Cold Sore Relief: Top Natural Remedies

My thanks for another wonderful and effective remedy from the Earth Clinic forum.

Every time I have a cold I get a runny nose. From all the wiping and irritation I develop a cold sore... In my nose!!! They are always painful and last a long time. I tried all the OTC products, they only cover up the sore and keep it moist; the exact opposite of what I should have been doing.

A few days ago, I took a q-tip and swabbed all the small blisters in my nose with acetone. I did this once an hour for 3-4 hours. The first thing I noticed was that the throbbing pain went away. I continued to apply the acetone throughout the day. Before bedtime, most blisters had dried up. I applied it once more before I went to bed. Then next day there were no more blisters.

Three days later, the skin is a bit red and needs to heal. I am using a combination of 100% aloe covered with antibiotic salve because I still have the cold and want to protect the area.

Thanks again for the great advice!

I am a female who used to get herpes outbreaks one after another for two years. I was very frustrated, I tried everything from Chinese Herbs, Ayurvedic Herbs, Urotherapy, ACV, De-worming, acetone. I was following a vegetarian diet and jogged regularly. Nothing worked for me, and I would get outbreaks every two weeks, which each took two weeks to heal, so, "continuously" one after another.. I would get fever-ish, weak, depressed, get nerve pains up and down my legs that felt like shingles.. It was awful!

I decided to stop all cardio for a month and do resistance training (Jamie Eason's LiveFit trainer to be exact.. Free online program), and follow a ketogenic diet (high fat, moderate protein, low carb), and all of a sudden, no outbreaks or pains for 6 months.

Gina I want you to know that I take 35 drops of Lugol's 5% in divided doses daily.

I been taking all kinds of Iodine for the last couple of years started slowly with very little.

The info I can find is, if you overdose water starts dripping from your nose and like too much vit C you just pee it out. I'm 83 and still around. I take it for Hypothyroid and still can't get my basil temp over 97. 5 and if I paint it on in the AM it is gone by nightfall.

The same with magnesium oil I have to take lot's of it spray it right in my mouth wish I could find a refillable deoderent applyer so I could roll it on also, I have to take it otherwise I would get foot and leg cramps during the night.

As always do your own DD this is just one man's opinion.

May the Lord continue to bless THIS EC site and its supporters and Angels like Lisa etc.

Gracie, that sounds more like shingles, a different type of herpes virus. It travels down the trigeminal nerve down the nose and across the cheek. It responds to Lysine and as you say, cheese, chocolate, nuts and red wine trigger and feed the virus. Counter this with Lysine (buy the powder from iHerb in Ca who ship to the UK for $6 per order). The ONLY way to dry them out (better even than acetone, is CAMPHOR SPIRITS OR in French l'alcool camphre). You used to be able to buy it in the UK, but now I have to get mine from the US yet again. You dab it on as soon as you get the tingle. Believe me, you will start keeping some in the larder. I use it now only once in a while as I know the signal tingle and start taking Lysine in juice. I was once told by a chief Medic in the Homeopathic Hospital, Tunbridge Wells "the herpes virus is a bitch". My friend in the US who gets shingles when run down, has had the vaccine and I believe you can now get it here.... It is with you for life I understand and I can locate exactly where mine resides; under the arachnoid around the skull on the left side which is where the blisters first appeared on my nose and cheek.... My nose is scarred but the cheeks are more resilient. Spirits of camphor.... As we know these cheap remedies are not endorsed by big pharma - too cheap and no profit margin for shareholders. We have to do the research for ourselves and take action.

Artemisia (purely coincidental that this is the latin for Wormwood! It was the name of an old horse of miine)

The only remedy which dries them is SPIRITS OF CAMPHOR, now unavailable in the UK, but I buy from the USA. Also, take Lysine and avoid Arginine containing foods: Cheese, red wine, nuts, chocolate. Sometimes they will appear soon after consuming one or more of these foods. As soon as the "tingling" starts which signals the onset, take a half teaspoon Lysine - I take it twice a day - in juice.

