L-Lysine. OTC and inexpensive.

I would gargle with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Or even just dab it on with a q-tip.

What they said and give the oranges a break. We love our fresh oranges and dearly pay for it every year.

salt water....and if you really want to kill the pain...put the salt directly on your finger and put it on the sore. It will HURT....but it will numb it and be worth it.

I always turn to coconut oil for anything to do with my mouth.

warm water with salt in it.

GlyOxide, which is in a small squeeze bottle. Available at any drugstore. You squeeze a bit onto the sore, let it fizz up, swish it around in your mouth and then spit it out. Helps for cold/canker sores as well as when I bite the inside of my cheek when chewing.

Alum. Put it on the sore and let it set on for a few minutes. Usually after just two applications, it quits hurting and heals up. Works every time!

Colloidal Silver. Read about it. Has many medicinal uses.

All the folk and OTC recommendations to treat symptoms aside, please see a doctor if not gone in a week. If better, great, and credit normal healing processes.

o it was gone in 3 days. I Don't know what caused it this time though. Last time it was too many pretzels. Maybe it was the salty ham this time.

The virus is dormant in the tissues and flares up in times of stress or where injury has happened ( you bit your lip or burnt your tongue ).

I used to get a medication called zovirax that worked well to heal it fast. I would take it right away only when needed. I have also heard to take Lysine, Zinc, Vit. C, any herbs that help with immunity. If you are under stress or have depleted nutrients, if you have poor gut health or eat too much sugar, all these things can lead to a weakened ability to keep this virus in check. Right away take some zinc and some healthy fats like olive oil, flax oil or fish oil ( krill oil or similar) and do what you would do if you had a cold. Drink fluids, eat fresh veggies and colorful fruits. Immunity starts in the gut so you might like to add a good probiotic. Also, white fat tissues send out immunity and repair signals so if you are underweight, that could be a factor.

Get plenty of rest. If you don't get enough rest, you can't build proper immunity. All that good repair and detox happens mostly at night. But if you don't sleep enough, you aren't healing. Think of it this way, in the day, you gather resources to do the repair and at night, you use them to keep yourself well. You need good food. Be sure not to eat right before you sleep. Give yourself a few hours. You don't want to be working on digestion, you want to be working on repair. You also do some weight loss during sleep, but only if you ate fiber and only if you sleep 7+ hours. The liver sends extra fat away with the waste products but only if it has fiber to bind it to. Fiber also binds toxins so the kidneys don't have as heavy a burden.

These are so painful and can last for weeks. I remember putting a gauze pad soaked in sore throat spray against the sore just so I could eat and drink. My mouth would swell and I wanted to hide away. Straws help too so you can drink relatively pain free.