Cold sores every couple of months

[Chocchip11]

My dd 8 gets cold sores quite frequently, she's had them since she was 4.
Just wondering if anyone has found anything to reduce the amount they get, she seems to get then every 2 or 3 months and as she's getting older she's embarrassed and doesn't want to go to school.

Have you looked at l-lysine supplements? Can take a daily dose to help prevent cold sores. It really has made a difference for me - I haven't been taking them lately and have had a run of cold sores!

Also look at diet. Mine can be triggered by eating a lot of citrus fruit and tomatoes.

How has your child caught herpes in the first place? She might need medication to suppress the virus if her immune system can’t keep it under control.

I sympathise as I got a lot of coldsores. More than 1 every couple of months and not just on my mouth- anywhere on my face, inside my nose, around my eyes...

As an adult l-lysine has made a massive difference. I have gone from outbreaks covering my whole mouth to 1 or2 a year. But the tablets are huge which might be tricky for an 8 year old and I don't know if they are suitable for children.

Another thing that helped is compeed patches, they take the sting and itch away and reduce the appearance.

Zovivax cream at the first sign of a tingle aswell (though I have used this so much it no longer works)

But also work on her self confidence, my mum did and I am very grateful, she will have coldsores throughout her life and they should never stop her doing anything. It is a relatively small mark which a lot of people won't notice. It feels bigger as it is painful and so very obvious to you.

A dab of tea tree oil sometimes stops them in their tracks for me.
Mine have also been less frequent since starting to use an electronic light machine - its a small hand held device which i think was about £30, I only get 1 or 2 a year now but used to get one every few months.

Limit foods rich in arginine and increase foods rich with lysine or take a lysine supplement as a PP said. I used to get cold sores frequently (every month or two) but haven’t had one in 6 years since I started doing this.

How on Earth is anyone supposed to know this? Herpes is so easily transmitted, often before the person hasa visible coldsores.

Individual immune systems react differently, some will never get a cold sore despite being infected, a lot will get just 1, some will get them throughout their lives, some (like me) will get then very frequently and a lot at a time.

1 every month or so isn't at a level of needing preventative anti-virals.

Well I assume she has caught the herpes virus from someone with a cold sore?

I've read about Lysine supplements but I can't see much about children having them.
She uses zovirax or cymex cream sometimes she catches them but sometimes they just develop so quickly.
I'll try the compeed patches.
She was eating tomatoes alot but hadn't been for the last couple of months but doesn't seem to make a difference.