I have had Herpes on my lip since I was 6. I get outbreaks about 4 or 5 times a every year. Usually stress and heat triggers it. I have tried, ice, lysine pills, abreva, cold sore lip balms, apple cider vinegar and none have helped me. The healing time of the sore was the same whether I used these or not (which is about a week and a half). I have been prescribed acyclovir which worked on a few outbreaks or at least has decreased the healing time.

However, 2 days ago I got a break out and the acyclovir has not helped as it did before. SO, I found this website, and decided to use HYDROGEN PEROXIDE!!!! It is amazing! I left a cotton ball doused in hydrogen peroxide for a few minutes on the sore and it has gone down so much, its unnoticeable!

Good morning, I wanted to share my story of treating cold sores. I have battling the evil blisters since I was a kid. The embarassment of the huge blister sitting on my face, the pain and the discomfort it caused for days on end. I have tried everything from abreva and ice to lysine, nothing got rid of it. Yes things like abreva cut back on the time my sore lasted but it never got rid of it like alcohol. Yes, pure rubbing alcohol. As soon as you feel the tingling soak a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and apply for a few minutes every few hours. It will be gone within 24 hours.

I even went as far as to put hand sanitizer on once. I was out at a ball game and felt one coming on. I didn't have alcohol and I panicted. I never use hand sanitizer because of the high content of alcohol in it but a friend had some on her so I grabbed a dab and plopped it on my lip. It was gone by that evening.

Cell Food topically- This is my story. Scroll to the bottom if you're only interested in what worked for me.

Hey all, I've been following earth clinic for sometime now - and love it! I discovered apple cider vinegar on here and it did wonders for my quality of life as I used to have insanely dry scalp in the winter and acne. Acv did the trick for both.

Okay, onto my cold sore treatment: Abreva has worked pretty well for me the past couple of years. I'd keep it on me and when I'd feel the "tingle" use it and I hadn't had a major outbreak since I started using it - until Monday morning. I felt the tingle on Sunday night, put some Abreva in that spot and went to sleep. Woke up with a full blown cold sore... Yikes! Of course, this Saturday (tomorrow) I have a number of guests coming in town for what is annually one of the biggest social events of the year for me. Instead of panicking I came here and discovered the acetone treatment and hydrogen peroxide as well. I had hope!

So for the following 36 hours I diligently treated the monstrosity on my lip with acetone and hp. Only problem was by Tuesday night I had not one sore but three! It was the worst outbreak of my life. The acetone seemed to aggravate the infection, not to mention it smelled terrible and the hp didn't seem to go deep enough. I believe those treatments work for many of you - they just didn't for me. The nail polish remover I was using I later noticed included gelatin in the ingredients and I read elsewhere that gelatin can aggravate an outbreak -maybe that was it.

Anyway I woke up Wednesday desperate, ready to call off plans for Saturday. While obsessing over what I could do, I remembered reading that Cell Food helped cuts and burns heal fast, so I googled it to see what I could find out about it's effect on cold sores. I didn't find much, just one testimonial but it was positive. What did I have to lose? So I gave it a shot. Went to the bathroom grabbed some cellfood and put a couple of drops on my lip and it burned like hell (way worse than acetone or hp). I thought "this could be really good or really bad". 30 minutes later my lip was drying out and the swelling was going down so I put another drop on my lip. By Wednesday night the "tingle" was completely gone and all of the sores were drying up. I continued to use cell food every 3 hrs (I would also put some drops in my juice and water) and yesterday my sores started to scab over.

This is the amazing part: last night the healthy parts of my lips were starting to grow like a new fresh layer of skin I think from the cell food. Today the two smaller sores are 90% healed and the big sore I think will be 90% by morning. My lips are chapped from being so dried out, but after the sores are nearly completely gone I'll use chap stick.

I said to a friend earlier this week that it would take a miracle for my lips to heal by Saturday and I actually think they will be fine by tomorrow. I started on Cell Food Wednesday with 3 throbbing sores!

