Genital Herpes and Cold Sores

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.

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. Although echinacea can cause the tongue to tingle or go numb temporarily, this effect is harmless. Some herbalists rely on this reaction to assure them that they have echinacea and not some adulterant. (Adulterants in commercial herb preparations are an ongoing problem.)

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, 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.