Archive for the ‘Cold Sore’ Category

When you have to deal with cold sores which keep coming back, getting some background on the real drivers can be helpful in formulating a solution.

If you wait until the sore begins to develop, then you are too late. The best you can hope for is to shorten the outbreak. Needless to say, that is a valuable strategy, but when you are only fighting half the battle you cannot expect to emerge victorious!

To deal with cold sores requires more than external strategies. People always look for the perfect herb, or the perfect application to dry out the sore and cause it to go away faster. What they should be looking for is a strategy to deal with cold sores before they start to emerge in the first place!

You are not going to be able to purge the Herpes virus from your body – medical science has not yet developed that treatment. And they probably never will. However, even though the virus is always in your body there are probably long periods of time during which you never suffer an outbreak.

Any many people go for years or decades without problems, even though they have exactly the same virus inside them as you do. The question you really need to be asking is what makes them so special. How come their bodies deal with the sores much better than your body does?

Where they succeed is on two fronts.

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  1. First, their metabolism tends to cause the virus to remain in a sleeping or dormant state – hiding deep down in their central nervous systems.
  2. And equally important, in the less likely event that part of the virus tries to activate and come to the surface, their bodies successfully force the virus back to dormant state. In most cases this creates the happy state of affairs where they remain cold sore free on a permanent basis!

If you want to be cold sore free on the same permanent basis you need to replicate what they are doing. It is very feasible to educate yourself on the various triggers which tend to activate the virus.

Knowledge is power, and with that knowledge you can make the lifestyle changes which are necessary to take control of the triggers.

With the right knowledge, you can also adjust or tweak the metabolism so that it is ready for the activating virus and actually fights it!

How to get rid of cold sores

When you feel that painful tingling on the side of your mouth, you know you need cold sore relief now. Those nasty, unpleasant, ugly and often painful blisters are actually very common in our population. They are also very contagious. Cold sores can show up as a cluster of blisters or a single one, usually in the same location on your face. Most commonly they recur on the lips, nose, chin or cheeks.

What causes cold sores?

Cold sores, also called fever blisters, are caused by the herpes simplex1 virus, or HSV1. Many people are infected with HSV1 as children. Oftentimes this virus causes no symptoms at all. However in some people it can remain dormant for years before becoming active. It is estimated that by age 40, 90% of adults have been exposed to the herpes simplex1 (HSV1) virus. Once the virus enters the body it is there for life.

How do fever blisters develop?

Often sufferers know when one is about to appear by the dreaded itching or burning pain they feel on their lips or mouth. This is the first stage of a cold sore and it can happy really fast. Next is the formation of one or several blisters. After that the blisters break and form an (ugly) yellow crust. Finally the crust falls off, just like any other scab, and leaves fresh pink skin behind it. This process takes anywhere from a week to 10 days.

What causes the sores to become active?

Breakouts tend to recur at about the same location time after time. Cold sore sufferers tend to get outbreaks between two and 4 times a year. Although the mechanism isn’t totally understood, there are definite triggers that cause an outbreak to begin.. Common triggers include stress, menstruation, sunlight, fever, dry chapped lips, or local skin trauma. Some other possible triggers are emotional distress or other illnesses.

What is available for treatment?

Although there is no cure at this time for HSV1 blisters, there are things you can do to reduce how often they recur and also shorten the length of an outbreak when it does happen. Without any treatment at all, the pustules will usually clear up in 7 to 10 days. Early intervention, usually during the initial tingling and burning phase, (that moment when you know you need relief ), can shorten the outbreak and sometimes even stop it from forming. There are multiple treatment products available, both prescription and over-the-counter. It is always a good idea to speak to your doctor about your options for managing this virus and minimizing future recurrences.