This is the first time I've shared on earth clinic. I hope this works for you as good as it did for me! Oh, yeah: I must say Thank God! Because I prayed a lot too! He answered my prayers :)

Straight Acetone is the best, and at night I use calamine lotion to aid in the drying, makes you look funny, but it works! Two to three days and gone! Completely!

Lecithin taken daily will keep you from ever having another herpes outbreak again. I tried everything and lecithin is the only thing that works.

Up in the Cook Islands a couple of years back I met an Australian woman who worked for a big pharmaceutical company in Aussie. We were talking about traditional remedies vs drugs, and she told me about a time that she had a massive cold sore and an Aboriginal woman stopped her on the street and told her to put ear wax on it. She admitted she didn't want to try it but I filed it away in my brain. Was surprised to see so many others on earthclinic have tried it and had success with it. I have no doubt if the Aboriginies use it that it must work, so just wanted to add a "yea" to the debate! Haven't tried it myself as fortunately I don't get cold sores but if I did I'd totally try ear wax first.

I had an out break yesterday of genital herpes. I have been suffering for two years now. As when an out break occurs I end up trawling the net for anything to make my situation better. I read this last night about the earwax and was kind of interested. I applied it to the blisters this morning and within 3 hours noticed a significant change in my situation. Almost no pain. Within 6 hours all the blisters where the earwax had been had vanished not giving any a chance to burst and therfore not having to go through the whole scab healing process which totally sucks and is probably the worst part. By this evening it is as if I had never had an outbreak. This has taken maybe 10 days off the whole cycle which is a god send. I am actually still totally stunned at how effective and quick this has worked. TOTALLY RECOMMENDED. Better than anything from the doctor and health food shops by a mile. Natrual and free. Thank you to this site and all who have posted here. This is a game changer. :-)

I have tried a number of remedies for cold sores with no success: ice, apple cider vinegar, lysine (was ok), crystal salt deoderant (only helped the blister dry up). I get cold sores every couple of months so was very keen to find a good cure. I recently attended a medicinal herb workshop and was told to try lemon balm. I happen to grow it in my garden so I made a tea of it and have been drinking it 3 times per day. I found that within a day the cold sore I had went down and all pain subsided. It is now healing well. Additionally I have put some goldenseal ointment onto the healing sore and that is also clearing up a lot faster than normal. The teacher at the herb workshop said her husband use to get regular cold sores and he now drinks lemon balm tea often. He has not had a cold sore in years.

I found that when I start to feel a tingling on my lip(slight itch) immediately I get an ice cube and place it on the affected area for 10 minutes until the itching goes away using a on and off approach..... Don't want to freeze the lip. Do this at least twice within a hour, usually once does it. This has always worked for me. If I'm out I stop at any fast food place to get the ice. If you let it go and wait until your home it will probably be too late. I haven't had a cold sore for several years using this method. TRY IT! Barbara

Hi, another remedy that I have noticed if you have no lysine to hand or ice is to rub geny a piece of silver jewellry over the sore (b4 breakout) you will get a slight grey mark from the silver coming off but it will halt the infection - silver heals.

I frequently get cold sores... Hate them. I've tried absolutely everything, including acetone and it did nothing for me. My cold sores swell terribly and I generally have flu like symptoms. I have been researching essential oils and making my own formulas and came across what oils are good for cold sores. I started out with tea tree oil, but found that it was not knocking the cold sore like I had hoped. So, I switched to Bergamont and applied it 3 to 4 times a day. It was wonderful. The cold sore did not disappear overnight, but the duration time and severity of the sore was diminished drastically. This will be the only remedy I use from now on. If you try it, I hope it helps you, too.

Amaranth Grain is a complete protein grain that is high in Lysine. Lysine tablets, even when kept under lip, never worked for me; But Amaranth Grain, ground into flour with a coffee grinder and used in recipes, really does help. And is VERY healthy to boot.

