To hack out part of my face with a breadknife?

[Greensleeves]

FUCKING coldsores

I have one of those huge cluster coldsores, it came up scarily quickly and looks a bit like a angry red cauliflower

have tried earwax but it was too late

can't afford to buy zovirax until payday next friday, we are right up to the wire (have overspent on christmas )

Do you know any tricks for getting rid of them? Is there some herbal tincture I can boil up? What about dancing widdershins around a virgin's grave by moonlight, banging a saucepan?

No suggestion too loopy!

Compeed cold sore patches are wonderful - just like a little clear plaster for your lip, they keep it dry, take away the sting and have an ingredient to clear the buggers up faster!
I get horrible cold sores when I'm run down, and I swear by these. If you slap one on at the tingle stage you can usually avert it - and they're much less messy and longer lasting than creams.
In the meantime, drink through a straw plus lots of Vaseline to stop it stinging and cracking. You have my sympathy, they are a right pain!

Hold ice cube on area until numb and repeat numerous times a day. Helps to shrink it.

Spending so much on Xmas that you can't afford medication is one of the dafter things i have read on here.

helloeverything if your sister is plagued by them and moans about it, I'm sure she'll love it. Just in case you're MY sister - GET IT! [fgin]

Sigh, smiley fail, clearly a Freudian slip - at 7mo pregnant, I'd bloody love a festive gin.

surgical spirits, brilliant

I have no idea why this works but it does and my doctor told me it. Make a cup of tea and hold the bottom of the hot mug on it for a few seconds. Do it repeatedly while mug is hot. Like Zovirax it works best at the tingling stage but I've never had the whoppers I used to since trying this.

oh sod off coraltoes

thanks for all the tips people, I am now using tea bags and it does seem to be shrinking - it has entered the slimy cockroach phase [boak]

its easy done coral we are on beans on toast until Thurs when its pay day. xmas has nowt to do with it!

Hope it clears for you greeny - mine is still very much there but not got any worse. i hate how they look....im still blistery...yuk!

Don't forget that you can get exactly the same cream as Zovirax for half the price under the name acyclovir, available in tesco or boots or anywhere else where you can buy medicines.

Second KnitFast's vote for Compeed plasters. They are amazing, I don't think the coldsore heals any faster but the plaster stops it from hurting and because it doesn't crust over it's not nearly so noticeable.

VITAMIN C! And yes, I'm shouting . I've had a few and none of the topical stuff really made much of a difference. My father (a surgeon) said take 2000mg of vit C a day (1000 in the morning, and 1000 in the evening), and it really, genuinely, honestly, without fail works. It takes about two days to go from swollen lump to faint mark and another day or two to have cleared up entirely.