It sure seems like cold sores pop up when you least expect them. They tend to give you pain and can be very embarrassing. And the first you want to do is make them go away. When cold sores appear your body is saying “hey there is something wrong here”. Slow down and take a break. There is something you can do.



Stress is the main impact on your body. It cause damage to your pH balance, hormones and immune systems. So, a cold or flu prompts a cold sore. This is due to the herpes virus hat falls dormant in your nerve cells. It is awakened by a rise in body temperature, increase in stress levels, decrease in immune system or a change in the pH of you body. The virus will make its move to the skin surface through nerve fibers. The cold sore will occur, when it is reached.

In order for you to treat them effectively you need to understand what a cold sore needs to thrive. Firstly, the virus needs lots of the protein arginine in the cell for it to produce new herpes viruses. To counteract arginine you can increase your lysine intake. Lysine is another protein that competes with arginine for absorption, thus decreasing or even preventing the ability of the cell to produce duplicates of the herpes virus. In other words, when the virus reaches the skin surface and finds the cells lacking arginine it will withdraw.

Foods like cheese, milk, yogurt and meats contain high lysine. It is suggested that you take 1000 milligrams to 3000 milligrams of lysine during or before cold sore period and it is also available in supplement form. Avoid foods, which contains high amounts of arginine such as nuts, seeds, grains and chocolates.

The cause of a cold sore, the Herpes virus, develops & like the warmth & moisture environment. So once you even doubt that you have or going to have cold sore, you should try your best to keep the area cold. You can try anything which you feel can create a cold environment.

Thirdly, a pH balance below 7 can cause the onset of a cold sore. Things like stress and colds or too much sun can cause your body's pH to drop below 7. This results in the perfect environment for a cold sore to develop. When you have a cold sore keep away form any acidic foods such as tomatoes, citrus, carbonated drinks or vinegar, no acid foods should touch the it.

In spite of taking all the precautions it is important to have good personal hygiene through regular washing of hands and by cleaning the cold sore with hydrogen peroxide. This greatly reduces the occurrences of a cold sore.

Having one is not fun and you have just read all you need to know to cure your cold sore quickly. Following all the advice given here will shorten the duration of your unwelcome cold sore by half!