
How To Prevent Cold Sores And Stop Them Coming Back – A Personal Breakthrough
If you were like I was a few months back – sick and tired of getting cold sores all the time, and frustrated with how long, irritating and burdensome they are to get rid of, then you're going to find this page very very interesting indeed. I believe I've finally “cracked it” when it comes to totally minimising the amount of time which has to be spent dealing with these pesky, disgusting invaders. Not only that, but with this information you can protect yourself from getting these ghastly monsters in the first place!
To go straight to my prevention method without reading my story or anything else, click here, or jump ahead to any of the following areas of this page via the table of contents below:
My Cold Sore Story
My Cold Sore Prevention Method
My Results
The Lysine/Arginine Connection
Published Studies Supporting This Treatment
Other Tips & Resources That Might Help With Cold Sores
Your Feedback
References
My Cold Sore Story
After years of dealing with cold sores on and off since my first relationship (yes, I was unlucky enough to get them from my very first girlfriend), they had started to affect me more and more regularly as I got older. By the time I hit my 30's, it wasn't unusual for me to get cold sores every month or so. Considering these horrible pesky things can last up to 2 weeks to properly heal from the scabs, that's a lot of time having cold sores.
We all know how frustrating, annoying and just literally disgusting cold sores are to have to deal with, and there's no one that enjoys having to go through this process. When I had them bad, I would literally feel HATRED towards the virus (herpes labialis) and it's putrid effect on my life. I'm sure that didn't help, as they seem to be more likely to happen when going through emotional stress and strain.
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Cold Sores Like Bad Weather Hey?
Anyway, I noticed that I would get them a lot when I was living in Edinburgh, Scotland for a couple of years, especially when it was windy. It seems that they are more likely to occur when your lips get dried out, and especially if the other causes (which we'll get to) are there as well. This was definitely the case with me, and when I was partying a lot, feeling run down, and then experiencing that in combination with the windy weather, I'd get cold sores VERY often.
I discovered that drying them out was quite important early on (once you already have the coldsores, it's actually better for your lips to be a bit dehydrated in my experience, as they spread with moisture), and so a large part of my remedy back then was simply a cold sore treatment from the chemist which was mostly watered down alcohol. The alcohol works well to keep the skin dehydrated, which stops the cold sores spreading more. I still believe drying them out is really a big part of my approach to curing cold sores, although I'm not sure what method for drying them out is necessarily the best at this point.
If you've had them any number of times, you will get that it's those puss-filled little bubbles which are the really contagious part of the physical wound, and keeping that as small and as least pussy and gross as possible is an important part of staying on top of them, drying them out helps immensely with this part of the healing process.
Anyway, I had heard of L Lysine/L Arginine and their connection to getting and repelling cold sores some time ago, probably when living in Edinburgh as I mentioned. However, it wasn't until just very recently that I feel I really cracked the code with getting rid of these buggers fast. Here's how it happened…
Cold Sores Threaten To Ruin My Date
It began recently when I was a little run down and had a hot date coming up, and was aware of avoiding cold sores for this special day so I wouldn't repel my date before I'd even had a chance to get to know her… Despite being reasonably careful and aware of the possibility of this and taking what I thought was quite a bit of L Lysine when feeling the itching coming on as a precaution, what do you know, two days before my date and I start to get those little bumps of cold sores on my nose (the first physical signs) along with some pretty severe itching to go with it.
So, as you can imagine, I'm pretty pissed off. “___ING COLD SORES!!!! GO TO HELL!!!” is pretty much what I found myself yelling into the bathroom mirror. I can't believe it. Even after being pretty aware and careful all week, the little pricks had snuck in the back door literally at the worst time possible. About 2 days before the date, which meant that by the actual date day, I'd have some big sexy (not at all sexy) blistering cold sores on hopefully both my nose, and mouth… I really liked the girl too, and was hoping to make a good impression, so I wasn't happy at all.
