Cold sores or fever blisters are a very common viral infection that are on or around your lips. They’re caused by a herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) and are spread very easily by kissing, sharing drinks, utensils or using the same chapstick.

Symptoms and Stages

A cold sore usually passes through several stages:

• Tingling and itching. Many people feel an itching, burning or tingling sensation around their lips for a day or so before a cold sore appears. It can also feel like a sharp lightning pain and be accompanied by swelling.
• Blisters. Clusters of small fluid-filled blisters typically break out along the border where the outside edge of the lips meets the skin of the face.
• Oozing and crusting. The small blisters may merge and then burst, leaving shallow open sores that will ooze fluid and then crust over.

Once you get the HS-1 virus, it can’t be cured. Once the sores have healed, the virus remains dormant in your body. (Just like shingles). This means that new sores can appear at any time when the virus reactivates.

Treatment

Although there is no cure for cold sores there are a few things to shorten the outbreak.

• Taking L-Lysine at the start of an outbreak can cut the outbreak in half. Also using lysine lip balm can help as well!

• Aloe vera, the cooling gel found inside the leaves of the aloe plant, may bring cold sore relief.

• Witch hazel is known to dry up the cold sore and possibly cut the healing time.
  

• Cold sores can also be treated with oral antiviral medications, such as Zovirax, Valtrex, and Famvir. These drugs are available by prescription only.
  

• Chiropractic. Adjusting the upper cervical complex can help the nerve response to the cold sore. (As the virus lives in the nerve root.)

What Foods to Stay Away From

Some foods are important to stay away from when you have a cold sore! Stay away from L-arginine foods as they are low in lysine and can cause or worsen a cold sore. Some of the most common ones are:

• Most nuts (especially peanuts and peanut butter!)
• Most seeds
• Soybeans
• Turkey
• Pork

Causes

Once you have the virus, you are prone to getting cold sores periodically. Some reasons you can be more susceptible to getting a cold sore again can be due to:
-Stress
-Extreme heat or being in the sun too long
-Having a fever for a long period of time
-Dental work
-Menstruation
-Chemotherapy

Prevention

1. When you feel the first signs of a cold sore, start taking L-lysine.
2. Use witch hazel to help keep the sore dry.
3. Make sure you don’t, touch the area, kiss anyone or share anything with others, so you do not spread the virus!
4. Get adjusted! When the nervous system is functioning at the best it can, it will heal quicker.

If you have any questions on how chiropractic heals the body or how it can help before, during and after a cold sore outbreak give us or a chiropractor near you a call! The nervous system can become over stressed, and since the virus lies dormant in the nerve roots, cold sores can be expressed. Staying well adjusted can decrease the number of outbreaks you can have.

~Dr. Lacey~
Carder Chiropractic Clinic, INC.
El Reno, OK 73036