Breast Cancer Treatment Options To Reduce Your Tumor Of The Breast Tissue!
10.02.08 (7:09 am) [edit]Breast Cancer Treatment Options To Reduce Your Tumor Of The Breast Tissue! October 2nd, 2008 by admin Breast cancer is a cancer of the breast tissue. Today, it is the most common cancer diagnosed in women.http://www.healthordisease.co... Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women. One out of eight women will suffer with breast cancer in their lifetime. In the United States, over two million women are diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately forty thousand women die of breast cancer yearly. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, over 1.2 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide this year. With great efforts of researchers and medical professionals, several effective breast cancer treatment options are available for you. Today, with the advances in the treatment options, you with breast cancer do not have to lose your breast. However, these breast cancer treatment options depend upon several factors: size, location, stage and laboratory test reports of your breast cancer. Breast cancer is a complex disease where your cancer may be in one of five stages. Most of the women today with breast cancer are diagnosed within first three stages where they can lead a long life. Similar to all other cancer treatments, breast cancer treatment kills the cancerous tumor and the cancer that has spread to other parts of the body without damaging the healthy tissue. Breast cancer has developed into more and more treatable over the years where the survival rates have increased significantly. One of the breast cancer treatment options most widely preferred is surgery. With surgery, the surgeon removes the breast cancer, breast tissue around the lump and some lymph nodes and a radiation treatment is used to kill any remaining or spreading cancerous cells. Radiation treatment is usually used in addition to surgery but it is primarily considered as a second form of breast cancer treatment because it alone can be used in radiation therapy (a non-surgical treatment option) where by using high-energy waves (x-rays/gamma rays) penetration, radiation emits from these beams kills cancer cells by breaking down their genetic material completely and abolishing their ability to reproduce. Next, a most commonly recognized breast cancer treatment is chemotherapy. It prevents the growth of cancer cells by stopping the cells from dividing. You can take drugs orally or injection depending upon the stage of your breast cancer being treated. The major side effects of chemotherapy are hair loss, vomiting and nausea, extreme fatigue, and many more. Despite of its side effects, it has become one of the most effective breast cancer treatments available today. Finally, you have hormone therapy to eliminate the hormones present in cancerous cells and obstruct their ability of growth. With the advances in breast cancer treatment options the probability that a diagnosis of a cancer is no longer a prescription for breast removal or death. Researchers and health professionals are very optimistic that the rate of treatable breast cancer survivors will continue to increase gradually as the years pass. Is this not good news for those who are at risk for breast cancer! Posted in Cancer, Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Searching For Chlamydia Vaccine? Thank God, Zithromax To Cure! October 2nd, 2008 by admin Chlamydia, a general curable sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by tiny bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is a bacteria-related sexually transmitted disease, which can injure a woman’s reproductive organs. Also, it’s estimated that annually the rate of chlamydia infection is rising to more than 2.8 million and up to 40% of sexually active women are infected with unaware of its existence. Today, still there arepeople at risk of this infection and really don’t know what it is even if they heard about it. It is referred to as a “silent” disease where you do not experience chlamydia symptoms though you are at risk. In some cases, if they do occur, they appear within 1-3 weeks after infection. As chlamydia is an asymptomatic infection, it often goes undiagnosed unless it directs to major complications and if it is not treated soon enough, then severe damages can takes place to the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, and uterus, causing infertility. In general, the diagnosis for chlamydia is carried out at STI clinics or GUM clinics. For this, in the past, women were used to test by taking a swab from the cervix with an instrument called a speculum. But now, with the development of newer tests, it has become easy for you as a woman to carry out a simple procedure at home, either by using a urine sample, or by taking a swab from the lower vagina. Then, the sample will be placed into a container and sent to a laboratory for testing purpose. Once you find chlamydia infection in your test report, start chlamydia treatment. This can be easily treated and cured with antibiotics. Chlamydia Medications According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the recommended treatment for chlamydia is either a single dose of zithromax (azithromycin) 1 gm orally as or a week of doxycycline100 mg orally twice a day. You can also take a week of erythoromycin base 500 mg orally four times a day, or a week of erythoromycin ethylsuccinate 800 mg orally four times a day, or a week of ofloxacin 300 mg orally twice a day as alternative treatments. All the above antibiotics are effective in killing chlamydia and it is very important to be taken as prescribed in order to affect a cure from this disease. If you want to prevent chlamydia or avoid having to seek chlamydia treatment, then certainly the best way is to use a barrier device, such as a condom during your intercourse. So, safe sexual behavior and proper health care can help keep you away from becoming infected or re-infected with chlamydia and also from experiencing its complications. Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Got Fibroids? Healing Fibroids Is Possible With Treatment Options! October 2nd, 2008 by admin Healing fibroids depends up on the size of the fibroid tumors, its symptoms, your age, whether or not you plan for more children, general health and your preference. Fibroids are common benign growth of the uterus (womb). The fibroids growth in the uterus may be very small or large [Fibroid type]. The fibroids cause no symptoms if they are very small; thereby healing fibroids is not necessary. It especially applies if you are nearing menopause stage (an average age of fifty). However, if the fibroids are small and cause pressure symptoms or heavy bleeding then a regular evaluation is done to determine the changes in the fibroid size. It is usually done when you plan to become pregnant, as the fibroids can grow and affect the pregnancy, also, if you are nearing your menopause where the fibroids generally reduce in size. Although fibroids cause no or very little symptoms, it is very important for you to keep consulting your doctor regularly for assessment. On the other hand, you may also notice certain symptoms, which includes heavy, painful periods, pelvic pain, abnormal bleeding between periods, an increase in the size of the fibroids; or pressure on urinary bladder or on bowel. Healing fibroids is essential if you notice any of these symptoms. Luckily, you have several treatment options to treat your fibroids. The surgical methods such as myomectomy and hysterectomy are effective in healing fibroids. Myomectomy is a surgical procedure where only the fibroids are removed, leaving the uterus in place. This type of surgical method is usually preferred when you plan for a future pregnancy or when you desire to retain the uterus. Hysteroscopy or Laparoscopy (less invasive procedures) is used to remove small fibroids whereas large, multiple or unattainable fibroids and the presence of other pelvic conditions are usually treated with a laparotomy. Hysterectomy is another surgical healing fibroids method that is used to remove the fibroids along with uterus. This is preferred when you have regular pain or abnormal bleeding, large fibroids, ineffective results with other treatment options; not desired for children. Uterine artery embolisation (UAE), a recently introduced method is effective in healing fibroids. In this method, particles are inserted into the uterine arteries to reduce the size of fibroids by blocking off their blood supply. In addition to surgical methods, you also have medical treatment for healing fibroids. The drugs will be used to heal the symptoms of fibroids, or to shrink fibroids temporarily. The drugs such as Antiprostaglandins or cyclo-oxygenase enzyme (COX) are prescribed to shrink fibroids and are used only during menstrual periods and when trying to conceive or have associated period pains. However, GnRH analogues are also prescribed to reduce the size of large fibroids temporarily and to control bleeding. Antibiotics are prescribed to heal the infections caused by fibroids. As anemia (loss of blood) is due to heavy bleeding, even it can be improved with oral iron supplements. Remember that the fibroids will usually reappear within 3-6 months and return to their pre-treatment size if your treatment is discontinued. Therefore, a treatment course should be followed regularly for healing fibroids completely. Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Know Your PMS Symptoms For Early Diagnosis! October 2nd, 2008 by admin Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is characterized by a group of symptoms related to menstrual periods. You may experience PMS symptoms anytime after the ovulation that occurs roughly two weeks before the onset of your periods. However, it disappears as your periods start. You can notice different changes in your body during the last 3-14 days of your menstrual cycle, which could cause some degree of pain. There are about 150 PMS symptoms associated with this condition, which often affects physically and emotionally. The number, type, and severity of PMS symptoms vary from woman to woman. Also, the symptom changes from month to month in the same woman. Here are some of the most common PMS symptoms: Fatigue: It is the most common nervous system PMS symptom. With this symptom, you feel tiredness that you can hardly spend the day. Sometimes, you may also experience trouble sleeping at night, called insomnia. The other symptoms of this type are hypersomnia (sleeping for long time abnormally), anorexia (loss of appetite), lethargy, agitation, change in sex drive, and dizziness. Tension and irritability: This is a mood-related PMS symptom. With this type of symptom, you may feel very nervous and small irritations appear huge. Often your reaction will be out of proportion to the condition. Difficulty in concentrating: This is a mental-process PMS symptom. You