Cold sore prevention
At least twice a year - winter and summer - I suffer from cold sores on my bottom lip. As soon as the tingling starts, I treat it with Zovirax or an iodine ointment but it still runs its course. Can you suggest anything I can use to stop this happening with such annoying regularity?
Cold sores are caused by the Herpes virus - a different strain of which is also responsible for genital herpes. The word Herpes comes from the Greek meaning “to creep” and for the eight in 10 adults who have this usually dormant viral infection, that’s just what a developing cold sore feels like.
The nutritional supplement you can use to help reduce the regularity of outbreaks is called Lysine. This is one of the essential amino acids, which means the body cannot make it but must source it from the diet. In double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials where adults took large doses (1g three times a day) for six months, all the participants who took this supplement reported fewer outbreaks, less severity when they did get a sore and faster healing times.
How it works has not been established but the most popular theory is that the Lysine works to inhibit arginine - another amino acid that the virus utilises to replicate itself and maintain an infection.
I cannot tell you the exact contents of the natural remedy I use because the US makers will not reveal a formulation that other manufacturers will copy. What I can tell you is that like Lysine, it works to reduce the number of outbreaks and the length of time a cold sore lasts.
The name of this remedy is ViraMedx. It is described as a mix of phytochemicals and is sold with the promise that once you have treated a sore in a particular place, it disables the virus to such an extent you will not get another sore in that exact spot again. And as with Zovirax, the earlier you catch the infection the quicker you can zap it.
*ViraMedx costs £17.95 for 3ml. Mail order from Victoria Health on 0800-413596, and since you apply at regular intervals to keep the sore site covered, you will use a bottle per outbreak. Lysine is widely on sale in healthstores and has no known toxicity in humans.