Hello,
I have suffered with viral cold sores on my lips since I was a teenager. Anything can bring them on - especially hormones, stress, too much sun, etc... When I first break out my lips get very swollen and full of blisters. It is very painful - and not very pretty to look at! As it runs its course, the sores dry up, then scab and bleed when I eat, talk etc... so it is very difficult for them to heal. The whole process takes about two weeks of looking bad and feeling pain.

I am going through a bad outbreak right now. My doctor has given me anti-viral drugs to take at the onset of a breakout, but they have made me so sick with cramps and diarrhea, that I just can't go that route at this point. Abreva cream does not help at all. I was just wondering if anyone suffers with these, and, if so, what do you do to help heal these? Any new ideas and thoughts are welcome!

Thanks so much in advance!
Di

Oh, I forgot to mention that I would also welcome any tips from anyone who has advice on what to do to make these breakouts less frequent!
Thanks again!
Di

My Doctor gave me a TOPICAL prescription for Zovirax and at the firs sign of tingling I just put a bit on and I haven't had a full blown cold sore in years now. I use to get them a few times a year (especially under stress.)

On the non-prescription side of the house...TeaTree Oil is also good for staving off a breakout. However I find that with the TeaTree it doesn't make it go entirely away like the Zovirax does.

Good luck.
~EM

You can also have your doctor prescribe either Famvir or Valtrex for episodic use so you can take it at the first sign of tingling. Or, if it's really bothering you, take it all the time. They're both very benign drugs with few side effects and have been studied for years. They're really the most effective way of staving off oral herpes outbreaks.

I know someone who's been taking them for 20 years or so with no ill effects.

Just another option . . .

kimberccc

Like I mentioned before, I cannot take the oral valtrex or zovirax - they make me have a very upset stomach and diarrhea. I am VERY sensitive to drugs, esp. my GI track.

I would be willing to try a topical zovirax, but don't know if my doctor would order it for me without me coming in for an appt. THey are very picky and strict about that kind of stuff. Usually will not order anything by phone, without seeing the patient. I guess they are just trying to be cautious, but it is frustrating and can get expensive!
Di

My grandmother had an old school remedy for cold sores, that I actually use, and have never had a full blown cold sore since! It sounds silly, so don't laugh too hard, but SHE said to put perfume on the tingly spot immediately upon feeling it. Repeat the process 2 or 3 times a day, until the tingling stops.

I wish it worked on winter chapped lips that split and bleed!! Grrr!! It is so cold here right now, one step outside and you can feel your poor lips freeze!!

That does sound silly, Floater - silly enough to maybe actually work! I will certainly keep it in mind for the next time- as soon as I fell that familiar tingling on my lip! I wonder if any particular scent is better than another!

I bet is cold up there in Canada. I live in Central Illinois and the temp took a nosedive yesterday! We started out the day around 60 degrees and by last night is was 5 degrees - with 40-50MPH winds! We are now expecting a large snowstorm in the next couple of days!
Thanks for the unusual remedy, Floater - and stay warm!
Hugs,
Di

Another odd remedy here--but it works! I've used it for 20 years! I, also, had bad breakouts during my teen years, then in later years, just at period time. I rarely get them now--maybe 2x a year.
A pharmacist told me of this remedy.......mix these 2 creams together--about half and half--Lanacaine anti-itch creme and Desitin diaper rash creme (or generic brands of the same). He said the ingredients in those are the same used for prescription topical ointments.
I mix it to where it's not real creamy--kind of thick. I put it on at the first sign of a sore. It always dries it up within 2 days. I, then, use vaseline on the sore to soften it up and keep it moist until the cracking goes away.
Yes, it is pure bright white and looks awful (you can use it at bedtime so few people see it ) but I have experimented with food coloring to make it more skin colored or you could mix it with a very dark hypo-allergenic makeup foundation to make it more skin-colored.
I swear by it! Many of my family members and friends use it also, after seeing how well it works for me.

It's interesting that you mention this, Barbara. I have been using the Lanacaine to help with the pain and swelling of my lip and it has helped a little. Of course, I did not get started using it at the first tingle. But I will certainly buy some Desitin ointment and try this at the next go-round. THere is always that next time!

THanks for these home remedy suggestions to try, Ladies - and keep em coming!!!
Hugs,
Di

Well, I woke up this morning itching and tingling around my lips as well as on them -now I am breaking out around the mouth, not just on my lips! THis is gonna be a doozy of a breakout, I can tell!