often find difficulty in doing things when you are suffering with PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome) where concentration is very essential, such as listening to a lecture or making business decisions. Even an increase in absentmindedness occurs. Depression: This is a mood-related PMS symptom where sadness and crying are very common feelings. Sometimes the sadness may become deep and devastated. Anger: It is another mood-related PMS symptom where your normal feelings of anger are often exaggerated. You may be more argumentative and lash out at those around you. The other symptom of this type is frequent and severe mood swings. Food cravings: With this symptom you always crave for particular foods, such as sweets or salt. Others notice their appetite for almost any food increases. Breast tenderness: This is a pain PMS symptom. There will be some swelling and soreness around your nipples or breasts when you have PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome). Bloating in the abdomen, hands, and legs: It is a fluid and electrolyte symptom. You notice a temporary weight gain. Occasionally, the fluid transfers to the abdomen, hands, and legs thereby you may feel painfully swollen or puffy. Headaches: It is a pain related PMS symptom. The length and severity of headaches may differ from woman to woman, but it is a common PMS symptom. Other pain symptoms are joint and muscle pain. Nausea: It is a gastrointestinal symptom where you may often feel sickness. Diarrhea is another PMS symptom of this type. Acne: It is a most common skin symptom. The other skin symptoms of PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome) are oily skin, greasy or dry hair. You may also experience palpitations (rapid fluttering of the heart) and heavy sweating. So, by knowing your PMS symptoms it is very helpful for your doctor to diagnose and get appropriate treatment [PMS treatment options]. Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Understand Gonorrhea Symptoms For Correct Diagnosis! October 1st, 2008 by admin Gonorrhea is the most common curable sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae. You can also refer gonorrhea as “the clap”. It can cause infection to both men and women. Mostly, young adults who undergo any type of sex can infect with gonorrhea. The bacteria that cause gonorrhea can infect men and women differently depending upon the way you contracted the disease and how long you’ve had it for. In men, it infects urethra where as in women it infects your vagina, uterus as well as fallopian tubes. It also infects your mouth, throat and anus. Do You Exhibit Mild Symptoms Or No Symptoms? Generally you can exhibit no gonorrhea symptoms or only few when infected with gonorrhea because it may not exhibit symptoms until the infection spread to other areas of your body [Diagnosing Gonorrhea]. Actually, half of the female gonorrhea sufferers experience no symptoms. However, men are much more likely to develop gonorrhea symptoms. Moreover, the first gonorrhea symptoms appear within 2-10 days after getting infection, but in rare cases, it nearly take 3-4 weeks to develop these gonorrhea symptoms. But if gonorrhea symptoms appear, mostly they would be very mild. In some cases, you mistake the symptoms for a bladder or vaginal infection. If you are a woman infected with gonorrhea, you will experience painful as well as burning sensation while urination, frequent urination and bleeding after sex. Especially, these symptoms are common in your early stages of infection of the cervix. However, in the later, the gonorrhea symptoms would be anal itching, genital itching, fever, tiredness, vomiting, lower abdominal pain, irregular menstrual bleeding, painful sexual intercourse, swollen and painful glands at the opening of the vagina, abnormal vaginal discharge that is yellow or bloody. If you are a man suffering from gonorrhea, you will experience infection of the urethra with pain when urinating, frequent urination, as well as swollen glands in the groin area. In later stages, you also find abnormal discharge from the penis that is a white, green, or yellowish discharge from the tip of your penis. Thus, your penis will most likely look tender and redder than normally it is. Also, you experience anal itching. Moreover, gonorrhea infects your anus. The gonorrhea symptoms of anus infection would be painful bowel movements, discharge, and bloody stool. Generally, oral infection gonorrhea symptoms would be a sore throat, and a pus-like substance on the tonsils or back of the throat. However, the infections in these areas can transmit easily to other parts of your body. If you ignore the symptoms leaving the infection untreated, bacteria passes to several parts of your body. In women, the bacteria pass from the cervix into your uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries, thus causing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), a serious medical condition resulting in ectopic pregnancy, pelvic abscesses, and infertility. In men, gonorrhea infection can spread from the urethra to the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, Cowper’s glands, and the epididymis, which can result in sterility. Therefore, it is highly recommended to consult your doctor as soon as you notice gonorrhea symptoms. Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Planning For Hysterectomy Recovery? Tips To Speed-Up Your Recovery Time! October 1st, 2008 by admin For most of you, having a hysterectomy can be one of the most difficult surgeries that you ever had before because it threatens your sexuality, identity, fertility, and also directs to feelings of grief, depression, and loss. So, it is better to prepare for the hysterectomy in advance to overcome these lingering feelings. Therefore, preparing for this surgical procedure plays a vital role in hysterectomy recovery. Normally, recovering from a hysterectomy takes time. You will need to stay in the hospital from 1-2 days for your post surgery care. However, for some, it can take up to 4 days. Actually, after your hysterectomy is a crucial time because for recovery, it needs some time to fine-tune, to heal and to complete the hysterectomy recovery process. On the other hand, you can follow these hysterectomy recovery tips to speed-up your recovery time: First of all, the two weeks after your hysterectomy will be very difficult. Moreover, it depends upon the type of hysterectomy technique you underwent. So, make use of this time for a better sleep, relaxation until your post hysterectomy is ended. Prepare yourself and ensure that at the end of two weeks, you are able to start moving around and gradually getting back to your normal activities. Never prepare your own meals for some couple of weeks after your hysterectomy. This is the time to let family and friends help you. Remember that climbing stairs or driving a car during hysterectomy recovery period can lead to bad consequences. Moreover, laugh as much as you can because this provides a wonderful boost to your immune system in this recovery period. Check your body temperature frequently using a thermometer and consult your doctor for advice if the temperature is high. Next, drink at least 8 glasses of filtered water per day to flush all the toxins from your body after a hysterectomy. Also, remember that drinking pure clear water daily is a healthy habit and you can continue this habit even after a complete recovery. Also, eat healthy foods as much as you can during hysterectomy recovery period because your body will be in need of nutrients, vitamins and so on for a quick healing process. So, include fish, turkey, chicken, soups, salads, and fruits in your routine meal. If possible, include fresh vegetable juices, which will provide nutrients required to improve health and speed healing. Next, provide your body with nutritional supplements before and after a hysterectomy. So, take the best vitamin/mineral/nutrition al supplement that you find. Along with these, start exercising as soon as your doctor permits you because exercising daily will definitely accelerate your hysterectomy recovery but start with little walks or with warm-up exercises [Healthy diet and exercise]. Last but not least, start learning about your hormones, hysterectomy recovery and hormone imbalance because with a hysterectomy, there will be some interruption in your normal production of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone. This can result in symptoms associated with hormone imbalance. Furthermore, you can also go for a hormone health test to safely deal with hormone imbalance and related health issues. Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Follow A Diabetes Diet To Maintain Glucose Levels In The Body! October 1st, 2008 by admin Diabetes is a common disease that is affecting millions of women right around the world. A diabetes diet plays an important role in maintaining your body healthy. So, it is essential for you to pay careful attention towards diabetes diet and nutrition as part of your diabetes treatment course. On the other hand, nutrition experts state that there is no standard diabetes diet designed for all diabetes patients. But, there are general nutrition guidelines that everyone can follow. It is most important for you, as a diabetes patient, to have same quantity of food at the same time every day to maintain your blood sugar levels constant in order to prevent the complications of diabetes. The first step in controlling diabetes is to know the facts about the disease completely. Diabetes affects an estimated seventeen million Americans, and the figure is rising every year. It is fifth leading cause of death. It is a disease that cannot produce enough insulin to burn the glucose in the body. Most of the people know this disease as ‘sugar.’ Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, which converts sugar, starches, and other foods into energy. When insulin is produced inadequately, too much sugar remains in the blood that can lead to severe health problems, such as: damage to the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves in the hands and feet. Three most common types of diabetes are Type1, Type2, and gestational diabetes. You can control any of these types through diabetes diet, regular exercises and many other preventive measures [Diet and exercise]. Following a diabetes diet is the most direct way to control your sugar levels in the body. So, understand the kinds of food that increases your sugar (glucose) levels, and be in control in avoiding them. Before planning your diabetes diet, consult your dietician or nutritionist for proper guidelines. Diabetes diet depends on several factors such as diabetes type, your weight, height, age, other diseases (suffered or suffering) and routine physical activities. Mainly, the diabetic diet is of two types: measured and unmeasured diet. In measured diabetes diet, the quantity of your meal needs to be measured to ensure that it is according