Cold Sores - How To Get Rid Of A Cold Sore

By Author: Joe Islab
Total Articles: 13
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How do I get rid of this cold sore? is the shout of cold sore sufferers around the world whenever these painful blisters occur. Unfortunately, curing them is easier said than done as there are so many cures and remedies, not to mention old wives tales, that you some times can feel as if you do not know which way to turn. I think the first thing to do in getting rid of your cold sore is to understand what they are, why you have them and then you can decide how you want to go about tackling them.

Cold sores are part of the Herpes family of virus. In fact the proper name for cold sores is Herpes Simplex Virus 1. Now when a cold sore occurs you may have just contracted it from someone else, but it is more than likely that it has been lying dormant in you for a while. The virus itself is incredibly small and is virtually undectable by medical science and although it is always with you, it in fact hibernates until the right conditions come along for it to outbreak. The majority of times the conditions are right are when you are feeling run down or stressed, so you may find that if you have had a severe cold or flu, ...
... or things are not going too well in life or at work, then you could be prime for an outbreak.

When an outbreak does occur, please be aware that a cold sore is highly contagious. Once the outbreak occurs you need to refrain from kissing or any other physical contact with the mouth with a partner. Also do not share eating utensils as again this will pass the virus on. Other things to avoid sharing are things like face cloths and towels as the virus can live on in the fabric. Finally do not pick at your cold sore as you may spread it to other parts of your body, and also to someone else if you touch them before the virus has been washed from your hands.

So how can cold sores be treated? Well first of all the bad news is that there is no permanent cure for cold sores, you can only really treat the symptoms and not the cause. However the good news is that there is a wide range of options both medicinal and homeopathic to treat your conditions. If you are going to treat a cold sore then you want to get on it as soon as you can, ideally as soon as you feel the tingling sensation that pre-empts the actual outbreak itself. Now the average lifespan of a cold sore is 7-10 days, and a lot of over the counter treatments say that they can take up to ten days to work, so that kind of gives the impression they are more about pain relief for ten days rather than curing the actual sore itself. However, that is not a bad thing in itself as cold sores can be incredibly painful. If you want to try an over the counter remedy, your best option is to go and have a chat with the pharmacist who will be able to advise you on the range of products they have.

Also becoming more increasingly popular is using home or homeopathic remedies. These are becoming popular because some of them actually work, and cost virtually nothing to apply. Some home remedies to name but a few are to apply ice or applying a used tea bag to the effected area. The reasoning behind this is that ice will give you pain relief straight away and will also help prevent the sore worsening, whilst with a used tea bag it is the tannin properties found in tea which are believed to fight against the virus.