I'm new here and about to embark on the John of Ohio regimen. However, after a lot of reading, I'm wondering whether anyone has any more recent information / experience with olive leaf extract, as opposed to Lysine. I'm intrigued by the possibility that olive leaf seems to attack both the viral and fungal fronts, as opposed to Lysine which seems only to address the viral. I believe I even saw a post from a couple of years ago where John mentioned giving olive leaf a trial in place of Lysine, but despite multiple searches I haven't found any more recent information. I'm considering trying both simultaneously, because my main concern is preventing the disease from becoming bilateral. However, I have doubts about being able to take all the dosages on an empty stomach and far enough apart to prevent the reported conflict between Lysine and olive leaf. I'd appreciate it if anyone with more experience could offer any information or advice regarding these two approaches.
I am not familiar with any conflect with the simulataneous ingestion of lysine and olive leaf extract (whose active antimicrobial molecule is oleuropein). Yes, some time ago I suggested that those with Meniere's give OLE (olive leaf extract) a try, inasmuch as it's very safe and has no side effects except at extremely high doses, and it does have antiviral effects. I don't recall anyone posting any consequent experiences with OLE, however. Personally, I take a single 500 mg capsule of OLE each day, and since doing so have almost no fungal infections. Before, I had "jock itch." OLE stopeed that. If that happens, I presumed it's inhibiting fungal infections elsewhere in the body, too. I gave some deep thought to adding OLE to my regimen (http://www.zoominternet.net/~kcshop/JOH.pdf), but it already has more vitamins, minerals, and supplements (VMSs) than most people wish to consume each day. So I've not added OLE to the regimen. And I don't have any reliable data, either, that OLE really would provide useful suppression of any Meniere's-causative herpes virus. But OLE is cheap and safe. Frankly, if I had MM symptoms today, I would personally give OLE a try, along with all the other stuff in the regimen. --John of Ohio
Thanks for your response John, although I'm still confused about the conflicting information that seems to be out there. This was a while ago, so has something changed in our understanding of the interactions between these two components?: The pertinent part of the above linked article: Here's another example, taken from Ameriden's website, who sells an olive leaf extract product: If this is true, I'd love to know how far apart they must be taken to avoid counteracting one another. Any thoughts?
Well, I totally forgot that posting that claimed lysine's ability to nail herpes viruses is suppressed by OLE. The quote from that article, in regard to a major molecular component of OLE, is this: "Virucidal activity was diminished by incubation with amino acids lysine, glycine, cysteine and histidine, and to a lesser extent with phenylalanine, tryptophan, serine and threonine. Because the elenolic acid could be inactivated by free amino acids circulating in the bloodstream, research was apparently discontinued." I would presume (but I don't specifically recall) that this was the reason I dropped any pursuit of OLE in my Meniere's regimen. The fact that lysine circulating freely in the blood is confounded by OLE rather clearly indicates that it would make no difference when either the lysine or the OLE were consumed. Once in the blood stream, they'd cancel each other out. So, I retract my suggestions that OLE and lysine together would be helpful. Since we know that lysine does suppress herpes virus replication, it remains the over the counter antiherpetic of choice. OLE should not be used with lysine to combat Meniere's. Thanks for posting the clinical evidence. --John of Ohio
I discovered that OLE actually made my symptoms far, far worse. I began to take the OLE early on in a relapse of my MM thinking that I could head it off at the pass. Instead, it appeared to accelerate and intensify my flare-up. My latest remission began in earnest within a week of stopping the OLE. I'm not suggesting that everyone will have the same experience, but rather just offering my own story about it.
That's interesting. Were you also taking Lysine at the time? Just wondering if your symptoms getting worse might have been a result of the two cancelling one another out and leaving you suddenly unprotected.
I was on the L-lysine and so I have not ruled out that possibility. Nor can I rule out that I might be allergic to something in the OLE. I lean more towards the allergy theory only because I felt like the inside of my sinuses/head was swollen while on the OLE, and Benadryl was moderately effective in controlling my symptoms. But it's quite possible that OLE was canceling out the L-lysine.
Thank you, John, for pointing out that the time between taking Lysine and OLE doesn't matter. I wouldn't have gotten that from the article on my own. So now that we know there is a conflict, does the amount of Oleuropein in olive oil have any significance? I haven't been able to find any figures on how much is actually in the oil, but since I do use a fair amount in every day cooking, I wondered if this should be a concern.
My understanding is that olive oil does have oleuropein, but at very low concentrations. --John of Ohio
Very glad I read this. John, I dropped the L-Lysine and switched to OLE after your earlier comments. I DO have fungal issues in my big toenails along with a plethora of other health issues beyond MM. Given that, would you recommend OLE or L-Lysine to combat the two conditions (forget the others, they are relatively rare in two instances, common in two others, and I doubt would be affected either way.)
BR, I have no particular expertise or experience regarding the use of either OLE or lysine to combat toenail fungi, of the formal condition "onychomycosis." I seriously doubt that lysine would have any useful effect, inasmuch as it only suppresses herpes virus activity, and onychomycosis is caused by a fungus. Lysine, to my knowledge, does not stop fungi. Do a web search on onychomycosis. Lots of postings on this, many with altternative treatments using VMSs (vitamins, minerals, and supplements). --John of Ohio