I have suffered from cold sores on and off since I was a child. I have tried mulitple remedies, but by far the best remedy is ice! When you feel that tingly itchy sensation get a cube of ice and press it against that spot for several minutes (Maybe 8-10 minutes). You may want to do this a few times. I think it causes the cold sore to go into remission or something. This really works!

This past week I had been stressed out. Yesterday I noticed some itching at the edge of my bottom lip. Oh great! A cold sore is coming. I get these all the time, recently not so much, but ever since I was a yonug child (I'm in high school now). It's horrible! People make fun of you, it's so embarrasing. I kept searching on the internet of ways to make the damn thing go away. All of them said: you can prevent them, but once you have them you have to wait 7-10 days for it to go away. I kept searching on yahoo answers, and found something that didn't involve me going out to buy abreva or any other expensive products that only shorten healing time.

You take a sterilized needle and poke into the sore. You will see clear liquid ooze out of the sore now. Immediately take a cotton ball with acetone and press onto the sore, but after about 5 minutes change the cotton ball and do it again, because if you take it off and put it back on again an infection may form. It worked perfectly! It was gone instantly. I put [again] a new cotton ball with acetone on, and kept it on for an hour and a half. Please try this! But be careful because sensitive skin may have a chemical reaction from the acetone.

Hey everyone. I highly recommend aloe vera gel, at least in combination with turmeric. Here's what happened. I woke up this am with small bumps on the bottom corner of my lip, though I hadn't yet felt the tingling. I'd already made a mask of turmeric powder -- bought at an Indian grocery store; not taken from my spice rack -- for my puffy eyes and decided to search online to see if turmeric works for cold sores. After reading that it does, I applied the paste (turmeric and water) to the cold sores and left it on for about 10 minutes. Then I rinsed gently with water, patted it dry with a towel, and applied a bit of aloe gel using a q-tip. Within 10 minutes I noticed the sores were no longer shiny. They'd already dried up quite a bit. I was amazed! I applied aloe vera gel again about 30 minutes later and followed up two hours later with more turmeric paste. I'll keep this up all day and see, but it looks like they will be gone by tomorrow. Good luck!

I've used Abreva, Lysine cream and its ok but what has been the game changer is ICE! A cold sore is a fever blister, so it builds of heat. You fight the temp by reducing it, ICE it immediately. Also take advil or any fever reducer you have to calm your body temp down and relax! I got them back to back and on my big 30 birthday. I tried acetone but seemed to burn my skin and make it worse. I grabbed a glass of water, took advil and Lysine vitamins (doubled dosage) and iced my sore. Fell asleep watching a movie but the sore stopped, looked like pimple. kept icing it, I was fine next day.

This is a great site. I LOVE it!

About a year ago I decided to try Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) on a big and ugly cold sore. Having first learned about ACV as a child about 35 years ago and then getting a great education about it from Earth Clinic, the idea just clicked. I took a cotton ball and soaked up a good amount of ACV. I would lie down for about 15 minutes with the wet cotton ball on my lip directly over the cold sore. Sometimes I would apply slight pressure to make sure of good contact. I did this about 3 times per day. The cold sore was completely gone in 3 days. It usually takes 2 weeks, no matter if I apply other mainstream and alternative remedies.

I got another cold sore about 2 weeks ago. It was just coming on. Had to move quickly, because I work with the public. Thankfully, it was during the weekend. I searched my memory about what I had done last time and remembered ACV. I did the same as above, and it was gone in 1 day. No joke and no exaggeration.

The ACV gave me a light burning sensation my lips and not just on the cold sore. My lips peeled mildly for the next few days. I believe there is no harm, and I certainly prefer a little peeling to a big, ugly cold sore. One thing I am cautious about is to keep the ACV on the cotton ball from touching my front teeth to prevent enamel erosion.

I hope this works for you.

I may have solved my own mystery.............I rarely get fever blisters but have changed my diet to Keto due to my husband being diagnosed with Parkinsons. One of the things I started doing was getting high fat yogurt, cream, buttermilk and keifer from a nearby dairy. The past month I have been constantly plagued with fever blisters at the corners of my mouth and nostrils.

