Cold Sores

ellerose

I agree about the compeed patches - work a treat but very pricey!!

JCD_Capulet

Toothsmith wrote: »

I thought STDs were diseases that can only be caught through sexual contact.

Cold sores are not STDs, but genital warts are also caused by a herpes virus, and these are an STD.

HSV1 and HSV2 are both transferable, yet not exclusively so, through intercourse. Both V1 and V2 are capable of being transfered to the lips and presenting themselves as coldsores during a flair up. Both are classed as an STD.

Toothsmith

Live and learn!!

noonesperfect

JCD_Capulet wrote: »

HSV1 and HSV2 are both transferable, yet not exclusively so, through intercourse. Both V1 and V2 are capable of being transfered to the lips and presenting themselves as coldsores during a flair up. Both are classed as an STD.

Now that's the science.:T

There is a large percentage of people out there who have absolutely no idea that they are carriers (they are Asymptomatic i.e. no sympoms) of this virus.

ManPants

Hello

I've been plagued by cold sores since I was a teenager and started buying L Lysine tablets at Holland & Barrett earlier this year. My cold sore that appeared every month like clockwork has all but disappeared and if I do get the occassional one it is not the drawn out process it normally is!! I cannot recommend this enough!!!

After posting this I've just spotted Abbies post about the same! It truly, truly works!! Glad there is someone else who has validated this!!

Stu

Steph998

Me too. I came on this thread to post about L-Lysine. Being a severe sufferer, especially in the sun and heat (I always came back from holiday abroad with a painful cold sore blister) after I read about it somewhere on the net a few years ago I started taking supplements, and I genuinely have not had one cold sore since. I now only take the tablets, two a day, while I am in the sun or heat (temperature does bring them out, the virus lies dormant in the spine until the blood reaches a certain heat or something.)

Heres some helpful blurb from
http://alternative-medicine-and-health.com/conditions/coldsores.htm


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]'There is a hypothesis that lysine inhibits herpes activity, while another amino acid, arginine, promotes it. And studies have demonstrated that lysine treatment can be very beneficial to cold sore sufferers. In one study, forty-five patients who took lysine supplements were followed for two years. Forty-two of these patients had a dramatic reduction of cold sores. For most, pain disappeared overnight, and the initial sore did not spread, but the infection returned one to four weeks after stopping lysine. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The most effective pattern for taking lysine to prevent cold sores is to take a maintenance dosage as a preventive and then increase this dosage if you experience an outbreak of the infection. Be sure if you take lysine supplements that you watch your cholesterol levels, as there's some evidence that lysine may stimulate the liver to increase cholesterol production. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In addition to taking lysine as a supplement, it can be applied topically in the form of lysine cream, available in health food stores. I usually advise applying it topically twice a day, but check the directions on the label.' [/FONT]

Mrs_P_Pincher

I finished up in hospital a couple of years ago with an allergic reaction to Zovirax and since then I have been using a homeopathic remedy called Nat Mur which works well for me.

I have had so much trouble with herpes simplex over the last few years and IMO it is not something you can just dismiss as a minor inconvenience.

Mrs P P

belfastgirl23

DH also gets them but I never do although I've had ample opportunities to 'catch' them. Heat is also a trigger for him but I always thought it was the sunlight? Maybe wrong though.

He swears by L-lysine as well...

mjmal51

glastowinebar wrote: »

.

I discoverd Zovirax very early on when a doctors prescription was needed and I've never looked back. You can get it now at any chemist, supermarket, Boots etc and I never go out of the house without it. It is expensive at over a fiver for a small tube but to me it is money well spent. Get it on when the tingling starts and keep wacking it on all day and I've never had one come on full blown for years now

As we are Money Saving, don't forget that Zovirax is just a trade name for aciclovir which can be bought as a generic product from pharmacies at a cheaper price than the branded product.

Smithills

I can also vouch for L-lysine ( though why it's kept behind the till in a well known health food shop on the high street is anyone's guess:rotfl:).

Any whilst Zovirax is OK (an now much more easily available in generic form), I now use Fenistil- around £6 or £7- but in combination with lysine will minimise the size, pain and general nastiness from start to finish. I found Compeed poor- felt as if I had a bit patch of plastic on my lip. Which I did I suppose!