I think I’ve only gotten like one of these in my entire life, but I have one that simply won’t go away (I’m pretty convinced I got it from the cooler, dry weather of the last few months). It was bad for a while, then started to go away, and I was using Neosporin figuring that would keep my lip from chapping and making it worse, and help it to heal. Well, it’s still just lingering on the edge of finally going away, and it’s been this way for a few weeks now.
Can anyone recommend either a good treatment or a good medication to get rid of this damn thing?
I don’t know what medication might help, but the environment of the mouth is a terrible place for sores to heal. You know how your doctor tells you to keep a cut cool & dry after he finishes bandaging it? Well, cool & dry are two things the mouth almost never is.
If the sore is inside the mouth, I’ve found that a salt water gargle just before bedtime helps speed the healing process (I assume the salt helps dessicate the tissues of the mouth & throat as well as provide a non-habitable place for cooties to grow).
Perhaps the good doc will be along shortly to offer up some advice on OTC remedy.
ABREVA – get it immediately. That’s the fastest cure I’ve found. It’s a bit pricey for cold-sore medication (around $15) but it gets rid of it within three days tops. Everything else takes around a week.
I’m guessing it’s not a cold sore, Esprix. You probably would have had one earlier in life (they’re a form of herpes – the childhood disease one from Chicken pox or whatever). You could try one of those over-the-counter remedies that supposedly suppresses the virus. They’re supposed to work very quickly (I’ve never had one).
I 2nd Abreva… the only thing that I don’t like is that it can dry out your lip pretty bad if you use it for a few days…
but keep it somewhere where you know you will be able to find it later… it is a very small tube…
but when you first feel one coming on, use abreva… and it doesn’t come out…
Attrayant, it’s on the left side of my mouth, right in the corner. It isn’t a kanker sore - I get those fairly regularly on the inside of my mouth. Those are a bitch, too. Salt water does help, and I also use a toothpaste with peroxide and rinse with a peroxide wash whenever I feel them coming on or if I have one. Seems to work a little bit, but I’ve found you just need to wait them out, no matter how painful they are.
Gundy, I’d heard the name - I may give it a try.
Kalhoun, it is definitely a cold sore. I’ve tried a couple different things in the past for my kanker sores (I’m assuming their related), such as L-Lysine - what over-the-counter remedies are you speaking of? None have ever really worked for me.
Esprix this will stop them very quickly if treated early.
“Zovirax is a prescription cream medication that is effective in the initial phases of genital herpes and in the treatment of mouth ulcers and lip blisters caused by the herpes simplex virus.”
Famvir is a treatment for all forms of herpes simplex virus I and II. Simplex I are sores in and around the mouth and Simplex II is … you know…[sub]down there [/sub].
I got a cold sore a few months ago. I happen to be in for a physical and the Doc said hey there is a new medication out for that called Famvir. Ten times better than zovirax, and works much quicker. Not topical either, but a capsul.
Check it out. I was so amazed I got a second script in case I get another one.
By the way. I am more skeeved out that simplex I, a.k.a cold sores are associated with herpes. Not chicken pox.
A natural remedy that I use is Lysine amino acid supplement. They sell a cream with it in it. I’ve had a cold sore disappear in 1 day from using the stuff. I also take a lysine pill occasionally if I’m under stress or in the sun for too long.
I have also noted a marked decrease in the number of cold sores I get since I started taking a Vit. B supplement every day. Now I only get them when I forget my Vit. B (business trips, holidays). My friend swears by a 6 month Vit B. shot from her doctor for the same thing.
There were studies done that showed both of those helped, and a few more that showed they did not. But I used to get sores 3 to 4 times a year since I was 10, and as soon as I started using Vit. B and Lysine, that dropped to once a year (going on 6 years now). So, YMMV, but it works for me and a few friends.
Cold sores and canker sores are different. Cold sores are caused by the Herpes simplex virus (type I is generally on the mouth, and type II is generally on the genetals, but either can occur in either location). I don’t remember what causes canker sores, but now that is see this, it looks like no one knows for sure.
Herpes zoster is what causes chicken pox and shingles.
I get these maybe once or twice a year, usually because of the weather. I use Carmex (have some from when I had a sore on my lip just two weeks ago) it says right on the lid that it’s $1.29. Also apply rubbing alcohol with a cotton ball. If I’m vigilant with the Carmex all day, and rubbing alcohol when I wake up and before I go to bed, I’m able to get rid of them in 3-4 days.
While you have a cold sore, do everybody a favor: do not kiss anyone, do not drink out of someone else’s glass, and anything else that would involve your mouth touching something someone else’s mouth would also touch. It sucks to have a cold sore, and no one wants you passing it on.
I have also heard that it can be spread to the genitals.
Chicken pox and cold sores are caused by different viruses, but they’re related. They’re in the same family, but one virus only causes the one disease.
OTOH, genital herpes and cold sores are caused by two viruses that are so similar that either one can infect both sites.
Salt water does help, and I also use a toothpaste with peroxide and rinse with a peroxide wash whenever I feel them coming on or if I have one. Seems to work a little bit, but I’ve found you just need to wait them out, no matter how painful they are. 