How to Get Rid of Cold Sores

Many people do not know how to get rid of cold sores, and so they suffer from severe outbreaks without knowing how to minimize or even eliminate these symptoms. There are many different things that you can do to keep from breaking out in these painful fluid filled blisters. Diet and exercise, as well as daily habits, play a big part in triggering outbreaks from this virus. Cold sores are caused by a strain of the herpes simplex virus, and this virus can lie dormant in your body for long periods, but when it becomes active it causes clusters of fluid filled blisters around the outside of the mouth, as well as in the interior lining. Eliminating the triggers of these outbreaks can help keep them from happening, reducing both the number of outbreaks and the severity of them when they do happen.

Your doctor can be an important resource for anyone who wants to know how to get rid of cold sores. There are herbal remedies and over the counter creams and pills that can help to relieve pain and swelling, but if you suffer from frequent and severe outbreaks, an antiviral medication may be necessary to lower the viral level in your system. This can be done with a prescription from your doctor, but any prescription may have unpleasant side effects, so natural, home, and herbal remedies should be used in all but the most severe cases.

There are many different factors involved in how to get rid of cold sores, and these include diet, daily activities, exercise, stress levels, and more. Treatments can include rinsing or swishing with certain herbal or home solutions, putting creams or ointments on the blisters, using witch hazel or tea bags to dry up the blisters, and taking certain herbs which help to fight viral infections and boost your immune system. Echinacea is a great immune booster, and so is lemon balm, when taken as a tea. A combination of different treatments may be more effective than any single treatment alone, and each specific person will respond differently to a treatment. Trying different treatments will allow you to discard ones which are not effective and keep ones which work for you.