Re: Re: Info on Valtrex....Cheryl

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Antiviral therapy is not short term.  My son has been on them for 2 years.  Typically, pulling titers initially is a good idea but no, it always tell you anything.  Sometimes it's in "hiding" and needs to be pulled out by an antiviral.  But you should monitor titers every few months to see where you are.  For instance, you take your initial draw.  After 2 or 3 months of antivirals, you take another draw and see where the numbers are.  If they've gone down, you're doing something right but that doesn't mean you stop.  You should continue them and monitor to make sure they *stay* down.  For me, I would wait for at least 3 draws to make sure they are down.  After that, I would still pull a draw at least once a year for a couple years to make sure they haven't gone back up.  There are other factors, too.  Sometimes you take your initial draw and it comes up normal.  In that case, you judge it on how your child is responding.  If they are responding well, then don't stop, just keep monitoring draws.  What usually happens in this case is that it can take up to 6 months to come out of hiding (although I have heard of a few that have taken up to 9 months).  And sometimes what you see is after your initial draw and you've been on antivirals for a couple months the titers may even go up higher.  This is what happened to my son.  So when that happens, you continue with antivirals (obviously) until you get them down and they stay down.Also, keep in mind that titers can tell you a lot, too.  As you monitor titers, you should be rotating antivirals depending how things are going.  In my son's case, after the titers went up and didn't come back down to his baseline or lower after our next draw, we switched him to another antiviral.  No change after a few months so we switched again.  The titers dropped back down and even went down further than baseline but a few draws later they were creeping back up so we switched again.  Generally, antiviral rotation is the best attack.  Too many people try just one antiviral and if they don't see results, they quit.  Or they think it's not working anymore and instead of switching, they quit. It's a pretty simple (yet complex) therapy that many DANs still aren't very familiar with so it's tough to push through.  For us, antivirals were the key to my son's progress.  My son is *hugely* viral.  His immune system is a wreck and without the antivirals, he would not be where he is right now.I'm not sure if that answers your question but if I haven't, just tell me where there's confusion and I'll try to do a better job.   Cheryl~Check out my blog:  http://www.gryffins-tail.blogspot.com/ Cheryl- thanks for that info but I'm still not clear on how we'll know when it's okay for him to go off the antivirals? We didn't draw viral titers yet and as I've heard sometimes they can be negative and our kids still have viral issues. So how long should it take to supress or kill the viruses. How long do most kids take Rx antivirals for? Mine responded very well but we pretty much had to beg our DAN to keep him on acyclovir. We do have a weak immune system. Thanks so much!!Mely   Hi,Our DAN! Doc also prescribed Valtrex for my son,I can't find it  in our Moroccan pharmacies but a friend told me it's very  expensive ,can anyone tell me how much it costs in USA or Europe please? Can it  be replaced by any other tablets? Our DAN! Doc prescribed it with  Methyl Mate . Your answe will be much appreciated,Nafissa ------------------------------------