Thursday, January 29, 2009

Question: What Is A Cold Sore?


Answer: An embarrassing and annoying little blister 'thingy', that just happens to pop up and show its head, at the most inconvenient time..Okie dokie! And now for a more 'scientific' look at exactly what a cold sore, really is:
Cold sores are actually small, fluid-filled blisters that pop up on the surface of your skin, around your mouth or on your lips. They are caused by the Herpes Simplex Virus, (HSV-1, not to be confused with genital herpes which is the HSV-2 strain) and usually develop around times of increased stress in your life, for example when you're starting a new job, studying for an exam, or just worried about something in general.
Extreme changes in temperature and air can also trigger cold sores. An example of this would be in winter time, when going from a warm and heated car environment with little fresh air, to the cold, dry, and harsh environment of the outside air.
Okay got it? Keep your car nice and cold in the winter and you'll be fine! No, but seriously, if you are prone to cold sores then you should keep the temperatures as neutral as possible, i.e not having the heating in the car blazing hot, but just keeping it warm enough so that you're comfortable. The same is true for when you are outside and making sure that you keep warm, wear a scarf and if possible cover your face.
The way that the Herpes Simplex virus works, is by lying dormant in your nerves until the perfect conditions present themselves. You will be more likely to get a cold sore if you are stressed out, over worked, not getting enough sleep at night (at least 6 hours), under eating, and particularly if you already have a virus or are unwell. A good way of making sure that your immune system is strong is to make sure you are getting all the right vitamins and minerals. The easiest way for you to do this, would be to take a vitamin tablet daily. This should help keep your immune system that little bit stronger, and hopefully be enough to stop you getting a cold sore.
The Herpes simplex virus attacks when you and your immune system are at your weakest. It does this by growing and traveling down your nerves until it reaches your skin, where the virus continues to grow and forms into a cold sore.
Trust me, it is definitely best to start attacking your cold sore with medications and treatments as soon it gets to this stage. An easy way to tell of an imminent cold sore attack, is when you notice the skin around your lips becoming reddish in color, along with a raised and slightly bumpy surface to the skin. A tingling sensation also occurs around the mouth and these early symptoms should warn you that you are probably under attack from a cold sore!


Keep reading to find out more! Or click here.


What causes cold sores?

So what's the cause of these little critters then?..Well it's all down to a virus known as the Herpes Simplex Virus. Just to be a little bit more confusing; there are two types of the Herpes Simplex virus. First up you have Herpes Simplex-1. This is the virus that causes cold sores, and also what you most probably have living inside your nervous system. The other type is Herpes Simplex-2 which is the cause of genital Herpes..Nice!
I must warn you that once you have been infected with the virus it will be with you for life, as there in no way of getting it to leave the body. Thats the bad news.
Here's the good news: Although you will always have the Herpes virus in your body, it will not always be in the form of a cold sore, and will normally lie dormant in your cells. It is then up to you, to make sure that it doesn't become active again and turn into a cold sore. The virus lives in your nerve tissue in its dormant state and stays that way until it is awakened from signals in your body . These signals tell the virus that your body is weak and immune system low, and ultimately let the virus know that it is a good time to attack.
There are certain things that will encourage the virus to stage an attack and make a cold sore. When your immune system is low you are at a much higher chance of developing a cold sore. So make sure you do all the right things to keep it well balanced and topped up. Take vitamin tablets daily, and make sure you get enough of that all important vitamin C. You should aim to take in 5000mg of vitamin C a day and can find it naturally in fruits such as oranges and lemons.. yum!
Preventing cold sores is all about having a healthy lifestyle. This includes eating and drinking well, and plenty of regular exercise. You should get a good breakfast in the morning so that your body starts off the day well. If you start off well, you'll carry on and finish the day well, decreasing your chances of getting that cold sore. A good breakfast could include a non sugary cereal, plain yogurt, oats, mixed fruits such as berries and bananas and a glass of fruit juice or water. If you prefer a hot drink, then a cup of English tea would do, just make sure you go easy on the sugar!
Lunch could be something light and healthy like a smoked salmon sandwich with salad, or if you're after something more filling then go for a spaghetti bolognese or a meat and veg dish.
Again for dinner something healthy; pork chops, rice and a few veg would do nicely. Of course you can vary these, but try to keep it simple and balanced between veg, meats and carbs.
Now that I've covered food, I'll very briefly cover drinks/liquids. I have one word: Water.
And lots of it for that matter. Make water your best friend and you'll feel the rewards. Not just in terms of preventing fever blisters/cold sores, but it will also make your skin much clearer and give you more energy. The cells in our body should get replaced on average every few weeks, and as I'm sure you know, a high percentage of our body is made up of water. If you don't take in enough water, then those cells can't be replaced thus leaving you with the older, duller, aging cells, which will leave you tired and with bad skin. If your tired and low, then your immune system will be low, and then what?...you'll be increasing your chances of developing a cold sore.
Okay so you're now going to eat and drink well, but what about exercise? Well you haven't got to sign up to some super pricey gym, you can get more than enough by going for a swim or run 3 times a week. Top that up with some ab crunches at home which you can do lying down on the floor, and if you really want to go all out, buy some free weights and build up those muscles! Just remember to drink lots of....WATER!...you got it.
We've almost covered all the essential topics so that you can stop the Herpes virus transforming into a cold sore, but there are just a couple of other things you must do as well. These are sleep well and try and keep stress to a minimum. I know that me telling you not to stress might sound like a joke, particularly if you have kids, job etc, but learning to control your stress has a lot of health benefits such as keeping your blood pressure down and an array of metal benefits.
If you get a decent amount of sleep at night, for instance at least 9 hours, then this in itself would help to decrease your stress. Even if you can't get huge amounts of more sleep, just go to bed half an hour or 45 minutes early and feel the benefits. Trust me.