Certain Foods

Consuming arginine-rich foods – such as beans, meat, chocolate and dairy – can trigger or worsen a cold sore. This is because arginine is required for the virus to replicate. Acidic foods and beverages can also trigger a cold sore outbreak. This includes citrus fruits, tomatoes, orange juice and even soda.

Source

I just discovered this site and living with herpes, I felt so alone and ashamed. Through this site, I was able to run to the health food store and have begun treatment, I believe can heal my condition. I have had a breakout in the private and was able to use FGHP to dry it up almost instanty. Thank you earth clinic.

I have used Lauricidin brand of Monolaurin. I would NEVER reccomend it to anyone. I threw out $250 worth of tha stuff.

I never was able to take it without getting sick with a bad infection that would go into my lungs. Healthing Crisis B.S. The first rule is DO NO HARM. If something has to make you sick it's not worth using.

Coconut Oil however is good and I have had good experiences with it as well as Soverign Silver for any type of infection. I believe it will also help cold sores and herpes.

It is true that L-Lysine kills viruses, it has saved me several times from severe colds that would have put me in the bed for at least a week, but I do not want to miss that much time off my job. I am 64yo so it can be hard on me. I also take lysine 2000 mg every 4 hours as long as I am up, and the next day, as long as I have any symptoms, sometimes I do get very congestd, but not so that I have to miss work. If I had any permanet virus I would take it every 4 hours, 4 times a day for a few months and see if I could get totally free of that bug, but that is just me... I do have faith in lysine, the last cold I had, it started with a tickle in my thorat. I started with the lysine, the next day I was still sick.. I kept up with the lysine, then it was gone in two days, no coughing, no drainge, if not for the lysine I would have been down for a long time. And I did take some C 2000mg a day... For children under 60 pounds, I have given 250mg every 4 hours. Merryanne in Central FL

Coral Calcium comes from our Coral reefs. If you know anything about Coral Reefs in our Oceans, you will know and understand that we should not be destroying them to make Coral Calcium. There is an Alternative that is basically the same thing which comes from Salt Lakes rather than the Ocean, destroying our Coral Reef. The Alternative is Trace Mineral Drops. It is also Certified Vegan and Gluten Free. I am in no way, shape, or form stating that this is a cure. I am strictly stating that this is an alternative to Coral Calcium. I recently contracted HSV2 unfortunately, so like you I am looking for a natural/ holistic cure, so I am trying different things as well.

I am also trying the Virgin Coconut Oil solution as mentioned in the 07/04/2007 Peter from New Zealand post. 1. Warming the Virgin Coconut Oil slightly and dabbing it onto the Herpes themselves. 2. Warming Virgin Coconut Oil slightly and adding a teaspoon to a glass of water 3 times a day in regular intervals.

The third solution I am trying is Alkalizing my body... Over the years I have heard lots of great things about Alkalizing the body. How Cancer cannot survive in an Alkalized enviornment as well as tons of other ailments. Feel free to type your Ailment along with the word Alkalize into Google or whichever search engine you choose, and you will be suprised to read what pops up. Just beware of products for sale.... You can also view lists of foods that are Acidic, Alkaline or somewhere in the middle as well by simply typing Acid/ Alkaline Food List. There are many, I notice some vary a bit as far as how many foods each one lists. I purchased PH strips, which you can either wet with saliva or in the urine stream. I though I was a healthy eater, apparently not healthy enough. My PH level was at a 5.5 where 7 is balanced, above 7 is Alkaline and below 7 is Acidic. Don't be suprised if you have to cut out habits such as wine, coffee, and or cigarettes to achieve your goal. Taking Trace Mineral Drops is just one step toward Alkalizing my body, since I don't know of other ways to intake minerals which our bodies need. Let's pray, one of these solutions are a cure. I'll do anything I can to keep from taking medication.

Food is our Medicine and Medicine is our Food. ;) I love the power of the internet. Any Feedback is greatly appreciated.