Despite the fact that there are over 60 million cold sore outbreaks every year, traditional medicine has yielded disappointing results when it comes to a cure, or even an effective cold sore treatment.
Cold sores occur when you have been exposed to the Herpes Simplex Virus. Most people catch Herpes Simplex when they are toddlers or children and don’t even know it, because it commonly does not manifest its symptoms right away. In fact, even though up to eighty percent of the population carries the herpes simplex virus in their cells, they never have an outbreak. For those twenty percent whose virus does make itself known through a painful, embarrassing outbreak of cold sores, relief from the symptoms cannot come soon enough. Fortunately, there are some effective home remedies for cold sores and alternative treatments that work well, reducing both the duration he discomfort of a cold sore outbreak.
Cold Sore Medicine OTC
Prevention is a goal that modern cold sore medicine is working on, but a vaccine is far in the future, and antiviral medications have provided disappointing results. Cold sore sufferers want a treatment for cold sores on lips that will reduce the number of sores that appear, prevent them from spreading further, and make the whole mess go away faster. Most of the OTC, or over the counter, medications that are available at your local pharmacy are designed to reduce pain, which is important, but not as important as clearing the outbreak completely. Researchers have found that cold sores appear more frequently when people eat a diet that is high in arginine. These foods include chocolate, nuts, and wheat.
Arginine and lysine are both amino acids that are found naturally in food, but the two tend to offset each other’s absorption in the colon. With this knowledge, scientists have tested increasing the amount of lysine for cold sore sufferers with excellent results.
Cold Sore Medicine Lysine
Lysine is found in many of the foods that we eat, including beef, beans, eggs, fish, and chicken. The amount of lysine in those foods is fine for general daily nutrition, but studies have shown that by boosting lysine intake with an additional 1,000 milligrams three times per day, cold sores on lips retreat faster. Use of a topical lysine ointment also aids in clearing up an outbreak.
Cold Sore Medicine That Works
If you are a cold sore sufferer, you probably remember your first outbreak as your worst, which is generally the way that the disease manifests itself. The first outbreak is characterized by the pain and the lesions, but made worse by fever and body aches.
Subsequent occurrences are generally limited to cold sores on lips or the surrounding areas, and last approximately fourteen days, but sometimes as long as twenty one days. Because cold sore sufferers are contagious throughout the entire period of a breakout, it is essential to find a treatment that works quickly to reduce the duration of the disease and the number of lesions. Forty percent of cold sore patients who treat with lysine orally and topically have found that their cold sores are gone in three days, and eighty-
Cold Sore Medicine Pregnancy
Cold sore outbreaks during pregnancy are miserable, but probably best not to treat with home remedies because not enough is known about their impact on the developing baby. Also, be sure not to take more than 5,000 milligrams of lysine per day, and never if you suffer from kidney disease.