tried every natural therapy available at the time. Frustrated
from the lack of consistent and lasting results from most of
the touted natural remedies for Herpes I started developing my
own treatment programme based on my families multi-generational
background as herbalists.

What I found through my experience is that Herpes needs to be
addressed on many levels- obviously nutrition and lifestyle
changes/adjustments but that also the deep shame and many
psychological effects of the disease are equally if not more
important to treat than outbreaks. Herpes also can change quite
significantly during the course of someone's history with the
disease so any protocol would have to be flexible enough to
deal with the evolutionary nature of the presenting symptoms.

I also don't believe in the validity of suppressive therapy for
Herpes. I think suppression inevitably leads to the disease
expressing itself in other ways-ways that may be more
devastating than conventional outbreaks- so the protocol is not
designed to suppress outbreaks altogether but rather to lengthen
the period of time between outbreaks and to shorten their
duration and greatly lessen their severity. Some people have
had their average duration of outbreaks reduced from 12-16 days
to 1 to 2 days. Some people have been able to prevent most
outbreaks from re-occouring

The protocol does not cure the disease and does not stop all
symptoms from appearing. Even those who have been able to stop
most of their outbreaks have experienced some mild infrequent
outbreaks. many less than one per year. Some far less than
that.

After taking someone's case the protocol is adjusted depending
on many factors including the strain of the virus, the
frequency, location and duration of outbreaks. The relative
health of the clients self-esteem and the relative level of
stressors. Whether the client is male or female, length of time
with the disease , etc , etc, etc. For most the protocol
involves both internal and topical remedies. For all it
involves combination therapy- I learned a great deal from
studying how other natual practitioners were treating HIV ,
especially people who had both HIV and Herpes or who had
drug-resistant HIV. In North American many people with HIV also
have Herpes. Many of the same substances that are effective for
HIV are also effective for Herpes.

All of the substances in the protocol are from botanical
sources. Many of the substances I grow or wildcraft myself.
Most of the substances I tincture or homeopathically prepare
myself. Melissa Officinalis is the cornerstone of the protocol.
Lomatium Dissectum and Olive Leaf and Prunella Vulgaris are part
of the remedy for everyone. There are also two patented
substances- one from a Marine Biologist and Bio-Chemist and one
from a MD that are frequently prescribed herbally as part of the
protocol. The most common homeopathic remedies prescribed in the
protocol are Rhus-tox, Mezereum and Rananuculus, but there are
over two dozen homeopathic remedies that I use depending on the
symptom picture and another dozen or so herbal substances. Again
the protocol is a combination therapy. Some of these substances
are used internally, some externally.

I am not big on the use of L-lysine. I never found it
particularly effective and now research is showing the long
term use of L-lysine can actually lower your immune function.
L-lysine is not part of the protocol.

For the most severe cases, A referral to a Hypnotherapist is
part of the protocol. Hypnosis has been clinically proven to be
very effective in the treatment of Herpes particularly when
combined with other therapies. Lastly, I counsel people to make
peace with the disease. To not treat the virus as some ghastly
invader. But to somehow dialogue with the virus and reach some
kind of accommodation. The virus is an intelligent, motivated
organism quite capable of surviving. The virus is just one of
many many micro organisms homesteading in our bodies. I
encourage people whenever possible to make an agreement with
the virus to allow the virus to stay if the virus agrees to
cause as little disruption of the host's life as possible. And
above all else to not be ashamed of having Herpes. To have the
courage to speak about the disease and not feel like a leper.

Christopher Scipio
Homeopath/Herbalist
Holistic Herpes Specialist


About The Author: Christopher Scipio , is one of the most
experienced holistic practitioners treating the Herpes virus. A
homeopath and herbalist who hails from a long line of Caribbean
natural healers, Scipio has during the last 15 years developed
a very successful natural protocol in treating the Herpes
family of viruses. Email me for a Free
Initial Consultation. http://www.natropractica.com