My Favorite Supplements for a Herpes Diagnosis

Okay so now you’re diagnosed with Herpes and you want to do everything possible to prevent the next outbreak or if you get one speed up the recovery time and lessen the severity of it, right?

That was exactly me as well. 

I’ve noticed that when people are first diagnosed with herpes they do 1 of 3 things. They go into fight mode, flight mode or freeze mode. We do all sorts of things with these modes; we loose it with our partner, we become angry people to be around, we just curl up in a ball and don’t want to leave our house, or we just sit there like we’re deer in the headlights. Which one were you? Anyway, one of the things that happens is we get on a kick about researching how to kick this virus and/or how to help our immune system along the way.

Let me state and make it very clear, I am in no way a doctor or a licensed dietitian or in any way in the medical field and can not make claims. I highly recommend you talk to your doctor about your own personal health and supplement questions.

But here’s what I learned. I learned that the stronger the immune system the better your own body could keep the herpes virus dormant in your body. When the virus is dormant it’s not replicating and causing outbreaks. (yay). 

I think we all know the major immune boosting supplements; Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin B, Multi Vitamin,  Zinc and even fish oil. These are all helpful and work together to help build and boost our immune system. But there are two supplements that are game changers when it comes to herpes. 

Lysine & Monolaurin

Lysine is an essential amino acid - in other words it’s a protein. This is something that we consume from our foods and our body depends on us consuming it for things like:  helps the body absorb calcium, and it plays an important role in the formation of collagen, a substance important for bones and connective tissues including skin, tendons, and cartilage. (source) Well, lysine also disrupts the body's balance with lysine and arginine in the body and inhibits viral replication (source). This is huge news and huge for us living with herpes. In other words, taking lysine daily can help us reduce the chance of getting outbreaks and if we get outbreaks it can help speed up the healing process. I have a very detailed blog post on it if you’re interested. 

So now moving on to the next big thing…

Monolaurin was something I was introduced to about 7-9 months ago. Monolaurin is also known as Lauric Acid and it’s found in three places; human breast milk, coconuts and palm oil. Monolaurin is a dietary supplement derived from lauric acid - a medium chain fatty acid present in coconut and palm oil. Existing research explores monolaurin’s potential to exhibit antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties in controlled laboratory studies. (source) 

So what does this mean for herpes? Really great stuff. The herpes virus is what is called an enveloped virus, it has a fatty protective layer surrounding the virus. I like to think of it as like an egg with a shell. Our immune systems can not penetrate the enveloped virus (aka the shell) and so we’re kind of left at the whim of the herpes virus. Monolaurin actually has the ability to dissolve the shell of the enveloped viruses which allows our immune systems to go in and fight the virus.  Super cool, right?

Monolaurin has been the subject of various clinical studies with the aim of testing if: monolaurin kills herpes, monolaurin is effective for herpes, and if monolaurin can eradicate herpes. With that being said, these publications suggest that monolaurin may have the potential to kill herpes in laboratory settings. However, more research is needed to establish if monolaurin could possibly herpes in the body, if at all. (source)

So with that being said, adding both of these supplements to you daily regime is something that may help with fighting herpes outbreaks. My personal favorite place to buy them because of the integrity and the efficacy of the products are from Palmara Health, formerly known as Natural Cure Labs. You can buy just the lysine, just the monolaurin or you can purchase a capsule that has both combined. Whatever floats your boat!

Here’s the link and coupon code: LWH to get 10% off your purchase on anything site wide. They have other great stuff too. 

Also, if you’d like to learn more about monolaurin here’s a third party website, Monolaurin And More, that can answer your questions. 

Seriously don’t forget to use the promo code: LWH when you shop. 

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