Cold Sores

Cold sores are small, painful lesions that can appear on the lips, nostrils, or outside of the mouth. They’re caused by the herpes simplex virus strain known as HSV-1. This is also referred to as oral herpes or herpes simplex type 1. It’s different from HSV-2, which is commonly associated with genital herpes. If you’ve been diagnosed with cold sores often, you should talk to your doctor about ways to prevent another outbreak. If there is even one person on this planet who has never had a cold sore, please step forward and collect your prize. Cold sores can happen overnight. They can appear like magic more often in childbearing years or when you have a date with someone who might just be the one. Cold sores also go by other names that may be familiar, including canker sores and fever blisters. They typically appear inside the mouth or on the lips. However, the good news is that they have not been contagious.

Symptoms of Cold Sores

This medical condition typically passes through different stages. The beginning is when people feel tingling, burning, or itching around the lips for some time before a painful, hard, and small spot appears, and the blisters start erupting. In the following stage, there are small fluid-filled blisters that happen along the border of the lips. Sometimes they happen around the cheeks or nose or inside the mouth. Finally, the small blisters start merging and then burst. This leaves shallow open sores that ooze and then crust over. Kids under four years old may also get cold sores inside their mouths. The lesions are usually mistaken for canker sores. The latter involves only the mucous membrane and is not caused by the herpes simplex virus.

Treatments for Cold Sores

Cold sore treatments are plentiful; many are home remedies possibly handed down by grandmothers who were not the annuitants of today’s medical solutions. However, be advised that most home remedies have not been tested and should only be considered for academic purposes. You should never apply or ingest any home remedy or self-treatment you know nothing about without the advice of a doctor. What functions well for one individual may not be best for another. Here are a few methods for dealing with them and keeping them away.

1. Change Your Habits

If you suffer from cold sores often, you should try to determine what triggers an outbreak. This can help you prevent them in the future. If you don’t treat triggers, you can expect cold sores to recur again and again. Some common triggers for cold sores include stress, fatigue, dietary triggers (sugar and carbohydrates), exposure to UV rays, sunburns, and skin irritation. Cold sores can also be triggered by illness, menstruation, or other hormonal changes. You can reduce your risk of getting cold sores by changing some of your everyday habits. Be sure to get a lot of sleep, eat a healthy balanced diet, stay hydrated, avoid sun exposure and wear sunscreen, don’t touch your face, and avoid possible triggers as much as possible.

2. Eat to fight cold sores

Cold sores are triggered by the HSV-1 virus, which lives in your nerve cells. When the virus becomes active, it travels down the nerve to the skin and causes lesions to appear on the lips, nostrils, or outside of the mouth. Once it travels to your skin, there’s only one thing that can stop it – antibodies. Your body can produce antibodies to fight the virus, but it takes some time. Because a virus causes cold sores, there’s no cure for them. Antibiotics are for bacterial infections and won’t help with this virus. So, how can you treat them? For several people, eating certain foods can help speed up the immune process and produce antibodies faster. Some foods that can help fight cold sores are Salmon, Yogurt, Bananas, Blueberries, Broccoli, Carrots, Oats, Oranges, Potatoes, Spinach, and Strawberries.

3. Use a soothing mask

You can reduce the duration and severity of cold sores with a soothing mask. Cold sores usually last around 10 days, but you can shorten this time with a mask. Make a soothing mask by mixing: 1 tablespoon of honey, 2 teaspoons of ground oats, 1 teaspoon of ground flax seeds, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Mix all these things in a bowl and apply the mixture to your face. Leave it on for 20 minutes, and then wash it off with lukewarm water. If you want, you may add a few drops of lavender essential oil to make this mask even more effective. The oats and flax seeds will help soothe the affected area, while honey and lemon juice will reduce swelling and speed up healing. Apple cider vinegar will help kill the virus that causes cold sores.

4. You Can Also Try Out Some Medications for Cold Sores

Garlic pills to alleviate cold sore symptoms are one solution. Several drops from an Aloe plant at the first appearance of a cold sore effectively heal a cold sore virus and the scab. Other remedies that have worked effectively for many cold sore sufferers are ice cubes with a dash of salt and a balm called Carmex. However, there are two options that some physicians seem to favor. One is L-lysine, which is available at any health food store. Rub the oil from one gel cap onto the affected area until the cold sore ulcer is healed. The second option is coating the cold sore with powdered alum. Ingesting an L-lysine gel cap can help prevent further outbreaks.

5. Get rid of stress-causing habits

Stress is one of the big reasons for cold sores. If stressed out, your immune system is weakened, and you’re more likely to suffer from a cold sore outbreak. When you’re stressed out, your body releases more cortisol. This hormone causes blood sugar levels to increase. You may notice that you get a cold sore when you’re experiencing a lot of stress. This is because stress hormones are reducing your immune function. If you want to prevent cold sores, you need to get rid of stress-causing habits. Try meditating, exercising, getting adequate sleep, or doing yoga.

6. Try natural remedies for fast relief

You have a cold sore and want it to go ASAP. Then you may use one of these natural remedies. Mix a single tablespoon of honey with the juice of 1 lemon and apply the mixture to the cold sore. This can also help prevent future outbreaks. Another option is to apply pure olive oil to the cold sore. This can speed up the healing process, reduce inflammation, and prevent the virus from spreading to other parts of your body. Tea tree oil can also reduce swelling and speed up healing. Finally, coconut oil can reduce pain, speed healing, and prevent the cold sore from worsening.

Conclusion

Cold sores are small, painful lesions that can appear on the lips, nostrils, or outside of the mouth. They’re caused by the herpes simplex virus strain known as HSV-1. There are a few things you can do to prevent and treat a cold sore from happening. You can change your habits, eat certain foods, use a soothing mask, try some natural remedies, and eliminate stress-causing habits. Now that you know how to prevent getting rid of and treat cold sores, you can rest easy knowing that you’re doing everything possible to prevent the recurrence of cold sores.