to prescription. However, in an unmeasured diabetes diet, the prescribed diet routine needs to follow and maintain without any measure in food quantities. The basic elements that need to include in a diabetes diet are: Proteins: Proteins supplies amino acids required for tissue repair, maintaining the glucose levels during the absorption process and contains less calories than in fats. Carbohydrates: It helps to prevent ketosis. Fats: saturated fat and foods rich in cholesterol need to be avoided completely. Fiber: It is essential to reduce the rate of glucose absorption, the blood sugar rise, the urinary glucose excretion, the process of stomach emptying, and to delay the intestinal passage time. Your diabetes diet should not contain potatoes, sweet potato, sugar, glucose, jams, jaggery, honey, sweets, fried foods, and fruits such as mango, banana, chickoo and custard apple. Also, limit the quantity of oil or fat substances in your diabetes diet. Instead, replace these with a lot of salads and leafy green vegetables. Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Control Your Endometriosis Through Changes In Your Diet! September 28th, 2008 by admin Endometriosis is a condition that occurs when endometrium (endometrial tissue) grows outside the uterus. It causes pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, premenstrual spotting, infertility, and painful urination. Endometriosis can be controlled effectively through drug therapy. However, one recent study proposes that turning to good nutrition as a way to supplement treatment can make you strong and healthy. Although treatment and results differ, there are many cases that have improved and decreased the severity of endometriosis symptoms only by changing the diet. But before you (as endometriosis sufferer) make changes in your diet with right foods and supplements, here are some important things that need to be taken into consideration. Remember that no food or diet regimen is a cure for endometriosis. Estrogen is the main hormone that causes destruction in an endometriosis sufferer. It is found from some researchers that a high level of estrogen in your body is responsible for all the symptoms where as others believe a weak immune system is to blame. No matter what the real cause is but it is essential for you to plan and follow a regular diet and nutrition program to attain a healthy body that can regulate hormones properly, maintain the immune system and manage endometriosis. There are certain foods to avoid in your diet. So, understanding what not to include in your diet can make a huge difference in your life with endometriosis. Planning an endometriosis diet is about avoiding foods that increase prostaglandins, which stimulate estrogen. However, remember that not all prostaglandin are bad. For instance, prostaglandin E1 actually relieves symptoms. The foods such as fats, salt, sugar, dairy products and caffeine need to be avoided because they reduce or stop the functioning of the liver properly. The liver is essential for regulating the hormones and B vitamins in the body to help lower estrogen levels. Cutting down the red meat and meat products in your diet is an effective way of controlling. It is highly recommended to replace the meat with soy products such as tofu and miso, and the foods that are rich in fiber in your diet. As soy products contain elements that control estrogen levels in the body and a rich in fiber diet can ease any pain from bowel movements if endometriosis affects the area. Include foods that contain B vitamins such as fish, rice, pasta, whole-grain bread and cereals, leafy vegetables. B vitamins are known to control estrogen levels and help ease symptoms. Moreover, B vitamins particularly Vitamin B6, riboflavin and thiamin are very effective in regulating recurrent endometriosis. Also antioxidants: beta-carotene, selenium, Vitamin C and Vitamin E are all effective in improving your immune system as well as reducing cramps and menstrual bleeding. These antioxidants, when included in diet, can help control endometriosis and its associated pain. The good sources of antioxidants are spinach, broccoli, celery, cucumbers, almonds, safflower and sunflower oils. Therefore, with these easy and natural changes in your diet you can improve endometriosis. However, speak to your doctor about your dietary plan before making changes to make adjustments if necessary! Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off Does Abortion Pill Successfully Terminate Pregnancy? Know The Facts Of Abortion Pill! September 28th, 2008 by admin Abortion is a process of ending a pregnancy. To get an abortion, it is necessary for you to consult a doctor where certain tests will be done to confirm your pregnancy. If pregnancy is confirmed and is below nine weeks, then abortion pill is best to expel the contents of the uterus. Abortion pill is widely known as RU-486.Insomnia Free With Eft RU stands for Roussel-Uclaf (the initials of the pharmaceutical company) and 486 is a lab serial number. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the abortion pill (RU-486) for use as an abortifacient. Abortion pill is a type of abortion that can be performed using a combination of two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol. These two pills can end most pregnancies in about four hours. It is safe and effective when used within nine weeks of pregnancy. Your doctor will explain you how mifepristone and misoprostol work in terminating a pregnancy. Depending upon your health condition, the doctor gives you a dose of mifepristone pill to take orally. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone levels that are needed to maintain a successful pregnancy. Due to the blockage of this hormone, the uterine lining begins to shed, the cervix get soften and bleeding (an indication of abortion) may occur. The bleeding may be light much like spotting towards the end of a menstrual period or heavy bleeding. In some cases, you may experience no bleeding until you take the second pill (Misoprostol). Misoprostol, another abortion pill will be given if abortion has not occurred with mifepristone. Misoprostol will be taken orally or inserted vaginally within 48 hours of mifepristone. It causes uterine contractions (cramps) to expel the uterine contents from the body. The abortion pill will not recommended for you if you have certain medical conditions such as heart disease, asthma, diabetes, bleeding problems or hypertension or when fitted with an intra-uterine device. It is ineffective in the case of ectopic pregnancy. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that abortion pill is an effective treatment in termination of pregnancy. It is found that about 95 women out of every 100 has achieved abortion successfully with the intake of abortion pill in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. Moreover, with abortion pill, the risk of infection is very less and maternal death is extremely low. It is relatively a cheaper, less invasive option where anesthesia is not necessary. The need of pain-killing drugs will be avoided. Also, you can successfully abort without any complication and further medical treatment. However, with abortion pill, a continuous bleeding may occur for weeks. It is found that one out of every 300 will come across heavy bleeding with the usage of abortion pill. In some rare cases, you may develop an infection. It is also found that abortion pill is ineffective in five women out of every 100 who take it for ending the pregnancy. Sometimes, it takes days to work. So, you should see the doctor right away if you find heavy bleeding, infection or any complication occurring with usage of abortion pill. Posted in Women's health | Edit | Comments Off No Cure For Genital Herpes! Antiviral Medications For Outbreaks! September 28th, 2008 by admin Genital herpes, also commonly called as “herpes”, is a highly contagious sexual transmitted disease caused by the virus called herpes simplex virus (HSV). Actually, there are two various types of herpes virus: HSV-1 and HSV-2. Actually, HSV-1 causes fever blisters in and around the mouth and can be transmitted from person to person through kissing whereas HSV-2 is the major cause for genital herpes. In rare cases, genital herpes is caused by HSV-1. HSV-2 causes pain, itching and herpes sores in your genital area. Sexual contact is the primary way that genital herpes simplex virus spreads. As the herpes virus cannot survive for long time outside your body, you cannot acquire this virus from any object used by an infected person. Generally, symptoms of herpes are called outbreaks. The main reason for the increase in the rate of herpes infection is you will not aware of HSV in your body and may never have an outbreak of sores. Moreover, there is no cure for genital herpes but treatments cannot stop outbreaks. The standard and effective treatment for genital herpes is antiviral drugs. Moreover, a daily suppressive therapy can reduce transmission of virus to your partners. You can take antiviral drugs to treat the symptoms, to help prevent future outbreaks and to stop HSV from replicating in your body. Remember that the treatment works only during the period you take drugs. It will not work once you stop taking. The most common antiviral medicines to treat genital herpes are Acyclovir (Zovirax), Famciclovir (Famvir), and Valacyclovir (Valtrex). Aciclovir: This antiviral drug can lessen the severity of genital herpes outbreaks and shorten their duration. As episodic treatment, you should take aciclovir five times a day. This can also be used as suppressive treatment to help decrease the number of outbreaks. In this case, you should take tablets two, three or four times a day. The general side effects of aciclovir are very mild such as nausea and diarrhea. Valaciclovir: This antiviral drug makes the healing of sores faster, and shortens pain period during the outbreak. If you are taking valaciclovir as soon as you experience the first outbreak (tingling, itching or redness), then you can completely prevent the painful blisters development. As episodic treatment, you should take valaciclovir twice a day. You can also use valaciclovir as suppressive treatment to prevent herpes outbreaks. For this, take the drug once a day. The common side effects with valaciclovir are very mild such as headache or nausea. Famciclovir: When used as episodic treatment, this can reduce the duration of outbreaks and the severity of outbreaks pain. Remember that for the initial genital herpes episode, take this drug three times a day and for recurrent outbreaks, take twice a day. Famciclovir is also preferred for suppressive therapy to increase the time between outbreaks. In this case, the drug should be taken twice a day. Even these side effects are, similar to aciclovir, very mild such as headache and nausea. It is highly recommended for you to consult your doctor for further information regarding antiviral treatment for your genital herpes.