Thread: Cold Sores...ouch!

Cold sores (a version of the herpes virus) are more common than one might imagine. From a young age I had to deal with the pain and suffering of sold sores. They are ugly, they hurt, and they take forever to heal...well it seems like they take forever to heal. It is believed that cold sore outbreaks may be due to strees, not eating well, or overexposure to the sun. As a little girl, I would get a cold sore at the same time every year---PICTURE DAY!! After a very bad cold sore outbreak at the age of 15, a lady came up to me and told me to try L-Lysine. The doctor had told her to take it for a few months and every time she felt she was having an outbreak. Well, I have tried everything from abreva, to prescription medications, to lip balms, to trying to dry it out with baby powder, to garlic, to almost any possible thing you could think of. NOTHING WORKED---until I tried the lysine!!!! L-lysine is an amino acid that can be found in the form of a capsule in any Vitamin store. I took it every day for about 3 months and every time I feel like I am getting an outbreak. If your children, husband, friends, realtives or anybody gets cold sores....PLEASE tell them about this. It really has helped me!!!

ugghh... cold sores... is it just me, or does anyone else sometimes have the unexplicable urge to bite it off your lip due to annoyance?...

anyway, i dug up a few stuff for everyone who comes by here...

(from Price-RX.com and slightly edited out the non-cold-sore related parts)

Herpes is an infection caused by herpes simplex virus 1 or 2. It primarily affects the mouth or genital area. HSV is in the same family of viruses that causes chickenpox, shingles and mononucleosis. There are two types of herpes simplex virus (HSV): HSV-1, which infects 80 percent of the U.S. population, usually appears on the lips in cold sores; HSV-2 is usually found in the genital area. However, if a person with HSV-1 oral herpes (cold sores) performs oral sex, it is possible for the partner to get HSV-1 genital herpes. And HSV-2 can infect the mouth through oral sex.

HSV can cause sores, or lesions, to appear in and around the vaginal area and within the cervix in women, and on the penis and scrotum in men. Both males and females may also get lesions in the urinary tract, around the anal opening, on the buttocks or thighs, and sometimes on other parts of the body.

Herpes labialis (oral Herpes simplex)

Herpes labialis (cold sore) is an infection caused by the herpes simplex virus, characterized by an eruption of small and usually painful blisters on the skin of the lips, mouth, gums or the skin around the mouth. These blisters are commonly called cold sores or fever blisters. Herpes labialis is an extremely common disease caused by infection of the mouth area with herpes simplex virus, most often type 1. Herpes virus type 2 usually causes genital herpes and infection of babies at birth (to infected mothers), but may also cause herpes labialis.

Warning symptoms of itching, burning, increased sensitivity, or tingling sensation may occur about 2 days before lesions appear:

* Skin lesions or rash around the lips, mouth, and gums
* Small blisters (vesicles) filled with clear yellowish fluid
* Mild fever (may occur)

(from Cold Sores - Wikipedia and edited out a few parts)

There is currently no cure or vaccine for HSV. Treatment is restricted to anti-viral medication (such as aciclovir), which reduces the duration of symptoms and accelerates healing. Treatment should begin at the first symptoms of an outbreak for best results as far as duration and healing; should treatment begin before the lesions appear, it is possible that the outbreak can be averted.

Another option is the use of daily suppressive therapy, in which antivirals are taken every day over the course of years. Suppressive therapy reduces frequency of symptoms and recurrence of outbreaks. In addition, suppresive therapy reduces subclinical shedding, lowering the risk of transmission through sexual contact or kissing.

The amino acid lysine has demonstrated the ability to reduce the duration of infection through inhibiting the replication of the HSV. When foods high in lysine are consumed in preference to foods high in arginine, HSV replication may be inhibited; conversely, consuming foods high in arginine may interfere with the therapeutic use of lysine.