Cold Sores

[lil_sasha]

Avoid getting cold sores in the first place by not sharing stuff like lip balm, toothbrushes, or drinks with other people who might have cold sores. The virus that causes cold sores is transmitted through the nose (in mucus) and the mouth (in saliva).

Stress is a big cause of cold sores, along with too much sun (as this can dry the skin out).

[Starchild47]

Taking Vitamin C helps in this as cold sores or the herpes virus waits until our immune system is compromised to attack us. Abreva is one of the best over the counter things I have found to get rid of the sores quickly once they pop up. Camphphenique or camphor will dry them up but it is slow.
Hand washing and not using towels or wash cloths that may have been touched by anyone who has a cold sore should be added to the above post too.

[mimico]

I find that rinsing your mouth with Listerine or any other mouth wash should also help keep the bacteria at bay. When I have a cold sore, I do this a lot. Or I use water and salt for something more potent. it'll hurt, but at least it goes away faster and I can resume eating stuff I like. :)

[vencasand]

a product called abreva allows the cold sore to heal more quickly. it is expensive but whatever works. and this does work.

[Starchild47]

Yes Abreva works very well! I like it a lot! I would recommend if you have cold sores in your mouth that you not eat very vinegary or hot spicy things as they will be very irritating to the cold sore until it has healed. It will be more comfortable to do this.

[KyleYoung]

I haven't gotten cold sores yet! Thank you sasha for letting us know how it was transported, I never knew that. I figured it was more blood related than spit. Makes me scared to kiss my wife now!

[leanne1974]

I got cold sores and i'm sure it was after a drunken snog with some minger. I used abreva and it did rthe trick. big price to pay for a alcohol fuelled moment of passion

[vencasand]

your wife would have to have an active cold sore for you to catch the virus. does she even get cold sores? if she doesn't then you won't!!!!

[Starchild47]

Venca that is not necessarily true. We ALL have the herpes virus that lies dormant in our system once we have the chicken pox as children. It then waits for our immune system to get lax and it comes and takes over. We can come in contact with another person with it and have a compromised immune system and come up with it that way as well but we can also get it without contact from another person!!!!

[vencasand]

you know you are right. but i wanted KYLEYOUNG not to stop kissing his wife because of fear of getting a cold sore. that is just sad and i hope he was just kidding.

[shona]

I have never had a cold sore, and some people i know get them all the time. I dont just think that its about catching the virus from someone else, i know people who get cold sores from being in the sun too long! :confused:

[Starchild47]

Right basically you can have the virus lay dormant in your nerve endings for years and not show up until your immune system gets a bit low then bam you get a cold sore. You can also catch a virus from someone else and your immune system gets low that way and it comes out that way too.
The chicken pox virus and this are the same thing. Once you have chicken pox then the virus goes into the nerves and lays dormant. Then later in life it can come out either in cold sores or shingles.