I agree with JizzDumpWI, we all have our own pattern as mine is over exposure to sunlight and a sizeable amount of stress. So, I manage how much sun I get and just stay cool headed when things get rough. I think stress plays a major role in outbreaks, in my opinion.
In terms of treatment, I've used acyclovir in my first outbreak and it helped. My second outbreaks, I did some research and I took this supplement called L-Lysine, about 1200mg per day and it subsided after 3 days. Apparently, the virus feeds off a certain type of protein called argenine (abundant in protein shake supplement for muscle building) and L-lysine actually looks a bit like agrenine molecularly, so basically when you supplement L-Lysine, you feed the virus the wrong type of food and they die.
I continue to take 600 mg of L-Lysine everyday and have not had a breakout for about 3 years already. So, maybe you can give it a go and see how your body reacts to it.
Good luck.