You know that a week or more of pain and unsightly misery is on the way.
Cold sore symptoms begin with the tingling, which develops into a burning and/or itching sensation. This marks the inflammation stage.
You then start to see the familiar group of tiny blisters forming on your lip which develop into one large cold sore.
After a few days, a crust forms which signals the healing phase. Though healing is taking place, the site on your lip tends to remain red for up to two weeks.
So what are cold sores exactly?
Cold sores and fever blisters are caused by the herpes 1 virus (HSV 1). This virus lies dormant in all of us and in certain people it erupts in attack of cold sores. For some mysterious reason, many people never get cold sores.
Cold sores are “location specific”. This means that they erupt in roughly the same place each time.
So what are the best cold sores remedies?
Unfortunately, there’s no way at the moment to totally eradicate the virus that causes cold sores from your body.
However, there are some cold sores treatments to minimize the risk of an attack and reduce the severity of the symptoms after an eruption has occurred.
Preventing an attack of cold sores involves making sure your immune system is in tip top shape. This involved such basic, sensible considerations as getting adequate sleep and a nutritious diet rich in vitamins and minerals.
You can get most of the vitamins and minerals you need from your diet. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of vitamins. As for zinc, other than oysters and other shellfish, poultry, beans, whole grains, and dairy products are good sources.
At the same time you should avoid such items as nicotine and alcohol which lower your immunity.
Supplements of vitamins, especially vitamin C, and minerals such as zinc also work well as cold sores treatment for some people. During high risk periods, you can try taking daily dosages of around one gram of vitamin C per day together with zinc supplements.
If an attack of cold sores breaks out, you can choose cold sores remedies that can work to reduce the severity of the symptoms and speed up recovery. These treatments include commercial preparation and natural home remedies for cold sores.
You can find many cold sores remedies in the pharmacy. Some of them use numbing agents to reduce the pain. Some cold sore medications also contain antibacterials that can help prevent secondary infections (though they are useless against the virus itself.
You can also find many cold sore medications based on natural remedies. For example, camphor is one effective cold sores treatment. You can get it in liquid or gel form and you just apply it to the affected area. One commercial camphor product is Campho-phenique from Bayer.
Aloe vera is another natural remedy that works to soothe all types of sores. For a convenient commercial preparation, you can get a soothing gel made from the leaves of the aloe vera plant.
If you want to make it yourself, you can crush some leaves and apply the mash directly onto the sore. Lemon balm extract is also a good sold sores treatment.
You may be surprised to learn that your home probably contains a number of simple quick cold sore fixes. These include ice, hot tea bags, and fingernail polish that contains acetone. Just apply them directly to the affected area. Another good idea is a poultice of green tea leaves.
These are all good cold sores remedies that can minimize the distress of an attack. But if you’re a sufferer and really want to get rid of a cold sore forever, you need a system that works on many levels to both eradicate the symptoms and control the virus to make sure those sores never erupt again.
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