constant cold sores

[petiteonion]

I am hoping that someone has the much needed treatment for cold sores!

I caught the virus about 25 years ago and usually had about 1 outbreak a year. Ever since i had kids, this has increased to about 4 or 5 a year but for the past 18 months I had been getting an outbreak once a month.

For the past 3 months I have had a constant outbreak. As soon as one patch starts healing up - another area blisters and breaks out. They have spread right across my lower lip and are now moving downwards off the lip line. My actual lip line is getting badly scarred. Alot of the time my whole lower mouth area is throbbing - but I know this is not unusual. what is different is the near constant feeling of this.

I use zovirax every day but nothing seems to be keeping them at bay.

I spoke to my doctor about it and he recommended to just keep applying the zovirax.

does anyone have any other treatment s- prescription or preferably over the counter that they have found to work?

You should be on aciclovir pills which you can only get on prescription.

Go to your GP - should be straightforward.

x

thank ivegothree

I explained what was going on to the doctor and asked about treatment, mentionning aciclovir which I had read about online. He said that I had to just use the cream.

I think I will have to go back and see if he will be prepared to prescribe.

also think about your triggers and try to avoid them

for me it's red wine if consumed near my period (I don't drink at all now so not a problem)

bright sunlight (sunscreen even in winter)

stress (deep breaths and meditation)

or just when it's due if nothing else triggers it first (about 18 months)

I’ve had cold sores at various frequencies all my life, but during my two pregnancies there were periods of 8-12 weeks where I seemed to get a new one just as the old one healed. For me it’s a real indicator of having a low immune system, so pregnancy being a period of suppressed immunity left me really vulnerable. I can also predict that I’ll get one if I haven't been getting much sleep - in my younger days wild weekends were always followed by a cold sore.

How is your diet and general health? Might be worth taking an immune support multivitamin, getting more exercise, boosting fruit and veg intake. There’s also an amino acid supplement you can take which apparently helps - you’ll have to google that though, can’t remember the exact one! If you have any other symptoms of low immunity you could take this up with your doctor and they might want to check it further eg blood tests?

My partner gets them sometimes and they are much more of an issue when tired and run down. He finds taking lysine (most days, and double dose as soon as he feels one start) really helps. You can buy it in health food shops.

My trigger was using hair removing cream on my top lip. Since i've switched to plucking any stray hairs I've not had any outbreaks