My 3 year old and myself get pesky/painfull coldsores on our faces. What are some of your remedies out there? There are SOOOO many products out there and maybe I am missing a good one! Plus it is soo difficult for my 3 yr old, she touches it, hard to keep creams on, cant swallow pills etc...any thoughts/suggestions?
Lysine....recommend? I hear conflicting stories...if so, liquid or powder for my 3 yr old?
She gets 1 about once per month/month and a half...seems excessive to me, does it to you?
Thanks : )
THanks so much for the responses...I do use Valtrex pills on an "as needed" basis for breakouts, but its very hard for my 3 yr old. The medication is not approved for anyone under 12!! But they do use the same drug to treat chicken pox for small children...so the doctor agreed to give her a prescription(awhile back). The problem is that we live in a small town, and there is only 1 pharmacy that does the crushing/liquid thing, which takes 1 full day to get it back to you. And as we all know, 1 day is TOOO long for herpes...its too late by the time we start the meds for it to be truely effective. And liquid won't stay good for very long in the fridge to "keep on hand" like I can do with my pills. My hands are tied! We have recently discovered the zovirax cream, which seems to be helping pretty good.
Thanks again for all your suggestions, sounds like I am donig everything everyone has suggested....they are just nasty things that are a pain no matter what. It just kills me to see my baby girl with these things! I want to cure her and cant : (
Abreva has worked pretty well for me, if I put it on at first tingle or shortly after but if its already blistered I don't really see any difference in length of time it is on my face!
Ice Cubes - Rub an ice cube on the spot when you feel a cold sore coming on. I wrap the ice cube in a piece of paper towel to protect my fingers. If you catch it early, the sore never blooms.
Abreva. It doesn't eliminate them, but makes them much less severe and shorter.
Abreva, it works and Carmex in the summer helps them stay at bay.
Abreva seems to speed the process up quite a bit.
Prescription oral acylovir (brand name Zovirax) or valacyclovir ( brand name Valtrex) is the only way to go for you, the adult. It stops the reproduction of the virus and ends the breakout. It stops and heals cold sore (herpes) breakouts faster than anything topical can. Next best would be a topical cream containing the acyclovir. As for your daughter, you need to ask your pediatrician if she can take oral acyclovir, and if so get a prescription for it. Ask if it comes in a liquid. If not, you can crush tablets in applesauce or anything she will eat. Please stress to your pediatrician how often she gets these - once a month must be unbearable for a three yr old! She is also a great risk for transmitting this condition to others at preschool or anywhere else. SMall children simply cannot keep their hands/toys to themselves at all times. Fatigue, sun exposure and stress are all triggers for breakouts. Keep yourselves as healthy as possible to minimize outbreaks. Good luck to you.
I use carmex year round. Seems to help prevent them AND keeps my lips nice and moist and protected.
Also, DO NOT pick at or mess with them. (I always find it so hard to leave them alone). But they heal sooooo much quicker. I also find that if you keep them dry they heal quicker.
I always use Abreva,which works great when I apply at first tingle (means I'm about to get a cold sore). I would ask a Pharmacist for his advice too--they've always been a great help. I wish you the best.
Abreva. It's truly remarkable and very expensive. I've been getting them my whole life. Used to have to wait them out and hope they didn't spread. If you put abreva on at the 1st tingle, it never turns into a blister and goes away fast. It's $20 a tube but worth every penny
I use Zovirax (Acyclovir) cream when I feel one coming on and it helps reduce it (or even prevent it if I catch it early enough). Frequently, with the medicine, I may I have a cold sore, but it's so small no one else notices. The medicine also helps with the pain. It's a prescription though. I've heard prescription pills can help too, but I like the cream because it also makes my lip feel better (so I leave it alone more).
Also, I found I tend to have more problems when my lips get overly dry or I haven't had enough to drink. So, aside from trying to drink more fluids, I frequently put a vaseline lip balm (which is basically just petroleum jelly) on my lips regularly/frequently to keep them moist. It seems like I've had far fewer cold sores since I started doing that.
I don't know if this will help, but if your daughter's lips are dry maybe try putting some vaseline on them between cold sore incidents and see if the number of incidents goes down.
Super-L-Lysine cream. You can buy it at Whole Foods, a local Co-op, or a Community Pharmacy. It is completely all natural and a homeopathic remedy. I use it and it does wonders!
You can also take a preventive pill, L-Lysine by Solaray, that will suppress the virus. My husband and I take 1,000 mg 3x/day. Not sure how much to give a three-year-old, and she would have to swallow a pill or half a pill. If you can buy L-Lysine in a tincture that you could put into juice, your three-year-old could take it that way.
My husband and I have had no problems with taking L-Lysine orally or using the Super-L-Lysine cream.
I'm totally with Manda M on this one. Valtrex all the way baby! I use to get cold sores pretty often and none of the OTC stuff works for me. Then when I was around 30 yrs old someone told me about Valtrex. I asked my PCP about it, got a prescription, and whenever I feel one coming on I pop a pill and boom! It's stopped in it's tracks and goes away. Lovely!
I get cold sores too and I used to get them a lot as a child! I have suffered from them from more years than I would have liked!
When I feel the tingle I have been using ice cubes to stop the tingle and hope it goes away. I also take Lysine when I feel it coming on because supposedly taking it all the time gets your body used to it and it won't be as effective.
I like using a drop of lavender or tea tree oil directly on the sore as it dries it up and stops it from getting worse. Also, it doesn't seem to crust the sore so it doesn't look as bad. I continue all day with the oil every hour or so when it first starts so hopefully I can stop it in its tracks.
I also looked up what foods are good for healing cold sores and you can find them on the internet. This is very helpful and I could notice a difference right away. Off the top of my head bananas are really good and I believe dairy products but double check.
Hope you can cure your daughter so she doesn't suffer from them too much.
Hi C.
I like this website. It uses holistic, home remedies and people report back onto whether or not it worked.
www.earthclinic.com
Good luck and BLESSINGS!
D.
This doesn't exactly answer your question, but I used to get cold sores 3 or 4 times per year. Four years ago I switched to a vegetarian diet (unrelated to cold sores) and I haven't had one since. So depending on how much you want to get rid of them you could make more drastic changes.
Stillengia tincture taken orally 15 drops at a time. VItamin C orally of course about 10,000 units a day. I used to get cold sores and canker sores until I found these remedies.
Vanilla works great for these. Just put a little bit of Pure vanilla extract on it through-out the day, and it doesn't taste bad either. Worked wonders for me!
Tea Tree Oil I put a little on a cotton swab and on the cold sore and it dries them up overnight.