How to get rid of cold sores?





That's the million dollar question isn't it?!.. Well kind of, but actually no, because I'm going to go through with you and show you ways that you can actually banish those cold sore for good, even if you do still have the Herpes virus within you.
Okay where to start? How about prevention. It's always better to prevent something from happening rather than to wait until you've got it and then treat it. It's a no-brainer really, and if you follow a few rules then you should give yourself a pretty good chance of never actually developing a cold sore or fever blister again. Prevention is better than the cure, or says an old proverb, but that especially true when it can be enjoyable prevention. If you eat and drink the right things, exercise a little, get lots of sleep at night time, take some vitamin tablets daily and try to keep your stress to a minimum then your half way there already. Eat three meals a day, preferably including balanced portions of meat, veg, and carbs, and drink a lot of water. I would recommend at least 8 glasses a day. This will help with your cell regeneration and help to keep you healthy and fresh.
By eating well and living a healthy lifestyle, you will increase your immune system's defenses to beat and combat virus and colds. Since cold sores are most likely to occur when you are at your lowest, i.e while you are unwell, it makes sense to try and prevent this in the first place.
But what if you do actually start developing a cold sore? Well the key here is to attack the cold sore at it's earliest stage. This will usually be when you feel a slight tingling sensation somewhere around your mouth, and you might notice your skin becoming redder and slightly raised. This is the time to act! The Herpes Simplex Virus has noticed that your immunity is low and has taken the opportunity to launch an attack against you. The virus has traveled down your nerves and started replicating itself, and before it's too long the virus will be in your nerve endings on the surface of your skin making a cold sore.
Little tip; the Herpes virus hates the cold. So get an ice cube from your freezer, and hold it onto where you are feeling the tingling sensation, or to where you feel that the cold sore will be. Hold it on for long enough, but not so long the side of your face freezes! The cold from the ice cube should make it undesirable for the virus to continue its journey down to the skin, and either make it retreat back up into your nerves, or at the very least slow it down. If you use this method early enough then it will be very effective and should bring it to a halt.
If you don't want to use ice, then you can use an old and tested remedy: Tea bags! Use Earl Grey tea bags specifically as they are made with bergamot oil which is said to aid the healing process of cold sores. Pour some boiling water over the teabags as though you were going to make a cup of tea and leave them to brew for a couple of minutes. When a couple of minutes are up, take the tea bags out and place them straight into a container and put it in the freezer. After about twenty minutes or so or alternatively when the tea bags have completely cooled, take them out of the container and squeeze out any excess liquid. Finally!..apply to the coldsore...ahh.
Okay so if all of that didn't work, and you've now got a big nasty mama of a cold sore; what to do now!? Well don't panic please as stress will just make it worse. You're going to have to follow a few simple rules if you don't want to make it worse. These are in no particular order as follows. Washing you hands. You will have to be more careful about touching your face and wash your hands on a more regular basis maybe once an hour. This is because if the virus managed to get into your eyes, it could cause long term damage and possibly blind you. Scary stuff.
Be sure not to kiss or be intimate with anybody until your cold sore has gone..unless of course you want to give somebody else the Herpes virus!? I feel like I should also point out, that you should definitely refrain from having oral sex, as you could give your partner genital Herpes, which wouldn't be good!
Basically don't touch your cold sore but if you have to, be sure to wash your hands straight after.
Since you want to make your cold sore outbreak as pain free as possible, you should get some over the counter painkillers such as ibuprofen or paracetamol. This way you can fight the fever blister without being in huge pain, which will make it easier for you to stay calm, relaxed and focused on getting over the outbreak of the cold sore.
It's really up to you whether or not you want to go for a more natural way of getting rid of a cold sore, or you want to go instead for the medicines and creams approach. The best thing would be to probably use them in conjunction with each other.
