r/Coldsore

Went on an epic MtB ride and managed to aggravate the area at both sodes of my mouth chewing a piece of straw while climbing and descending. I felt the "tingle" yet figured it was in my mind. I take monolaurin regularly, which has improved my life drastically. I still get them, however they are few and far between now... mostly. I took extra monolaurin after my bike ride and the next day, and then forgot to take it the first full day back. I'm talking Sat ride, back Sunday, forgot Monday.

Tuesday I could tell it's getting real, though I didn't jump into my valtrex as I should have. Nor did I high-dose the monolaurin. Color me foolish. By Tues night, I knew what was coming. Wed I wake to blisters on both sides of lower lip. Research here and had chat compile a list of recommendations from ALL Reddit posts. For what I did, see below:

1. Ice constantly immediately

2. Purchase Hibiclens and wash with it vigorously - pop those suckers in the process

3. Apply a bottom coat of Aquaphor and a top coat of Abreva

4. Take Valtrex as prescribed and x2/x3 of Monolaurin

5. Wash with Hibiclens and repeat step 3 - frequently

6. Sleep with a coat of step 3

7. Wake and repeat step 5 & 3

8. Rinse and repeat steps 5-7

I'm under a week (today is Sunday), and this is the very first time I'm virtually back to normal. I've NEVER healed this quick. EVER. I've found the fix for me. Give it a whirl if you think it may benefit you.

I've tried alcohol, peroxide, and not popping. My healing time with each was always ~3weeks. Never again. WooHoo!

this is my first ever cold sore. i’ve been in the crusting stage for over a week now, it feels like—it keeps coming off then tingling then crusting again. i have been applying abreva/docsonal cream, lysine, vaseline, and aquaphor nonstop with q tips for the whole time (diff ones at varying points). ive been desperate for it to go away because i have a huge work trip starting today. i woke up this morning and it is still tingling And has renewed crusting atop half of my entire upper lip, and a little on my bottom too. i don’t know how to get it to go away — it seems to keep disappearing and reappearing over and over, not going in the stages it should be.

what do i do? how do i go in public like this? what makeup can i even apply on top of nearly a full lip that is yellow and crusting? this is my nightmare

Hey, y'all!

2 months ago, I had a cold sore which healed after 5 days with ointment prescribed by the doctor. At that time, I asked my doctor about it which he responded that a cold sore is just a temporary thing and once it heals, life can go back to normal.

Anyways, my family avoided me during my cold sore (understandable) AND AFTER my cold sore...

I told my family about what my doctor said and they told me to get proof. So I went back to him to get a pee sample.

The results came back and said nothing about my cold sore. My family read it and told me to go back to get the HSV-1 Antibodies.

I went back to my doctor to ask him but he said there's no reason to get it since a cold sore herpes is absolutely harmless when I don't have an active cold sore.

I went home to explain the situation to my family which they told me to get another doctor.

Anyways, I ended up going to a walk-in doctor and he answered all of my questions, a different doctor from a different clinic said the exact same thing as my primary doctor. This doctor even printed out an information sheet and stamped it with his name and number on it. I gave it to my sister but she refuses to believe me and everyone still treats me like "The Plague".

Once again, I went to another doctor within the same walk-in clinic where he finally gave me a form to take the HSV-1 blood test and I'm still waiting for my results.

I asked him the exact same questions as the other doctors and they all have said the exact same thing.

Meanwhile, my sister also went to her doctor to ask about it and she claims that her doctor tells her that my disease is highly contagious.

Now I don't know what to do. Now I'm really sad:( feeling so unwanted and as if I'm the one being insensitive... What do y'all think of this situation?

I felt a small bump deep under my bottom lip, inner-center area, 11:50 PM July 1st. My lip was also pulsating like my heart beat in that area. I've never had a cold sore form like that before, so part of me is wondering whether it even was a cold sore or something else, but here is exactly what I did to try and stop it:

- 3000mg lysine pills immediately (3x1000mg). I took 1 more at 4:00 AM (I happened to wake up to use the restroom coincidentally), then 1 more at 10:30 AM. Like, I'm really lucky that I noticed it IMMEDIATELY and was able to take action IMMEDIATELY.

