Today I'd like to share a cold sore treatment that many people swear by.
You see, I've suffered from cold sores and mouth ulcers since I was neck high to a fire plug, so my life took a turn for the better when at age 51 I found a cold sore treatment that actually helped my body deactivate within a day or two the herpes simplex virus that allegedly causes cold sore outbreaks.
And, no, this cold sore remedy I learned about is not some expensive doctor-prescribed pharmaceutical that costs a kneecap and a sternum bone to purchase.
Instead it's an amino acid called lysine, and you can purchase it at any drug store, health food store, or probably even grocery store these days.
Lysine comes in 500 mg and 1000 mg tablets and capsules. The capsules cost more but are a lot easier to swallow. I buy the tablets because I'm cheap, but I can't swallow them whole because they're about as big around as a Cadillac steering wheel.
So I chew them first and then swish 'em down with a big glass of water. Yes, the tablets taste bad, but, hey, that's the price we cheap guys pay for saving a couple bucks.
Whenever I feel a cold sore coming on, I take at least 1500 mg of lysine twice a day.
Before I close, I'm happy to update the above by pointing out that my cold sore problem ended just about completely in September of 2003 when I started brushing my teeth with Tooth Soap. Once I started using this product, I no longer had to rely on lysine, and I've only had a few minor outbreaks since then.
Chet "Cold Sore Treatment" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com
P.S. If you have a favorite cold sore treatment, click on the comments link below and share it with us.
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Greetings Chet,
ReplyDeleteAm wondering how/why Tooth Soap keeps cold sores away. Am familiar with the part of taking Lysine as it is a standard treatment as my dentist told me.
My assumption with the Tooth Soap is that it keeps my mouth so clean, the cold sore virus just doesn't get activated the way it used to in my pre-Tooth Soap mouth.
ReplyDeleteBut that's just guesswork on my part.
Chet
Hey Chet
ReplyDeleteLysine is great. Couple things I would like to mention.
For maintenance (prevention) purposes usually a 500mg morning and evening does the trick but many people I've worked with have developed a tolerance to this dosage after about 12 to 18 months, making it necessary to up the dosage.
Though lysine is a protein fraction and quite safe at nearly any dosage one side effect - it encourages the liver to produce higher quantities of cholesterol. This may or may not be significant as lysine is only one component needed by the liver for this purpose.
I've found applying a small dab of pure Oil of Oregano to the cold sore disinfects it within a matter of less than a day. For a more persistent cold sore, it might require doing this a few times.
ReplyDeleteThe O of O pure extract is very powerful, so I only use a part of one drop, and it is pricey, like around $30 for one ounce. One drop goes a long way.
If you can't handle this, you can buy a diluted form of this and take a couple tablespoons and swish it around your mouth like mouthwash and swallow.
The stuff tastes nasty but seems to work pretty well for us.
Many years ago a co-worker told me to put a Steptic Pencil on my cold sore. You know the one I mean. Men use it to stop bleeding when shaving. The white pencil like object that you can buy at any drugstore. Anyway if you put it on before going to bed the cold sore or canker in the mouth will be gone in the morning. Not quite gone but the pain will be and it will disappear the next day. It tastes horrible but it will do the trick.
ReplyDeleteI know little about cold sores.are there some differents between cold sores and canker sores?
ReplyDeleteLysine has worked for me too.Thanks for sharing your experiences.
ReplyDeleteL-Lysine has helped me some over the past 5-8 years but has not been a total show stopper. However, I recently found a tip that has worked. When you first feel that tingle of an onset take 10,000mg and drink 1/2 gallon of water. So far it has been the only thing that has made an instant difference. No outbreak at all. I do not take it daily any more as I didn't find it preventative. I hope this helps others.
ReplyDelete