Cold sore help!

mood

Have a cold sore. How should I treat it? Have used cream (a cheaper version of zovirax) but it's not helped.

LavaLamp

mood wrote: »

Have a cold sore. How should I treat it? Have used cream (a cheaper version of zovirax) but it's not helped.

how soon did you get the cream on? what stage is the dreaded cold sore at now? You're best to keep putting the cream on regularly even if the blister has burst I think.

mood

I put it on at the tingle stage but it still appeared. Think I got it as I had no SPF on my lips when outside! It is not yellow and scabby!!! I feel horrible.

LavaLamp

not much you can do about the yellow and scabby bit really :mad: keep putting the cream on though or it might try and make a come back.

You can get cover up thingies, I think Compeed make them and they are little sticky circles that have the anti-cold sore stuff on them but they kind of make the cold sore invisible. They are a little pricey but worth it if you wanna cover it up.

Take loads of vitamin c and zinc as well to keep your immune system well boosted.

Regina Phalange

mood wrote: »

I put it on at the tingle stage but it still appeared. Think I got it as I had no SPF on my lips when outside! It is not yellow and scabby!!! I feel horrible.

At this stage there isn't much you can do but ride it out! Sorry.

Take vitamins and some L-Lysine tablets. These sometimes help speed up
the process.
Compeed is expensive but make it look less yellow and no scabs.

I sometimes find if I have one coming on and don't put cream on it, it sometimes just tightens my lip but doesn't scab. Its only when I apply cream it scabs and changes colour.

Drink plenty fluids, get enough sleep and keep your lips moist. Use SPF on your lips when it passes as often extreme exposure to sunlight can bring them on!

moonflower

Keep putting the cream on every hour or two, it'll heal up much faster. When it gets to the scabby stage I usually stop using the cream and stick to tea tree oil, it dries up the scab

Diddler1977

L-Lysine taken regularly is a fantastic preventative.

mood

Diddler1977 wrote: »

L-Lysine taken regularly is a fantastic preventative.

Going to do that from now on. How much should I take a day? Do you take it all in one go?

Unregistered39

Go to a good healthfood store and get L-Lysine. If you can get the Solgar brand (brown jar with gold label) all the better. Fantastic for preventing coldsores and getting rid of them quickly. Google it. I've started taking it every day as a preventative measure and haven't had a hint of one since.

Edit: Sorry! For some reason the other replies hadn't loaded when I posted that. Anyway - another vote for L-Lysine. The onbe I have it 1000mg tablets and if I feel run down or that I might get one I take up to 4 or 5 tablets a day, then 2 a day between meals as a preventative measure.

aine-maire

I get them pretty often too.
When I can feel the tingle before it's there I use Carmex really often on it. It generally never surfaces then And it's a lot cheaper than Zovirax I think.

Works for me.



Edit: Sorry, don't know how to resize

blue saphire

I've suffered from coldsores for years. I've tried everything on them from zovirax to L lycine to tablets from my doctor. The compeed cold sore patches are great but I've recently found something much better. Melissa essential oil. It's available in most chemists and is brilliant. You put it on the coldsore neat about once an hour and it clears it up much, much quicker than it would normally go. It can sting a bit but not too much and it really eases the itching. I think it costs around 6 Euro but will last for ages plus it smells yummy - kind of like opal fruits. Hope this helps (ps. it's also called Lemon Balm oil).

homerun_homer

Aine-Marie has the best prevention in her post. Carmex lip balm for cold sores stops it dead in its tracks. I've not had many cold sores in my life but I've tried Zovirax and that was the only time the cold sore ever appreared. any other time I've prevented it with Carmex.

The only problem is I think you can only get it from USA but it's worth ordering or getting your hands on somehow for the dreaded time when one rears its ugly head.

Everyone I have seen use Zovirax and those things that you place over the sore still doesn't prevent the big ugly sore appear, they just don't work.

aine-maire

homerun_homer wrote: »

The only problem is I think you can only get it from USA but it's worth ordering or getting your hands on somehow for the dreaded time when one rears its ugly head.

No, I always just get it in my local pharmacy It doesn't have to be the one that says cold sores on it, the normal one works the same. (Or they seem the exact same to me anyway, I have the one that just says lip balm at the moment and I can't tell any difference - even the packaging is the same.) It's for sale in most pharmacies here I think, even Boots should stock it. You can get it in this type of packaging as well:



And it comes in cherry flavour too, but I've never tried that before so I dunno how good it would be on cold sores. The normal one works great though, best thing for cold sores ever! I've tried Zovirax, which is WAY more expensive and doesn't really work that well, for me in any case. Carmex is only maybe €3 or €4.

ohanloj3

At the tingle stage get a sterile alcohol wipe (like you would get in 1st aid box) and rub it on the area. Now I will warn you it stings like hell but works wonders, deadens the cold sore before it even appears! And its a very cheap option!!

BananaWhoops

I get cold sores all the time and I HATE them! Everyone always told me to keep putting zovirax on and i'd always brush it off, saying once it had come up then there was no point, but the last time I lashed on the zovirax every half an hour from as soon as I was aware of it and it never got scabby or anything. I know this advice may be a little late but it might help for next time!