Hello people… I never come to this section really but I felt this needed to be asked (since I couldn’t find anything on it by searching here).
Today in class one of the guys in my group mentioned that cold sores are a type of facial herpes. Now I am kinda sceptical about this fact but I was wondering if anyone could clear this up for me. Is it a type of herpes? Or am I just having my leg pulled?
It sure is. They used to call them oral herpes (the kind you get on your face) and genital herpes (different strain, most commonly seen on the genitals). However, in the past few years, they’ve been seeing each kind on the wrong end, so now they’re just herpes simplex type 1 and type 2.
And yes if you have a cold sore on your mouth, and touch it with your hand, and then touch your genitals, you may autoinfect yourself with herpes there, too.
Herpes won’t actually kill you, of course, but it will make you wish you were in a far 'nother country for a few weeks.
Corr
-grimaces- Lovely… well I haven’t had a cold sore in ages -knock on wood- but thanks for clearing that up.
They are treated with the same drug too–acyclovir. I have top upstairs kind. I used to get big, painful sores about 4 times a year. It was tremendously embarassing in college and high school. But once I started using acyclovir, I get one minor sore a year. It is a godsend.
They can be treated much more cheaply than acyclovir with Curasore. The active ingredient is ether. And you don’t need a prescription, but since it contains ether, it is not on the drugstore shelf, but with the pharmacist. IMHO, Curasore is just as effective as acyclovir (Zovirax is the brand name). I’ve tried both. I have no financial interest in either.
Incidentally, before I stumbled upon Curasore and before Zovirax, I used hydrocortisone, which you can also get over-the-counter up to 1% solution. It is an antiinflammatory and an old medical book I once had said it was contraindicated for “cold” sores since it inhibits the body’s natural defenses. Worked for me.
Also, the “cold” sores can arise even if you don’t have a cold. Any stress will do. There have been prior threads on this Board on this subject if you search.
L-Lysine is your friend! So is Vitamin-B!
Yep, Cold sores can be controlled naturally. I used to (emphasis on the past tense) get cold sores all the time. Now I take Vitamin B every day (but a friend recommends the 6-months injection), and when I do get a minor flare-up, L-lysine kills it in a day or so. Go to your local Vitamin store and they will sell it. It works better than the prescription stuff- really. I woke up one morning with that tingly “aaaaaaaahhhhhh F*CK, here it comes” and by noon it was gone because of a Lysine pill and lipbalm.
-Tcat
I have to dissent. Nothing, and I mean nothing, works as well as acyclovire. THE herpes is a virus. YOu need an anti-viral.
I tried Lysine, ice cubes, blistex, camphor etc. While they may wo=rk for some people, they never worked for me.
Zambesi, I agree with you, except for Curasore. Ether kills the virus. It does not get as deeply into the body as acyclovir, but I’ve found it just as effective. Lysine did not help me one iota.
Curasore, huh? I will have to give it a shot. But with my meds, IT will probably be a while before I have another one.
Do these remedies work also for Herpes Zoster?
I really don’t know about herpes zoster, which is the chickenpox virus and is later (long after the acute disease is gone) can be manifested by sores also: canker sores. Since Curasore is so cheap (a couple of bucks) and readily available, and kills viruses, you can give it a try. Acyclovir is a prescription drug and much more expensive. I also had a lot of success with hydrocortisone, but Curasore is better.
I really don’t know about herpes zoster, which is the chicken pox virus and later emerges as canker sores. However, these sores usually appear inside the mouth, not on the lips. Hence, I don’t think it wise to use ether (Curasore). However, it is cheap (a couple of bucks) and readily available without a prescription. Acyclovir is an expensive prescription drug. That can be administered systemically, so I guess it’s OK to use that inside the mouth. I guess you can use Curasore without any serious side effects. Perhaps an MD can help here.
I get 30 acyclovir pills for about $10.
So just how in the hell did I get cold sores? Last week I had two of 'em on my lower lip. I never had cold sores as a kid, then I just started getting them in high school. I have no idea of where they came from. I never put my mouth on anything dirty, and I was scuh a geek that I never got kissed. I was always extremely cautious about not drinking from someone else’s glass or anything, so why am I being punished?
Dale, I got it from a family member. It would have to have come from someone. You might not have noticed that they were getting a sore though. That sucks.
barbitu8,I am not sure what causes canker sores but Herpes Zoster causes shingles, which I get once in a while in my hands.
Herpes are activated by stress and/or low or weak immune systems. Cold sores, shingles, etc often are triggered by those factors.
Note that the virus is alreasy inside you and just flares up, it’s not like someone gives it to you each time.
I was just talking to my primary care physician about this two days ago. Heh. Zoster causes chicken pox, which can cause shingles later due to the little herpes thingies suddenly working again (you’re sick and your immune system can’t work to keep them down too, you’re stressed and immune system is crappy again, etc.) and mess up a nerve and that causes the shingles or something. Shingles can cause permanent nerve damage in old folks, even when they’re not…active. Zovirax is nice. My father has to take a 200mg+ pill every day, his cold sores were constant and so bad they were scarring his upper lip (so he infected mother and I). Real nasty. Sorry my information isn’t really…exact, but I was getting a flu shot and blood drawn soon after that and was rather panicky.
When you get infected with the herpes virus, it migrates to the nearest ganglion - with oral herpes, it’s in the jaw, while with genital, it’s in the pelvic area. It sets up camp in the nerve cells there and lives a happy quiet life until it gets reactivated. That process is poorly understood, but there are lots of triggers that can set it off, including stress and UV light. Then it travels back down the nerves to the nerve ends and causes a sore. There appears to be some memory process there, because the sores usually reappear in exactly the same places, often the site of the original infection. Anyway, even if you kill the viruses at the sore, there are always plenty more hanging out back home in the ganglion, which is why the treatments out there aren’t permanent cures.
Oh, and we did an experiment in one of my labs once testing the effect of lysine on herpes reproduction. We found that it had exactly zero effect. But, overall, results are inconclusive.
The Merck manual on the herpes viruses: http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section13/chapter162/162c.htm
I know, Smeghead, that you can never get rid of the virsues once they’ve ensconsed in your body, but you can get rid of the active ones by zovirax, Curasore (ether), or hydrocortisone. Hydrocortisone is not as good as the other two, since it is merely an anti-inflammatory.
I didn’t start getting any symptoms either until I was in high school. I don’t know how I got it. Most people have it. I don’t know the percentage, but it is very common. Sailor, since ether kills viruses, I see no reason why Curasore won’t work. I’m going to search for shingles and see what I get.
Mr. Zambesi, I don’t know how you got zovirax so cheap. When I got it, it was a salve, and wasn’t in pills, and a small tube cost me over $20.
Shingles is caused by herpes simplex: http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section13/chapter162/162c.htm
I’ll search for canker sores now.