At some point during my childhood, I contracted the herpes simplex 1 virus, or HSV-1. This virus causes cold sores and fever blisters and once a person contracts it, they have it for life. These mouth sores are little more than annoying, so the fact that it's incurable is really a non-issue. Plus, I usually only get fever blisters once every few years, so I haven't really had to worry about it.
Or I didn't, until I had a girlfriend who doesn't have the virus. And guess what showed up this week? Two cold sores right next to each other.
I know that increased stress can lower the immune system and that's usually when HSV-1 strikes. I've been facing a lot of deadlines at work lately, so it makes sense that I've been more stressed than usual. Still, though, I didn't like the idea of growing a festering wound on my lip, so I looked up remedies. Holding ice to the sores throughout the day is supposed to help, but that didn't do much for me. Applying tea tree oil thrice daily is also supposed to speed up the healing process, but I didn't notice a difference. However, lysine (or rather, a topical ointment with lysine as the active ingredient) worked like a charm.
I first noticed the cold sores coming in on Monday morning and, after trying ice and tea tree oil with no results, I started using the lysine ointment on Wednesday afternoon. I've been applying the ointment frequently throughout the day (about once an hour) and as of this writing, one sore is gone and very little of the other remains.
If you have HSV-1 and suffer from either cold sores or fever blisters, try lysine. It worked wonders for me.
1 comment:
Jordan there is hope. I have had this problem for many years. When I feeling it developing I put ice on and it stops the growth. I hold ice on it for about 10 minutes. I can't remember the last time I had a cold sore. that fully developed. I'm so glad you found something that works for you.
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