So at that point, my frame of mind is pretty much “That's it, time to take some drastic measures”, and I spoke to a friend about my predicament. He mentioned mega dosing L Lysine, which I agreed with, and thought I'd already been doing for several days, as I had felt the itching coming on. He also had some other suggestions about hiding the cold sores, should it come to that, using BB cream, similar to a tinted moisturiser (something I wasn't really familiar with, but willing to try nonetheless). The cover up solution was helpful, but I really didn't want it to get that far.
I read up on things again regarding overcoming cold sores, and minimising their annoying disgusting mess, and all the things I had previously read rang a little louder, as I was prepared to really make as much effort as possible at this point.
This time in my suffering from cold sores led to the following method, which I really do think is amazing in how quickly it's worked for me, and while I'm sure it could be tweaked a little in terms of dosages etc (and of course will be dependent on many factors to do with your own genetics, health status and lifestyle), it's pretty damn incredible as it stands right now.
I hope you will give it a try, and I'm super hopeful that it will work as quickly and powerfully for you as it did for me. Please do share your experience if you have any thing to add on this topic, you can leave comments below the article.
My Cold Sore Prevention Method
So below is my approach to getting rid of these nasty things, and stop them coming back. Before you write it off as being too simplistic or whatever, and dismiss my information as rehashed, or “not fast/powerful enough” please check the area where I discuss my results here (especially the updated section, as more recently I've really not had any issues with cold sores at all – with absolutely none in the past 8 months)
One of the good things about this treatment is that it's all natural. You don't have to take any toxic chemicals or anything like that, there's enough toxicity in our environment already without adding any more into your body unnecessarily.
I should be straight up here by saying that this method of preventing and stopping cold sores in their tracks is by no means my invention, I just tried lots of things that were already being suggested, and kind of puzzled them together to make something that really works for me, and I'm hopeful it can be as effective for others as it's been for myself.
So without further adu, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this cold sore remedy.
Mega Dosing Of The Following:
- L Lysine (2000-4000 mg every 2 hours on day 1) – Recommended L Lysine Supplement (Amazon)
- Vitamin C (1000 mg every 2 hours on day 1) – Recommended Vit C Supplement (Amazon)
- Zinc (100 mg on day 1 then 50 mg each day after) – Recommended Zinc Supplement (Amazon)
Complete Avoidance Of The Following:
- Nuts, seeds, grains
- Acidic foods (Tomatoes, Citrus fruits, etc, etc)
- Sugar (it might be hard to totally avoid, but minimise it as best possible)
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I will get into the science of why I believe this works shortly, and the mechanics of starving cold sores. But for now, it's important that you realise how simple this is to do, it just takes a little discipline. See, from my personal story above, that week where I had my cold sore “epiphany” the whole week I'd been having the warning sign of itching on my nose (I quite often get them just on the bottom of my left nose, and not necessarily on the lips or mouth at all).
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Because of the itching and my concern of getting a cold sore right before my date, I was already taking quite a lot of L Lysine, and Zinc, BUT I wasn't being careful enough about NOT consuming the things on the avoidance list (especially the nuts, etc, which contain Arginine, which is one of the main “food sources” for the cold sore virus).
The L-Lysine pictured to the right is the one I personally use most of the time, but any strong L-Lysine supplement will probably do the trick. Here is a link (Amazon) to a personally trusted brand (Solgar) that I usually go for, if you want to source it online.
As far as the supplement dosages, I've simply put the first day of treatments RECOMMENDATIONS based on my own personal experience. I'm a rather big guy, so if you're a small-ish woman, then it's likely you would need lesser amounts than what worked for me personally.
Remember that this is your body, your health, and your own personal experience to see how this works for you. So the smart thing to do would be to titrate up gently over time. Start off with lower amounts, which you're comfortable with, and then gradually increase it until you notice it working to fight off and stop the cold sores in their tracks.
Another thing to mention is the timing. I believe that it's crucial to implement this cold sore killing protocol AS SOON AS you start noticing the itching, as that's the bodies first warning sign, and I believe it's actually the cold sore virus moving its way from your nerve cells underneath the skins surface, towards the surface of the skin. If you start megadosing the Lysine, Zinc and Vitamin C as soon as you notice the itching, you're giving yourself the best possible chance of stopping it quickly, and making it's occurrence a minor thing, as opposed to a major headache.
