EddScott

I don't suffer but my wife does. When she is particularly tired or run down they come out but its not just a little dry patch on her lip. She gets really bad sores and her lip swells and it looks a mess.

They say you should put something on your lips as soon as you feel the tingle but she doesn't and they come out very quickly. She piles on lots of Blistex but it takes a week or so for them to go.

Anyone got any secret remedies?



Apologies for the mundane topic

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

You can cut your head off. Thats about the only way i am afraid. Stuck for life but you can control them. My mum had them, bane of her life.

You could always get her to tell people that the gave her a fat lip

room 512

Just make sure she doesn't give you a BJ when she has one!

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Mine usually come out after an illness or if I forget to protect my lips in the sun.

I don't get any tingling either and I usually feel the lump while it's small.

I use Zovirax, though you can get unbranded cream for half the price in most chemists/pharmacies.

The cream doesn't stop it, but applying it 4/5 times a day misses out the blister phase as it dries out the sore and it goes straight to a scab.

Still takes around a week for it to totally go.

Dave.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Beaten to it........ The only proven remedy is Acyclovir (Zovirax).

If they are *really* bad your GP can prescibe as tablets but systemic antivirals have side effects so not used for small crops of blisters.

Shaun

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

I have not had them for years thankfully, I got mine off the local bike when I was 15 and had them every winter for about 5 years

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

You will still have the virus in your body though, they are for life not just Christmas

GlesgaKiss

I get them but have a healthy lifestyle so only really get them once every few years if I'm really run down. If I do feel one coming on I just use zovirax as above.

hodgy0_2

Doctors are useless imo

just the other day I asked mine "how can I live longer"

he simply said "cut out sex, alcohol, coffee, and rich foods"

"wow" I said "will i live longer doc"

"no" he said "it will just seem longer"

w4nker

ScoobLou

iTrader: (21)

How do you get them then?

room 512

Its the herpes virus isn't it, so you catch it off someone who already has it, through kissing (or other things).

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Cold sores are caused by the Herpes virus which is spread by direct contact........the clever little ******* live in nerve tissue hiding away from the immune system (but not quite) and at times travel down the nerves (like a motorway) to damage the skin where the nerves end.

Shaun

Simon C

2nd vote for zovirax.

I end up having a couple a year. Doesn't bother me though, although I used to get them very badly as a kid. They used to spread up the nerve in the side of my face.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

lol

Yes, Zovirax does work, especially if applied in the 'tingle' phase and therafter

Simon K

Edd, I would be more interested to know how your good lady got cold sores :-)

SBK

Simon C

I think its a genetic virus mutation. I get them as does my mother, dad doesn't. Then again, nether mum nor I, have had chickenpox despite numerious contacts with contagious carriers.

EddScott

AFAIK, you can only contract the virus when you are under 18 months - usually by someone who has the coldsores kissing a baby.

Wifey was very careful around our nipper when she had the sores and I don't get them at all.

I'm pretty sure adults can't give it to each other - as I think they can with Herpes which I believe is a very similar virus.

hodgy0_2

Lots of Virus's remain in a person’s body and remain harmless

the herpes one can exist in people who never develop cold sores

but I can confirm the general consensus -it lasts a week and Zovirax seems to limit them somewhat (I have heard coffee rubbed on it does something )

I think you get them less severely and less often as you get older

When I went to see my doctor the other day he said “I haven’t seen you in a while”

“No I’ve been ill” I said

Markus

Edd,
Tell her to go to the quack and get some valtrex tablets prescribed. Keep them with you (her) all the time, and at the first sign you're getting a cold sore, pop the pills (following the dosage of course). This should prevent it from appearing.

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Edd

I suffer from 2 - 3 sores each year (normally when I am run down/knackered), and I caught the virus (about 20 years ago) from a very fit young blond girl from Dudley. Happy days.

I find these really good as they provide some cure and help to "hide" the sore:



Doctor Richard

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Sorry Edd but earlier posters are right, it is essentially facial herpes (herpes simplex type 1) and as a virus it can be managed but not killed/cured as yet.

Usually caught from kissing someone drunkly as a teenager (The same way many a sexually transmitted diseases, including herpes (simplex type 2) are caught.

Wikipedia is quite accurate on this.

5t.

Herpes simplex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hysteria1983

As far as I knew you could catch cold sores of somebody at any age/time of life.

You might not ever get one, but the virus can lay dormant within your body forever. And you can be passing it about to anyone.

Like has been said, that is why herpes simplex is transmitted sexually without people knowing, the same as all those other nasty invisible sti's/std's.

It's just one of those things. Not everyone who has a cold sore is a dirty tramp. They could have caught them off any 'normal' person. Not just the local bike like Kingofturds.

ChrisB

Bar slapping on the cream once one appears, I find the best way to help stop them arriving in the first place is to use a lip balm. Preventing my lips from drying out seems to have really helped me.

StickyMicky

Yup, apparently the virus is the same as genital warts or something ?

Hysteria1983

Yes. Herpes. Same virus as chicken pox and shingles. Just a different strain.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

Yep one kiss on the lips of a male cold sore sufferer will give you cold sores on all of your lips

windyboy

Lupus sufferers can also get them during a "flare up" or being run down, Herself gets them from time to time as Lupus hits the Auto Immune system during flare ups as well as the joints and muscles, she would get them on her tongue as well but only wee one's and not full on "fat lip" type one's.

As for receiving a BJ from a cold sore sufferer... remind me to punch her later LOL

moneys

iTrader: (5)

i suffer with them, numerous things trigger mine off, tiredness and rundown, eating watermelon, cold metal touching my lips or weather changes. i used zovirex for years but now i just sought of dont bother with the medicine as the cost is to much, i use toothpaste which is very effective. i also get coldsores on the lid of my eye and the toothpaste is very effective here but burns a fair bit

Hysteria1983

Thank goodness my chappy hasn't had one since I have been with him. Not bad for 9 years! And to be honest sara, if a man had a cold sore on lips, then he wouldn't be going anywhere near me never mind any of my lips.