Switch from Famvir to Valtrex

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am worried about a recent changes so your thoughts and experience is

appreciated. We started our daughter on Valtrex (a third on each meal) a year

ago. We did not see major changes during that time, only a little rash around

the 6th week but nothing else. Our daughter would have some shingles on her

inner thighs but they would go on and off. Then, 6 months later we were told by

the Dr to switch to Famvir. Again, not much changes, nothing remarkably good or

bad (in these 6 months she's been mostly stable) and she did not have these skin

breaks for a good few months.

Now we are switching back to Valtrex again (about a week now) and we are seeing

more of these shingles in more parts of her upper legs and even the right

armpit.

Question: are we in front of some regression or rather should we see these skin

outbreaks with good eyes?

Thanks.

[Guest guest]

I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.And what does a third mean? Are you saying she's taking 166 mg 3 times a day? Or is she taking 333mg 3x a day? Valtrex comes in 500mg and 1gram. We don't know your daughter's age so we can't assume what "a third" means.But in all honesty, it sounds like she's on too low a dose. But it's hard to say without actually knowing what she's on or how old she is.

~ Antiviral Therapy 101~ gryffinstail.wordpress.com/ ~~ @Gryffins_Tail ~

Hello,

I am worried about a recent changes so your thoughts and experience is appreciated. We started our daughter on Valtrex (a third on each meal) a year ago. We did not see major changes during that time, only a little rash around the 6th week but nothing else. Our daughter would have some shingles on her inner thighs but they would go on and off. Then, 6 months later we were told by the Dr to switch to Famvir. Again, not much changes, nothing remarkably good or bad (in these 6 months she's been mostly stable) and she did not have these skin breaks for a good few months.

Now we are switching back to Valtrex again (about a week now) and we are seeing more of these shingles in more parts of her upper legs and even the right armpit.

Question: are we in front of some regression or rather should we see these skin outbreaks with good eyes?

Thanks.

[Guest guest]

I am sorry for the vague details, please let me clarify. In October last year we

started Valtrex at 333mg three times a day. We only saw a little rahs on her

back that went away pretty soon and some rash in her inner thighs on an off,

they would last about a week.

We continued this way till Dr Goldberg told us in April this year to switch to

Famvir 187.5 mg three times a day too. We did not see major changes either but

the rash on her inner thighs was seen only a few times since we started it in

April this year. Dr. G always thouoght the rash was food-alergy related, we are

almost sure it is not.

We are back on Valtrex and now, after 4 days on Valtrex at 500mg three times a

day, she has developed a more aggressive rash that is present on her thigh, her

legs articulations and the armpits - mostly the right one.

So my doubt is whether this is a good development because I could understand it

as Valtrex is tackling on herpes/shingles, or a warning sign telling that Famvir

was keeping this viral presence on check preventing any skin outbreaks.

Most of my reading tends to say that this kind of reaction is always well seen

but non-autistic people having Herpes infections report their outbreaks occur

when the immune system runs low, which is precisely my concern.

Best regards,

>

> > Hello,

> > I am worried about a recent changes so your thoughts and experience is

appreciated. We started our daughter on Valtrex (a third on each meal) a year

ago. We did not see major changes during that time, only a little rash around

the 6th week but nothing else. Our daughter would have some shingles on her

inner thighs but they would go on and off. Then, 6 months later we were told by

the Dr to switch to Famvir. Again, not much changes, nothing remarkably good or

bad (in these 6 months she's been mostly stable) and she did not have these skin

breaks for a good few months.

> > Now we are switching back to Valtrex again (about a week now) and we are

seeing more of these shingles in more parts of her upper legs and even the right

armpit.

> >

> > Question: are we in front of some regression or rather should we see these

skin outbreaks with good eyes?

> >

> > Thanks.

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Okay, so a couple things.1. The rash is a normal die off reaction. It typically does not come and go over so many months which is why I think your dose is too low. In my experience with this group, rashes that last this long tend to be due to too low a dose and clears up after the dose is increased.2. Because you're seeing Dr. G, the best thing you can do is join the NIDS list for direct advice. I am *not* trying to kick you off here - please stay, just telling you that what we discuss here is almost always counter to what Dr. G believes so it all tends to be useless info to NIDS patients. KWIM? It also has the potential to elicit a lecture when something he doesn't like is brought up in his office by a parent.3. Dr. G always thinks everything is food allergy related - that's why the diet progressively gets more and more strict as he goes over the food diary and tells you what you need to remove now even though he pretty much ignores the allergy test you get. That's why the NIDS diet is so vague. *shrugs* He tried to tell me that my son's psychotic reaction to SSRIs *had* to be food and not the antidepressants. Soooooo, I dunno what to tell you. It's one of those things you have to accept about him or not. We left.My experience:Switching to Famvir is a typical move for Dr. G when you don't see the gains. Switching back to Valtrex is also pretty typical. Not having a rash during Famvir isn't necessarily telling you that it's keeping the virus in check. It might be, but it might not. What happened to us: took valtrex, saw wonderful gains but no change in titers so we switched to Famvir. Titers didn't change and Famvir didn't do much of anything but hold us steady (nothing new, no regressions either, no die off, no rash) so we ended up switching fairly quickly to Zovirax. Went through die off again, titers went down and we stayed on it for a while. Titers shot back up after about 6 months and we switched back to Valtrex and went through die off again. We switched to DAN after that and we've done just fine just staying on Valtrex for the last 3 years.So you might have the rash again because you are going through die off again - also normal. When he switches you to Zovirax (which he will) you should go through die off again.Every time you switch, whether you've been on it or not, should produce a new die off because you are acting against the virus differently than the one you were on previously.

~ Antiviral Therapy 101~ gryffinstail.wordpress.com/ ~~ @Gryffins_Tail ~

I am sorry for the vague details, please let me clarify. In October last year we started Valtrex at 333mg three times a day. We only saw a little rahs on her back that went away pretty soon and some rash in her inner thighs on an off, they would last about a week.

We continued this way till Dr Goldberg told us in April this year to switch to Famvir 187.5 mg three times a day too. We did not see major changes either but the rash on her inner thighs was seen only a few times since we started it in April this year. Dr. G always thouoght the rash was food-alergy related, we are almost sure it is not.

We are back on Valtrex and now, after 4 days on Valtrex at 500mg three times a day, she has developed a more aggressive rash that is present on her thigh, her legs articulations and the armpits - mostly the right one.

So my doubt is whether this is a good development because I could understand it as Valtrex is tackling on herpes/shingles, or a warning sign telling that Famvir was keeping this viral presence on check preventing any skin outbreaks.

Most of my reading tends to say that this kind of reaction is always well seen but non-autistic people having Herpes infections report their outbreaks occur when the immune system runs low, which is precisely my concern.

Best regards,

>

> > Hello,

> > I am worried about a recent changes so your thoughts and experience is appreciated. We started our daughter on Valtrex (a third on each meal) a year ago. We did not see major changes during that time, only a little rash around the 6th week but nothing else. Our daughter would have some shingles on her inner thighs but they would go on and off. Then, 6 months later we were told by the Dr to switch to Famvir. Again, not much changes, nothing remarkably good or bad (in these 6 months she's been mostly stable) and she did not have these skin breaks for a good few months.

> > Now we are switching back to Valtrex again (about a week now) and we are seeing more of these shingles in more parts of her upper legs and even the right armpit.

> >

> > Question: are we in front of some regression or rather should we see these skin outbreaks with good eyes?

> >

> > Thanks.

> >

> >

> >

> >

>