There are some cold sore creams that you can get over the counter, without the need for a prescription and these should help fight it and at the very least sooth it and relieve a bit of pain. There is actually an anti-viral cream you can get over the counter which directly combats and fights the virus. It goes by the name of Abreva and is apparently the only FDA (Food And Drug Administration) approved, non prescription cold sore medicine. The active and important ingredient in this drug is docosanol which makes up for 10% of the cream. Docosanol has been shown in studies and clinically tested to reduce the outbreak of cold sores. So if you were after a non prescription cream, then this should do the job pretty nicely.
Cold sore creams do work best when applied as early as possible, when you first feel the tingling sensation, and may actually have little effect if it has already become a fully blown cold sore.
If your outbreaks of cold sore are more frequent and aggressive, that you should consider going to your doctor, and getting him or her to prescribe you with some cold sore drugs in the form of tablets. These may work better as they are taken orally and work from the inside, as opposed to creams which obviously are externally applied.
Again if you are too late and your cold sore has already taken hold, then even prescribed drugs might have less of an effect.
So what can you do? Ride out the storm, take some painkillers and hope for the best?
Well yes there is that if you really want to, but there are a few more tricks you can use to at least give that damn cold sore a run for its money!
Home based cold sore remedies are the kind of thing that have been past down from generation to generation and some are probably as old as cold sores are old. Because of this, there must be some truth to them, and to be honest some of them in my opinion work just as well as the pricey creams and medicines. There are some that you may want to give a miss though, for example using ear wax as a sort of cream for your cold sore, may seem a bit beyond what you are willing to do, but each to their own and if it works then why not?
Some home based remedies are known to be a bit painful as well, but if you are willing to withstand a few minutes of discomfort then the reward should be worth it. It's really up to you if you want to try these yourself, as there is of course no guarantee they will work, but if you really are desperate to get rid of a cold sore then they might just be worth trying.
People have used almost everything in an attempt to tackle their cold sores including: bleach, salt, garlic,nail polish remover, milk, ear wax, tea bags, soaps and tree tree oils. You have to be careful if you're going to experiment with remedies such as bleach, as it can cause damage to your skin. If you do want to try it, you first have to dilute the bleach with some water on a cotton bud, as the full strength bleach would be far too strong and likely burn your skin. Once diluted, shake off any excess water and apply directly on to your sore for as long as feels comfortable, but for no longer than five minutes.
The reason that this works is because bleach is a natural sterilizer and basically destroys most things it comes into contact with. While this is good for stopping the virus, it is also why you must be careful not to get too much on to your skin, and keep it diluted with water. Bleach also contains gases which help by penetrating deep into the cold sore rather than just staying on the surface.
Remedies such as the application of salt,tea tree oil, nail polish remover and milk can all be applied easily using cotton buds, and applying directly to the cold sore.
If you use one of these remedies, then finish it off by slapping on some cream to help sooth it from the abuse it has just received. Then repeat the process as necessary, until it is, no longer.

Cold sore medicine

Cold sore medicines come in cream, liquid and tablet form. In general, cold sore creams should do the job, as long as you apply it to the cold sore as soon as initial symptoms appear, e.g tingling and reddening of the skin.

Brands such as Abreva sell over the counter, non-prescription medicines in the form of a cream, which should be applied directly to the cold sore as soon as initial symptoms appear. Abreva cold sore cream is the only non-prescription, anti-viral cold sore medicine to be approved by the FDA, as clinically proven to reduce the length of your outbreak.

If your cold sore outbreaks are more persistent and regular, you should see your doctor and get him/her to prescribe you with something stronger.

Zovirax, Valtrex, and Famvir sell prescribed cold sore medicines in the form of topical creams, i.e by applying directly onto the cold sore, and in tablet form taken orally.
These medicines should be applied as soon as initial symptoms become apparant.
This is because the medicines work by stopping the virus from replicating itself in other cells, and stopping it before it can become a fully blown cold sore.

If taken too late it will probably have little effect in stopping the cold sore. If this is the case then you can either let it play out its life naturally, or you could look to home based, and alternative cold sore remedies.

I will go into this more in my post labelled 'Cold sore remedies'.