- Acetone on a q-tip, pressed to the spot for 2 minutes. The skin on my inner lip peeled off, like 0.5-0.8cm wide. That freaked me out, since I'm only used to applying acetone on my outer lips, not my inner lip, but I kept going with my treatment plan.

- Ice, wrapped in paper towel, I applied the ice directly to my lip at like 12:00 AM, July 2nd. So, 10 minutes after noticing the cold sore forming. They say you shouldn't do that, but I did it. Idc. Kept the ice on there for 5-10 minutes, basically until the cube fully melted. About 10-15 minutes later, I grabbed another cube and pressed it on again because I could still feel the pulsating sensation.

- Once the ice cube was done, I grabbed my acyclovir topical cream and applied it. Fell asleep. Reapplied at 4:00 AM. Reapplied at 10:30 AM. I've found in the past, Valacyclovir (Valtrex?) pills sort of worked to reduce the size of the bump, but I'd have another cold sore come back with a vengeance. If it matters, I got the generic rather than name brand. It happened twice before I decided to switch to the XERESE acyclovir cream.

It is now 11:30 AM, July 2nd. I'm not seeing anything on my lip. No bump, minimal redness, no pulsating lip anymore. I can keep you all updated if you want updates.

What potentially triggered it? I've been eating a low sugar, low refined-carb diet for the past 8 months for weight loss and PCOS management. So no bread, no pasta, no oatmeal, no rice, no potatoes, etc. Yesterday, I ate Chinese food (no rice or noodles, just meat and veggies... But the sauces contain some sugar and SO MUCH SALT). I was actually told by a pharmacist when I was picking up my latest bottle of XERESE that salty food and spicy food can trigger cold sores, due to the irritation. He also said a good preventative measure is 1 oz Manuka honey, 1 oz lemon juice, and a sprinkle of ground cloves, mixed, and you drink it. I have not been doing that since I don't want the sugar, but I figured I'd pass along that message since I'm writing this post.

Anyways, I also ate quite a few sweets. Cookies, 3 slices of a chocolate cake (like, 200-300g of cake at most). I haven't had that many sweets in a loooong time. I'm quite convinced that my poor diet yesterday triggered it, but you can never know for certain.

Hey Reddit,

About an hour ago I noticed some tingling, and little raised areas on my lip (not super inflamed) . I immediately ran to grab my L-lysine and took a 1000mg tablet.

I have read that some people take 1000mg 3x a day, others 2000mg twice a day and other dosages to stop a cold sore in its tracks.

I plan on taking 1000mg 3x a day, but i’m wondering if it’s even possible that it’ll stop the cold sore from forming at all?

I took the dose right before i’m about to sleep, and praying I don’t wake up with a fat cold sore. Is it too late and the cold sore is bound to come anyway?

I also applied a L-lysine ointment on the area.

Please let me know if taking extra L-lysine has been able to just stop a cold sore from fully forming or if it mostly just helps it to heal faster. Thanks!

I’m in my mid-20s and have been getting cold sores for almost 20 years. The past ~3 cold sores I’ve gotten I’ve had ZERO warning sings, I wont notice an outbreak is starting until I look in the mirror. Pain and discomfort start more than 12 hours after visual symptoms appear. Uhm, WTF?!?! This has never happened previously, I used to know before you could see anything appearing. I’m really scared that I’ll infect my bf one of these days on accident. We don’t kiss before he goes to work anymore and also I have not kissed him for months now out of fear. It’s straining our relationship. Also, I’ve been getting more frequent outbreaks, I used to get no more than 2 a year and I’ve gotten 3 (maybe 4, though that one seemed like it could’ve been a staph infection) in the past 6 months. Has this happened to anyone else reading this and is it going to be like this for a long time (if not for life)?

I've gotten cold sores my whole life, but in the past couple years I developed an immunodeficiency and my cold sores went from twice a year to once every 3 weeks. My doctor prescribed me a daily dose of valcyclavir 500mg about a year ago which worked for about 4 months, but now they're back to every 3 weeks lasting about 5 days even with 1gm valcyclavir on top of the preventative.

For those who also get frequent cold sores, what preventative meds/dosages finally worked for you?