And yes, Herpes Simplex counts too.
I have that, also known as Type 1.
I just learned about a year ago that coldsores were a type of Herpes. Heh, guess I’m a bit slow.
I don’t. (DON’T. DON’T. Not that that there’s anything wrong with that.) But I do have a herpes story to impart.
I once e-mailed a guy on an internet dating site whose profile title was something like “437737 reasons to choose me!” or whatever, and talked to him for a couple months even before he said “Er, did you notice anything… unusual about my profile?” No… So he tells me, the number is a secret code amongst herpes sufferers - it’s “herpes” on the phone dial. Interestingly enough, at the time a Google revealed nothing (this was probably in 2000 or 2001) and now it’s full of herpes references. But at the time, I bet he never did find any fellow sufferers, because it didn’t just seem to be common usage.
So now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
My missus does (she got it from her mommy kissing her).
So far, I have resisted infection. But when Amber has a cold sore breakout, we’re really, really careful.
I get them on my mouth – type 1 I guess. (?) I’ve gotten them literally for as long as I can remember (I think the first one was maybe age 4 or 5, could be earlier). They used to be kinda rare as a kid (except I’d always have one on school picture day it seemed), and got really bad as I got older, with the worst of it being around when I hit 20-21, and now that I’m almost 25 I get them maybe twice a year, and only if I irritate the skin severely or get under severe emotional distress.
I’m usually pretty careful about kissing the (present or past) boyfriend when I have them on my mouth, but a couple of them have just not cared, and would kiss me anyway. Mine are pretty painful though so it was never like smear my face all over yours kissing or anything. But I wonder sometimes if I have a mutant version of it that’s not as contagious, because of all the guys I’ve dated/kissed, none of them I’ve ever known to get cold sores before or after they kissed me. Maybe they have and I never found out about it, but I’m still on friendly terms with most of them and never gotten any nasty letters. I’ve read some people have a natural immunity to the virus (sorry, don’t recall where I read that) but it seems odd that they all would be.
I’ve also noticed as I’ve gotten older, they heal faster and don’t get as bad when they do show up. I use that Abreva medicine right now, it’s OTC, and it seems to work really well for the pain. I slather it on about once every couple hours and the things seem to start to heal over much faster than on their own. But better is the fact that I just don’t seem to get them hardly at all anymore.
What’s the big deal about cold sores? They’re annoying and painful but nothing worse. They won’t kill you or do permanent harm. Or am I mistaken?
Same here. I found a picture of me in the 4th grade and there’s two small outbreaks about an inch below my lower lip. I always hated getting them in the corners of my mouth.
Last year, I had an especially nasty outbreak with FIVE(!) separate sores including one at each corner! It looked like I’d try to kiss the moving blades of a blender.
I’ve tried various medicines, but they’d dry out the sore making it even more painful. Now I just let them run their course.
Ever since I was a little kid, I’d get occasional sores on the inside of my mouth. They usually only appear when I’m stressed or or already weakened by something else, leading me to the conclusion that my body is backstabbing bastard.
My wife has also had them since long before we met.
According to what I remember reading, if you’ve had Type 1 (cold sores), then you have herpes and always will, even if it remains mostly dormant. I’ve had some cold sores in the past (TMI warning!), one of which spread up across my lip and inside my nose. That was lots of fun, I gotta tell ya. But it’s been years and years since I had a recurrence. I haven’t had a cold sore in the 6 1/2 years I’ve been married, and I’ll be real happy if it stays that way!
You’re mistaken. If they get up your nose or in your eyes they can get in your brain and form lesions. We had a guy with them on the neurological ward I work on – not a pretty sight.
can they go away?
because I remember having cold sores a lot when I was a kid but it has been around five years since I’ve had one.
never really thought about it till now
They can lie dormant, but they’re a virus, they’ll never go away. The good news is that they’re not contagious when they’re not there.
I’ve had shingles 3 -count 'em, THREE- times. That’s a form of herpes.
Funny cold sore story . . . my dad gave my mom the virus when they teenagers. She gets an average of 2 or 3 a year and he hasn’t had one since then.
:smack: And it comes from having chicken pox, which is also a form of herpes. I’d bet that damn near every doper has had chicken pox, and since it never technically leaves your body, you’ll have to be more specific when you ask “do you have herpes?” 
Are they round with white-ish edges? You often get them from trauma - you bite your lip and instead of healing it becomes a sore? Those aren’t cold sores, which are caused by a herpes virus, they’re canker sores, which nobody knows what causes them. Switching to a toothpaste without sodium laurel sulphate helps a lot.
Isn’t that what makes toothpaste foamy? Where can I find a brand without it? I’ve always felt that, no matter how much I rinse, I can’t get the toothpaste taste out of my mouth until I eat something, which is always annoying and often inconvenient.
And this is common where you work?
Not that common, fortunately, but it does happen.
I too still have the *herpes zoster * virus running around inside my body after a couple of bouts of shingles.
I use the Rembrandt “for canker sore sufferers” kind - it’s for some reason a little harder to find than their other kinds, but drugstores have it. It still has flouride, but no SLS. It really does work - I used to get a bad canker sore maybe once every other month or so, and I haven’t had one now since August! The ones I’ve gotten since I started have been the “stress” kind - when I’ve been traveling. I hear Tom’s of Maine also has one without SLS, but I havne’t tried it. The Rembrandt kind is a little expensive, but soooo totally worth it.
They can be spread to the genital areas by oral sex. They tend to be a little more annoying and painful there than on your face.