The Vitamin C is just something I added as I know it has powerful immune system boosting properties, and works well as an antioxidant, so it definitely can't hurt to have a bit extra while you're trying to suppress the cold sores.
In terms of keeping the affected skin area dry, you can use either something like a weak alcohol solution (found at the chemist or online) or you can even try what I use, which is simply a very small amount of toothpaste. While it doesn't look great (neither do cold sores of course) to have dried toothpaste on your mouth/nose, it works very well to cover up the area and dry it, preventing any moisture buildup. I usually only do this for the first day or so.
So that's basically the remedy in a nutshell. As I mentioned earlier, it will probably involve some tweaking from yourself to find the right dosages and personal nuances that make it work for you.
Before I wrap this section up, I can't emphasise enough how important it is to STOP taking all things which are moderate to high in arginine, those primarily being:
- Nuts and butters made from nut products (peanut butter, etc)
- Seeds
- Whole Grains
- Carob
- Chocolate
- Coconut
- Soy Beans
- Chick Peas
- Spirulina
- Lentils
- Seaweed
- Gelatin
- Watercress
- Spinach
My Results
Typically a cold sore can last anywhere from 1-3 weeks in my experience. In the past when partially using some of the supplements in this protocol, but not megadosing enough, and also not staying away from the high arginine foods enough to see real results, my cold sores would probably last typically about 10 days (from first emergence to scabs healing).
After applying the above protocol, I found that the growth and spreading of the cold sores are stopped immediately, and then the very small scabs that will have formed from the small starting blisters, will literally be healed in about 2-3 days. Also it should be noted that these scabs are so small that they are barely noticeable, and are not the typical huge ugly scabby things you see on people who've had a bad cold sore. I will update soon with pictures, the next time I get them, so you can see what I'm talking about here.
IMPORTANT UPDATE TO MY RESULTS – Since originally writing this page, I've had almost zero cold sore blisters reemerge. I now realise that dietary considerations are a HUGE piece of this puzzle, and since being much more observant and careful with my intake of arginine containing foods, I've basically had no issues with this.
For me personally, previously I was always eating something in my diet that was either a nut product or contained nuts, like for example peanut butter, or granola/muesli mix. Since cutting way down on high arginine foods I've had these amazing new results where I barely (if at all) have any problems with cold sores.
So try looking closely at your diet if you keep getting recurring cold sores. The L Lysine, etc mentioned above works really well, but it's just as, if not even more important to lower dietary arginine!
The Lysine/Arginine Connection
L-lysine and L-arginine are amino acids which share common pathways in the body, with L-lysine being suppressed by L-arginine. If you have a high level of arginine in your diet, then you should be aware that it's going to lower your body's levels of Lysine, and this may make you more susceptible to cold sores, especially with the addition of other factors like being over stressed, lack of sleep, lowered immune system efficiency, etc.
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While it's hard to find any hard evidence that high levels of arginine will cause cold sore breakouts in those who have already had the viral infection, the fact that L-Lysine seems to work so powerfully against cold sores does point towards this being the case.
Published Studies Supporting This Treatment
Seeing as I don't like to make any claims about things working in any area of health without some kind of basis in science, here's some of the published studies I dug up which support my theory that using simple supplementation of L-Lysine, Zinc and Vitamin C (particularly L-Lysine) can help to prevent and stop cold sores from taking hold or getting worse.
Here's some of the studies I found that correlate with my own experience:
- Safety and effectiveness of an L-lysine, zinc, and herbal-based product on the treatment of facial and circumoral herpes
- Subjective response to lysine in the therapy of herpes simplex
- Lysine prophylaxis in recurrent herpes simplex labialis: a double-blind, controlled crossover study
Other Tips & Resources That Might Help With Cold Sores
Here's some other ideas that might help you overcome your cold sore issues
- Remember that the herpes virus and it's physical outbreaks of cold sores on the skin are largely related to how well your immune system is functioning. This is commonly understood by the fact that people often get more out breaks when they are tired, stressed and/or run down, as you might have experienced with your own cold sore problems. Knowing this, it's important to keep your immune system healthy, and this can be achieved by looking after all the basics such as; proper rest and recovery, healthy diet, adequate exercise, relaxation and proper stress management.
