I’ve had cold sores since I was little, but the outbreaks are infrequent.
In the past 2 months however, I’ve had 3! I can’t recall whether this has happened before, it may have. Is it common? Or should I freak out?
Do you have mono?
Mono and cold sores are both caused by herpesviruses, so if you have mono, it causes other herpesviruses surface. Same with chicken pox, if you have that.
Or, it could be a low immune system, if you’re just sick in general.
I believe stress, lack of sleep, poor nutrition - basically a weakened immune system in general - can trigger cold sores.
Stoid, like you, I’ve had occasional cold sores since I was very young, but. . .15 years ago, I was planning my wedding, caring for a terminally ill mother, and caring for a toddler. One morning, about 10 days before the wedding, I woke up and had not one or two or even three, but literally dozens of cold sores around my mouth, in my mouth and down my throat! We went to the doc, who said that stress was definitely a contributing factor. She said normally, there’s nothing to do, but since our wedding was in ten days, we could try an experimental drug that was expensive. Well, of course we agreed. The pills cost $4.00 each, and I had to take three a day! But they did the trick; I recovered in time for the wedding. The pills, by the way, were Acyclovir, which is commonly used for herpes outbreaks now.