So, I have a call in to my doctor's nurse, and she is going to ask him to order the zovirax cream. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will approve it. Maybe it will help these new lesions just forming around my mouth. Needless to say, I am not looking my best! I also do not feel the best - throat is sore and glands are swollen - all part of the process, I guess!
Di

Keeping fingers crossed for you that the Doctor's office will just call it in for you!

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thanks, Earthmother!
It helped. I got a voicemail back from the nurse, and they are calling the cream in to the pharmacy. Unfortunately, I am at work all day. My husband will try to get it later, when he gets off work, but it is starting to snow pretty bad here, so who knows if he will make it to the pharmacy. (We live in a very rural area!).
I hope I can get started on it tonight!
THanks,
Di

Did you get it the cream? Did you use it? Has it helped? Are you surviving the storm ok? Ours came and then a huge arctic high settled over us giving us temps as cold as -40!!

Hi,
Just got internet service back - was out all morning after getting 9 inches of snow through the day and night last night. I am enjoying a snow day today (I work in an elementary school)- so was very relieved to not have to get out and drive this morning.

My husband, bless his heart, got to the pharmacy, and finally got home with the Zovirax cream last night around 9 PM. It was very expensive - $48.00 for a teeny tiny tube! I have been applying it frequently, and my lip looks a little better now. However, since yesterday evening, I have been having pain in my left ear (the sores are more on the left side of my lips and face) - I am wondering if this is connected? The pain comes and goes and is throbbing at times.
Has anyone experienced this with the cold sores?? Between this pain and wondering if there would be a snow day today, I just did not sleep well at all. I may have to have a little afternoon nap today!

Floater - hope you are able to stay in out of that extreme cold! We were lucky that the temps have not dipped too low with all this snow - around 30 degrees - but some wind and blowing at times.

Stay warm and safe everyone!
Di

hi

I am surprised no one has mentioned the l-lysine thing. It works. It is an amino acid. You are probably not allergic to it. I had HORRENDOUS bouts of coldsores last year when i went into peri. I was sick all the time. And over it. Here is what i did and it worked:

1. For coldsores went on one pill l-lysine per day. That keeps them away. Occasionally i come off them and they do return so if i get one i take 4 l-lysine and start zovirax cream topically. Then a few hours later i take another 4. Then I leave it overnight but apply zovirax all the time. This generally kills it. I then go back to taking 2/3 a day for 3 days then 1 again ongoing.

2. For my immune system i started taking zinc daily. And magnesium. These 2 things plus l-lysine got me back on my feet. I am still on them a year later. Honestly i was beside myself with sickness and worry last year. Feel lot better than what i did, tho not completely well. I wish id known about zinc years ago.

3. I saw a hormone specialist naturopath. I had bad adrenal exhaustion and had h-pylori in stomach. I have been on combinations of herbs from her and i do feel im getting there.

If you only do one thing take l-lysine, but id go for the zinc/magnesium/b6 too.
Good luck, i know how you feel i have been there.

I have a good friend who is plagued with cold sores periodically and she swears by the taking of L-lysine daily. She told me she hasn't had one cold sore since being on it not even a tingle. I have another client who takes this for her cholesterol levels under the supervision and blessing of her cardiac specialist so maybe it helps this too.......

It's one thing you are allowed to google ladies LOL

Rox

Thanks Romarin and Rox-
I will certainly think about trying the L-lysine to see if it makes a difference! After this last outbreak - which was worse than usual - I am willing to do about anything! It sure can't hurt, can it?!

Thanks again,
Di

My Mum has a sequence - if you feel the tingling, try an ice cube to chill the spot (short of freezing your lips completely) for 10 minutes or so - this often stops the virus sufficiently for your immune system to swamp it and the blisters don't develop. If you miss the early stage and blisters form (with me, they usually seem to come up overnight) , perfume (or actually the high alcohol content) dries the blisters quickly. Clinique do a spot/blemish liquid in a small applicator bottle which has the same effect. I find the cold sores heal faster if I dry them up as quickly as possible.


I used topical Zovirax for about 10 years but then the virus must have adapted as the cream actually seemed to make the blisters spread. So now I'm back to the old remedies although I recently tried some 'patches' like very small clear plasters (from the blister people, Compeed) and these worked well at speeding healing of a cold sore on my chin but they aren't so good on the lips as drinking dissolves them off.