There are other products on the market other than just supplements such as this Electronic Cold Sore Treatment Device (amazon link) pictured here. So continue your research and look into additional “weapons” that you can add to your arsenal to lessen the impact of cold sores in your life. (Note – I've not yet tried the pictured device, as it's not really necessary for me right now as my cold sores are no longer a problem since using L Lysine, and lowering my arginine containing foods as I explain above here).
Your Feedback On Cold Sore Treatment And Others
So again, I'd love to hear back from those of you who've struggled like I have with cold sores, and have either found your own successful treatment, or have tried what I've written here and had any kind of results. Apart from being a place for me to share my ideas, this is a place to share ideas with others, so I really encourage you to join the conversation and leave a comment below.
Please also let me know if you have any constructive criticism about how I could make this page more useful, I promise not to be offended, as long as it's in the spirit of making my site better I'm always keen to hear your ideas 🙂
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References
- Disabled-world.com. “How to Heal a Cold Sore Quickly”. View Webpage
- Livestrong.com. “Cold Sores From L-Arginine”. View Webpage
- Pubmed.com. “L lysine cold sores” (search result). View Webpage
- Progressivehealth.com. “Arginine and Herpes”. View Webpage
I love the way you summarized the cure method. Please, why should we avoid nuts and seeds?
Thanks for your feedback, you want to avoid all high ariginine foods, nuts and seeds are just one of the problem foods. Please see the section above, as I did go over it 😉
What do you recommend for after day 1?
Hi Summer, I recommend just the same as my general approach, just stop/lower your arginine foods, and increase Lysine, Vitamin C and Zinc. I pretty much just take 5 grams of Lysine per day now as standard, but that’s because I know I have EBV (ebstein barr, which is another herpes variant) and it helps with that too. When you get used to lowering your arginine, and keeping the lysine up, you should notice that cold sores are no longer such a problem as they once were, at least that’s how it’s been for me.
Keep us posted, I’d love to hear how it works out for you too! 🙂
Hi Nick, great article I’ve also had cold cores on and off for many years and recently im beginning to have the immunity to go long periods of time with out them also because i got the virus as baby my body is building up probably. I found what you said about diet making lots of sense because those things in which our body has trouble breaking down like nuts and grains would be the things that affect my body. although i don’t remember having instances where i would break out from them. I believe they may also not help in the healing process with out without cold sores. I have found eating mostly fruits and vegetables as my diet has improved my health and speeds up the healing time when I do break out. I hope one day you don’t have to deal with cold sores and maybe completely be ridden of them. peace and love
I had my first cold sore ever and I wasn’t able to catch it early because I was unsure of what it was. Anything you suggest to help it heal faster after it has bursted.
Hi Julia, assuming that I’m understanding you correctly, if all the little puss bubble type things have gone, then it’s probably passed its infectious/spread stage mostly, and basically the virus has retreated back to beneath the skin’s surface.
So this is where the scab/healing process takes place. Basically you heal it when it’s a scab by leaving it alone and maybe lightly applying something with healing/skin repairative properties. Something like pawpaw ointment (found here on Amazon) can be good at helping the scab to heal. Try lowering your arginine foods and taking L Lysine supplements and zinc as suggested above, and see if stops them breaking out in future (though for someone like yourself who’s never had them before, it’s harder to gauge if it’s working or not)
Hope it helps!
Very informative! Like how it describes just how you would be thinking in this scenario, plus can even buy from here what I need.
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Hi! Thank for the advice. I will definitely try it out. Personally, I’ve noticed that I would get a break out if my lips got too dry/irritated (much like the wind you mentioned above), and like you said there are many other factors that could effect this too, sleep, stress, etc. To prevent this, my significant other decided to buy some chapstick that I could attach to my key chain and applying chapstick everyday reduced the amount of break outs that I would get to 1/4th!
