SubscribeScientist (Me!) Gets Shingles
How ironic that my university research on herpes in the mid-1990s has come full circle to benefit me personally. Yup, I finally got to that level of ‘maturity’ (i.e., age 61) whereby the incidence of shingles starts going up. And I became one of those lucky ones to have my old chickenpox virus come back in the form of shingles.
That’s me in the photo, specifically my right side 8 days after I started having painful, untouchable skin, and 5 days after the outbreak actually appeared. Although I don’t recommend that anyone experience this outbreak just to lend credibility to their expertise, this is exactly what I did (not on purpose!).
Why Did I Get Shingles?
Of course, my age is a predictive factor. However, I keep my immune system in good order with all kinds of great supplements, lifestyle, and diet. So a shingles outbreak surprised me.
I do have a pretty good idea what I did to make this outbreak happen, though. It has to do with my experimentation with growth hormone secretagogues. Briefly, certain amino acids in high amounts lead to increasing amounts of growth hormone (HGH) to be released from the pituitary gland. These amino acids are therefore called secretagogues.
The key amino acid, and the most abundant one in all of the HGH secretagogues, is L-arginine. This amino acid is widely known among herpes sufferers for making herpes outbreaks worse. I think it even increases the frequency of outbreaks. So, the long and short of it is that I probably attracted a shingles outbreak by taking high levels of L-arginine.
Now What?
Fortunately, another amino acid, called L-lysine, counteracts the herpes-inducing effects of L-arginine. And L-lysine is also a common HGH secretagogue. So all I have to do is keep my arginine to lysine ratio a little more even and shingles will become a thing of the past.
My Shingles Natural Treatment
This episode gave me a chance to experience the benefits of the patented herbal formula that came out of my laboratory research in 1995. You can say that my research on shingles and other forms of herpes outbreaks came home to roost in a very personal way. Thank goodness! Shingles can be miserable, and I didn’t have to find out how bad it could be because I used my own natural shingles treatment. Whew!
By the way, this formula is the main topic of the book that I wrote on the subject of herpes, which appears in the column to the right: “Shingles Natural Treatment Guide.” I love the book and it has helped a lot of people, now including me. I may be biased, though!
All the best in natural health,
Dr. D