Cold sore remedies

  • Bleach your cold sores
Warning: Not for the faint hearted. For a more natural way click here!
  1. As soon as initial symptoms appear, grab a cotton bud and wet it in water.
  2. Dip the cotton bud into full strength bleach.
  3. Squeeze the bud so that it is not dripping, and to get rid of excess water.
  4. Hold the cotton bud against your cold sore for about 3 - 5 minutes.
  5. Will it work? With any luck the bleach should stop the cold sore virus from spreading and speed up recovery time.
While this technique is highly effective, the down side is that it can leave a slight abrasion to the skin. However this will heal up and I'm sure you'll agree is preferable to a nasty cold sore.

  • Table salt
  1. Wet your finger
  2. Dip your finger into table salt
  3. Press your finger onto the affected area for 30 - 60 seconds.
  4. Dab the salt off with a clean towel.
  5. Repeat and continue for several days, or until the cold sore dries up.
I have tried this in the past, and while it is slightly painful at first, it is effective and fast. Remember to keep your cold sore moisturized when it scabs. You can do this using anti-viral creams.

  • Nail polish remover
  1. Take a cotton bud and apply the nail polish remover directly onto the cold sore.
  2. Once this is done, cover the cold sore with a cream such as Abreva.
  3. The way to make this work, is to apply it on a regular basis. I would recommend reapplying it every hour for the best results

  • Using milk to reduce redness
  1. Get a piece of cotton wool
  2. Soak the cotton wool in semi-skimmed or full-fat milk
  3. Apply directly onto the cold sore for 30 seconds at a time.
  4. Repeat as necessary.

  • Ear wax to heal cold sores?!
I have to be honest when I say I don't use this one myself!

However I do have several friends and family members that have braved it.

I believe the technique is to start from the outside of the infected area, and work your way in.

Apparently it works a treat.

So go on...what you waiting for?!

  • Ice to stop the virus in its tracks
This is probably one of the best and most simple remedies around.

As soon as you notice the first signs, i.e a tingling sensation, grab an ice cube and hold it onto the cold sore until it feels numb.

Just remember. Be careful not to give the surrounding skin a cold burn. You can do this by using the edge of the ice cube and gaining more control over where you freeze.

This remedy should slow down and the stop the herpes virus from replicating itself.

  • Garlic cloves
Here's an unusual one. Apparently if you get a garlic clove and cut it in half, and then rub it into the cold sore, it speeds up healing time.

On the upside; it's not painful like using salt or bleach.

On the downside; does it really work?...Well why not give it a go and find out!

  • Water
Here's a nice one. Simple, healthy and best of all..free!

Water replenishes the body with new life, and is good at getting rid of viruses and colds.

Drink at least eight cups of water a day.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Cold sore cure

People have long wanted to find a permanent cure for the cold sore virus. Whether or not a cure really exists is a matter of opinion. Although it is true to say that the herpes virus never leaves your body, there are many ways to stop it ever re-activating and becoming a cold sore again.

Fever blisters

The term ‘fever blister’ is just another name for the cold sore virus caused by the herpes simplex virus-1. A fever blister is a small facial lesion that appears on or adjacent to the lips. Early signs of a fever blister are redness, burning, and tingling of the skin. Treatment should be administered as soon as the first signs become apparent.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Fever blister treatment

Fever blister is an alternative name for a cold sore. As such the treatments are the same as for cold sore treatment. There are several treatments and medications that can be used to slow down, and stop fever blisters. One thing is certain; starting a treatment or medication as soon as initial symptoms appear, is the best way of stopping the fever blister virus and keeping it from developing. Early symptoms are a burning, tingling and redness on an area of skin adjacent to the mouth.

Abreva

Abreva is an antiviral, over the counter cold sore drug. Marketed as Erazaban in Europe, it was the first antiviral drug that was approved for sale in the USA and Canada over the counter. The key ingredient is behenyl alcohol; a fatty alcohol used as an antiviral agent, for the treatment of cold sores caused by the herpes simplex virus. Clinical trials by the FDA, have shown behenyl alcohol to shorten the healing time of a cold sore by 17.5 hours. While 10% of Abreva is made up of behenyl alcohol, the remaining 90% is a base mix.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Lip sores

Lip sores are sores or ulcers on the lips. The most common kind is a cold sore.
Cold sores are often refered to as ‘lip sores’, however this is not really correct, as there are several causes of lip sore, not directly associated with the cold sore virus. These include: canker sores, candidiasis, behcet's disease and chancre. However these are just a few of the possible causes of lip sore, and there will be others that are not mentioned here. It would be advisable to seek help from your doctor, to confirm the source and cause of the lip sore.