How to get rid of cold sores - finding an effective treatment

As there is no cure for the condition of cold sores, it remains essential for regular sufferers to learn how to get rid of cold sores to help ease their distress. This is complicated by the fact that different treatments can prove to be more effective in some individuals than in other people. While the pharmaceutical industry has invested in research and development for decades, it still remains a fact that none of the products from their laboratories has proved to be consistently better than alternative remedies when tested in trials and the combination of cost of these drugs as well as the risk of side effects can prove to be off-putting to many people too.

While the emphasis on any treatment for cold sores should generally focus on preventing them from outbreaking, which can be very effective in the longer term, it is almost inevitable that chronic sufferers will still have outbreaks from time to time. Usually outbreaks coincide with times of heightened stress or just plain tireness, which reduces the effectiveness of the immune system, and allows the herpes simplex virus to reactivate, replicating and moving from the nerve cells to the surface of the skin where it forms that nasty blister.

Many - if not most - cold sore sufferers experience a tingling sensation before the blister appears and this is the time to start treatment, whatever remedy you choose to use. One popular home treatment is simply the application of ice on the affected area and some people claim it has prevented the blister from forming at all, while many claim it reduces both the severity and healing time significantly by interfering with the ability of the virus from developing fully. Simply take an ice pack and hold it against the area in which your cold sore blisters appear for twenty minutes or half an hour.

Even when the condition does develop and produce a lesion there are symptomatic treatments you can try. While the appearance of cold sores on the face is quite traumatic for the sufferer, leading to loss of confidence and self esteem and therefore the leading to avoiding social situations, the condition is also painful and therefore an analgesic is recommended. You can either take a regular painkiller or use a cream which will help heal the cold sore while reducing inflammation and soreness, such as tea tree oil or lemon balm and the topical remedy Zorvirax is an over-the-counter treatment that can speed healing, reduce soreness and fight the virus. Home treatments other than those mentioned above include milk of magnesia, which can help diminish the impact of a cold sore lesion and even blueberry juice can help, while the mint content of toothpaste seems act on the cold sore and reduce healing time too. Perhaps this is not as surprising as it first sounds, since lemon balm is a member of the mint family.

One new product on the market is a device called Virulite CS. It is a lightweight portable device that emits LED light of specific bandwidth that has been shown to treat cold sores and it is said that it helps by activating the body's immune defenses and can help in preventing future reoccurrences.

As you can see, there are a number of different types of treatment that can vary in their efficiency and effectiveness, depending on how the individual responds. Finding how to get rid of cold sores therefore necessarily relies upon trial and error until you find something that works consistently, and by building up knowledge over a period of time it make make a big impact on your life.

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