Funny cold sore story (share yours)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So I’m a guy and I have a grape sized upper lip right now from a godforsaken cold sore. This is the 3rd time in my life I’ve ever had one (I’m 38). Made it through the first 34 years of my life without one and then my wife gave me the gift that keeps on giving.

Now, most women don’t realize this (or would deny it) but these are FACTS about cold sores:

Girls who have cold sores look like girls who have cold sores. No big deal, lots of women get them. They are not unusual to see and don’t jump out in your face. Yeah, they are gnarly looking but they don’t raise eyebrows. Most people aren’t going to ask a woman “What is THAT thing on your face?”

Guys who have cold sores look like guys who have STDs. Cold sores are FAR more commonly found on females than males. This makes them stand out like a bright red light on our faces. They are guaranteed to cause random people to come up to you and ask “What is THAT thing on your face?”

Now, I’m not a really vain guy but I’ll admit, these motherfuckers really get me down in a big way and make me more self conscious than any other malady. I’ve only ever had 2 others, but they come in BIG and stick around a LONG time before the swelling drops. My wife gets them ever couple months but they last a few days and are gone, no drama.

So I work in a professional office environment and have spent the last few days trying to anchor myself at my desk and avoid the stares and comments about this thing. It’s cool. I understand it’s not something that is on my face every day. And it’s massive, with bright yellow frosting coming out, and a slimy stache starting to poke through because I can’t shave it. It’s going to draw attention in one on one conversation.

I’m on day 4 of this thing and it’s gotten me down. Can’t kiss my wife. No sex drive because I feel like the elephant man only my elephant disease is contagious. I have to go to dinner with my daughters HS cross country team tonight and sit with a bunch of moms who don’t know me but will definitely remember me… Ya know? Kinda down?

I look in the mirror in the bathroom at work on my way to go to the cafeteria. I think to myself “Hey, the swelling looks like it MAY be subsiding. Finally”. Still looks gnarly but I’m thinking I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I stroll over to the cafeteria and up to the deli. Same lady (60ish yr old New Joyzee type) is working there that’s there every day when I go get my sam.

I stroll up to the counter, in a crowded lunch line, she says “Hi Cubsfan” and then, without pause, rolls right into…

What happened to your mouth? You get hit in the face with a hockey stick? Did you need stitches? And has a short conversation with me about it while making my sandwich.

:confused:

:frowning:

All I could do when I left the cafeteria was laugh about it. It was surreal and sitcom-ish. I really can’t stop laughing about it.

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

…

2

Get some acyclovir! It’s cheap and it will knock it out super fast as soon as you feel it coming on.

3

I share some of your pain. My most recent cold sore, maybe my fifth ever, was brought on by sunburn. Did you know sunburn+stress= disgusting lip blister? And it happened right as I was starting a new job (stress) and making first impressions on all my new colleagues and contacts. Ack, so awful. And it seems to have left a scar.

4

Acyclovir seconded!

Get into a habit of checking your lip in the mirror every time you use the restroom. The moment you see a spot, start the meds. Acyclovir stops it in its tracks then knocks that shit out quick.

Another thing that helps some apparently is keeping your Lysine-Arginine ratio in favor of Lysine. Lysine supplements will help this as well as knowing which foods have good and bad ratios of lysine to arginine.

On days that I am sorely lacking sleep, abnormally stressed, and/or sick, I will take extra lysine and a precautionary acyclovir.

If you get multiple cold sores per year, consider suppression therapy… Taking daily meds.

The last cold sore I had looked no worse than a little pimple on my lip and lasted only 3-4 days (although in abundance of caution the “no kissing” rule was in effect for a week after it cleared up).

In all, for me, it has amounted to nothing more than developing some new daily monitoring habits and some occasional protocols to implement during a breakout.

5

Abreva makes a little patch to cover and treat.

Also, everyone with a cold sore, looks like they have a cold sore. Things happen.

The proper response to “what’s that on your mouth?” (or any question about any skin condition) is “leprosy”. People shouldn’t be fucking nosy.

6

This seems to be a once a year thing ish, so I don’t think I need a daily medication.

But when I get them I look like I got hit in the face with a fucking hockey stick.

Apparently.

7

Then ask the mods for a name change to BlackHawksfan. As an added bonus, you’ll get to expand your vocabulary with fun & exciting new words, like “post-season” & “playoffs”. :stuck_out_tongue:

8

Don’t take it daily, just when you need it. It will shorten the time it lasts.

9

I’ve got a strain of herp in a much more hidden location. Ahem. Anyway, when I feel an outbreak coming on I hit it with Bactine. Soak a cotton pad and then rub the area down for a minute. Soak another one, and repeat. Generally I do this twice on the first day, then again the next day, and that usually stops the outbreak cold.

10

Well, just sit right there and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful, uh, sore…

You will feel lucky to be you after you hear this. I am the freakiest of the freaks, apparently. I used to get just your normal basic cold sores, around my mouth. Not even very often, especially after a couple years, it had really gotten kind of uncommon, even. And then…
I started getting them in random places on my face/head. I got them on the inside rim of both eyelids (not at one time). I got one inside my ear (painful!). One on the tip of my nose. One on the bridge of my nose. One on my forehead. None of these all at once, just one at a time, every couple of months one would pop up in these weird places. I even started getting them in my armpits! (itchy and painful!)

As I do, I tried to research this strange happening on the internet. I found nothing… except one reference to them in the armpits, apparently as a result of young people these days having armpit sex! Armpit sex?? I’m not even having regular sex, much less armpit sex! How would that even… armpit sex?

So I asked my regular doctor to give me a prescription for daily Valtrex to put a stop to this, before I get one on my actual eyeball and go blind… nope. She didn’t believe me that that is what it is. I asked my gynecologist to prescribe it for me, but nope, she didn’t believe me that that is what it is… apparently I am really a freak now and need to be in some kind of sideshow. I went to a dermatologist, who actually believed me that I know what I’m dealing with here, and even though it is a very unusual thing to be happening, I got my Rx. My next step was to buy it off the internet, so I’m glad he came through for me.

So yeah. I’m now officially a weirdo. I long for the days when they would just pop up on my lip- you’re so lucky!

11

If you take it at the first cold-sore tingle, it can prevent it or make it less large. And of course shorten the time it lasts.

12

Also: If at all possible Get yourself some “outbreak” face clothes, towels, and pillow cases. Preferably white, as nasty as the stains look. As soon as you become aware of an outbreak… tingle/dryness feeling, whatever, switch to those linens. Replace towel, facecloth, pillowcase daily. Wash with hot water and bleach. Put these away, use only for outbreak situations. When your outbreak is over replace your tooth brush and tooth paste.

Using the special linen is an extra reminder to yourself and family to be extra clean. Using super clean fresh linens that are the same as your regular towels is fine, but in general special linens is an extra reminder. Also decreases the chance you will spread infections around and end up with infection erupting elsewhere on your face if you have a shaving knick, a pimple, or other sore. Also at the first sign of a cold with runny nose I keep the area moisturized, I just use plain old vaseline. Reducing skin irritation keeps my cold sore from erupting.

All said though, that is symptom management. For treatment get the acyclovir /valcyclovir.
And ffs wash your hands, and don’t touch the thing!