The best home remedy I have used it plain old rubbing alcohol. Sometimes stings like the dickens, but dries them up fast. If they are really painful, crush an aspirin and make a paste with the alcohol. Again, it stings at first but then it takes the pain away. I have found that the new OTC and Rx remedies don't make them go away any faster than this does. Best wishes.

lysine, lysine, lysine. If taken at first tingle this will stop the cold sore well, cold. I will take about 5 tables and then 5 more a few hours later and maybe another 5 after that. I just saturate myself with the stuff. The only way I get a cold sore now is if it starts in the middle of the night. I have dropped what I was doing and run to a GNC just to avoid the miserable 10 days of a painful, ugly upper lip. Cold sores were just as painful a few years ago, but now that they are called "herpes" I feel even more that people are looking at me and I should carry a little bell saying "unclean, unclean".

I agree with gandbb ~ Lysine is the answer! It's a safe natural amino acid. It's called L-Lysine on the store shelves.

No doubt you're over your outbreak by now, but if you should get another someday despite the lysine...aloe vera gel is the best thing I know for removing the pain and itch of herpes simplex. I prefer it direct from the leaf of the aloe plant, although it can be fairly effective from the bottle. No pain at all--just relief.

Susan

I used the alcohol and YUP it stinged like @#%^& but it did help. Next time (hopefully there won't be) I'll try the Lysine and or the Aloe Vera. Thanks for all your help.

Have your doctor give you a prescription for one of these drugs: Famvir, Valtrex or Zovirax. At the first sign of tingling, take two, then as prescribed. Frequently the sore will never continue at all. Keep a bottle on hand so you don't have to call every time.

I swear by Lysine and Acyclovir!! The Lysine I think I take about 3,000 mg to start with and then 1,000 a few times a day. It stops the cold sore in it's tracks. I still get the small scabbing but at least it goes right to that stage instead of being fluid filled for days!! UKK
ginny

I have a friend who gets one every week or two. Does this happen to anyone else? For those who take high doses of Lysine to stop the cold sore in its tracks, do you take Lysine even on those days when you don't feel any tingling/cold sores? And if you do take Lysine on those days, what dosage do you take? Is it risky to be taking Lysine in high doses for years at a time?

Thank you for any advice.

I have read of people taking lysine daily as a prevention but I don't have any experience of it. I think your friend should be keeping some sort of diary to see if she can identify any of the triggers. I know chocolate is one, excessive sunlight can be another. I get one whenever someone hurts my lip - I frequently come home from the dentist with a cold sore because my lip has been mangled. Mostly though I have no idea what the trigger is, but it would be worth trying to figure out.

Lysine sometimes helps me, but I've found that for me the best thing is having a prescription (I use Acyclovir). I just get it refilled once or twice a year, and when I feel the telltale tingling, I take a pill a few times a day for a couple of days, and it never even erupts.

LOL, gandbb -- I agree on the "unclean, unclean" thing. I haven't had an actual noticeable cold sore in at least a few years, thank goodness, but it's so embarrassing when they do appear.

Aloe vera is the best!! From the plant is a bit slimy and messy, but lily of the desert makes an amazing gel that you can take with you wherever you go. This stuff really works. No pain, no itching. Does make the area a bit numb, but that only means it's working.