Thanks for posting all that you’ve learned,and how you felt. I also contracted cold sores from the first guy I ever kissed. Everytime I get an outbreak, I curse his existence. Knowing that I’m not the only one who feels such anger and pain, actually makes it a little easier to let go.
I notice that I often have a breakout after drinking from glasses or cups from bars/pubs or restaurants. Not sure if it’s how they have been dried (sometimes upside down on a tea towel or not washed properly) but I can wake in the early hours of the morning with that tell tale tingle and itch. I’ve been using lysine cream which tends to keep the area wet so have been looking for alternative ‘cures’. Will be purchasing the above to see if it helps during my next breakout. Thank you for all the effort you’ve put into this article.
So I’m having a really hard time figuring out what to eat! My main concern is not eating grains! Do you follow these eating habits all the time, or just when you feel a cold sore coming on? Could you please give me an example of what you eat for one whole day? Cutting out sugar is also extremely hard for me. Thank you so much!
Hi Winter,
Yeah I can understand your issue, when I first started making dietary changes it was a bit of a challenge, more just the change aspect than the practicality of it. We’re so used to our eating habits. I recommend checking out a Paleo type diet, just without the grains and nuts that are going to increase arginine.
Hope that helps!
Nick
I know the label on L-lysine and vitamin C supplements say “take one a day” and I’ve heard that taking too much vitamin can be a bad thing so I’m a little hesitant to be megadosing and every two hours even if it’s just the first day, I’m a realllyyy small woman I’m startig off with one pill of each like recommended anything you can say to ease my worry of this mega dosing technique ?
Well yeah, mega dosing anything long term is probably not great, but Vitamin C is pretty benign in my opinion, especially short term. Generally speaking if you take too much vitamin C, you’ll know about it (your bowel movements will get a little too loose…) So yeah start off small, and titrate up is always a good idea if you’re unsure.
Hi i have treated my coldsores since the 1980’s when i got them. The first effective treatment was suggested by my old dutch osteopath/natural medicine man.. I was pregnant and the herpies had gone out of control and if the viris outbreaks during birth a caesarian is done as it can cause blindness in babies passing through the birth canal. I was already committed to a home birth and did not want any intervention.. He gave me a tissue salt NAT Sulf. This was highly effective.. When feeling the tingling i was instructed to take 8 tablets 3 times a day untill the outbreak passed… Usually they did not outbreak and remained small raised but tender areas untill they reduced and dissapeared thus usually took from 4 to 6 days.. No sores and gone.
A few years later i attended a naturapath and he told be to take NAt Mur instead as he said…. Coldsores are a symtom of grief… Hence the weeping sores…i began to notice they ame up when i was feeling sad or down.
The treatment was the same when noticing the tingling block with 8 tablets 3 times a day untill they pass. I have used this for the last 30 years and have not had blown out coldsores. If i ignore the tingling and starting of the coldsore i get a small outbreak but they never fully form.
I had another friend who cured hers by the lysine method but she took huge amounts if tablets over a few months.
What i have loved about the Nat Mur treatment is its one product. I also get to tune into my emotions and my body and the cause if the outbreak.
Just a back story i got the herpies when i slept with someone after an important relationship had ended… So i was grieving. Naturapath has an uncanny way of tuning into the root cause of a problem. Sending love. Hope this helps.
I use lavender essential oil directly applied to the skin over the area of the affected lymph node.
When I feel the first itching, I palpate (press gently) my neck, chin and jaw areas until I identify which lymph node(s) is/are tender. I then apply a little undiluted lavender essential oil over the tender lymph node. The itching stops almost immediately, and the cold sore never materializes. Sometimes, if it starts while I’m sleeping or if I’m out somewhere and can’t get the lavender EO on fast enough, I’ll get a little swelling, but it never “boils over” into an open sore.
My theory for why it’s so effective is that the lavender essential oil penetrates the skin and kills the virus in the lymph node and as it’s emerging from it. Many essential oils are antiviral, but my skin reacts badly to most essential oils, even when diluted. I use an organic, 100% pure, undiluted lavender essential oil. It’s not expensive, it’s easy to find, and it’s small enough to be brought along with you when you travel.