Lysine For Cold Sores - Good Remedy For A Bad Cold Sore
By Denny Bodoh
Lysine and cold sores are enemies. Read this article now. You will finally know what works and what does not when using lysine for cold sores.
Lysine for cold sores is much talked about these days. The truth is - lab and empirical data strongly support the use of lysine for cold sores.
Why can lysine stop cold sore, fever blister or oral herpes outbreaks? How do I use it for best results?
Good questions for sure.
But before we look at the use of lysine for cold sores, we should first understand the actual cause of a cold sore.
The primary cause of all cold sore events is the herpes simplex virus. Whether you call them cold sores, fever blisters, or oral herpes outbreaks, they are all the same thing.
An extremely contagious virus, it currently infects about 89% of humans around the world. The majority of these people catch the herpes simplex virus before 12 years of age.
For most of your life, the herpes virus is hiding in the nerve roots. For facial sores, the virus resides behind the ear, in the nerve ganglia. If the virus stays latent, you will never experience a cold sore.
The herpes simplex virus will become active to produce new virus. Since it lives in the nerves, it can quickly tell when your immunity drops. Stress of any sort can create the right conditions for cold sores to happen.
Herpes virus moves to the surface through the set of nerve fibers that it has chosen to occupy. At the surface, each virus particle picks out a nerve cell to enter.
Each virus then forces that cell to act as a virus factory and construct herpes virus clones. When the cell is swollen with fresh virus, it is destroyed to free the new virus.
The cold sore is a large ulcerated wound caused the disintegration of a huge group of surface nerve cells.
Arginine, an amino acid, is the main ingredient your cells need to create this new herpes virus. Arginine is a common protein found in many foods. Chocolate and nuts are quite rich in this protein.
Your cells will store arginine in a specific spot within the cell membrane.
Lysine is also an essential amino acid. Dairy and fish are good sources of lysine. New herpes virus can not be created using lysine. It is like putting water in your gas tank.
Lysine and arginine share the same storage area in your cells. The more lysine you put in storage, the less room for arginine.
Reducing your arginine supplies by increasing lysine intake is a trick many folks use to stop herpes virus activity and support quick healing. It can also prevent future cold sore events by starving the herpes virus of the fuel it needs.
Lysine and arginine fight each other. Increase lysine in your diet with vegetables, fish and dairy products. Decrease arginine in your diet by leaving out arginine foods such as chocolate, nuts and grains.
But, modifying your way of eating for the sake of fighting cold sore, fever blister or oral herpes outbreaks is usually not convenient or fun. I prefer lysine supplements. They are easy to find, quite cheap and convenient.
With lysine capsules, you can change your intake based on your need. And you often do not have to give up the foods you love, such as chocolate or nuts.
Two to five grams (2000 to 5000 milligrams) is a common dosage during an oral herpes cold sore outbreak. Between sores, folks take 500 to 1000 milligrams per day as prevention maintenance.
But, this is where you need to be careful.
Lysine for cold sores is awesome when taken as an internal remedy. But it has not been very effective when put directly on the sore.
I mention this because you will find cold sore remedies at the store that contain lysine. These are designed to put directly on the sore. The lysine does not absorb and get into the cells this way. Save your money.
Lysine for cold sores is one of the better cold sore remedies for you, if used as outlined above.
There is much more I could share about lysine for cold sores and several other good cold sore remedies that honestly work. Unfortunately there is not enough room here.
If you are a victim of long duration or frequent cold sore events, lysine is an excellent choice. But do not stop there. There are many other great cold sore remedies. You may find some will work even better for you than lysine for cold sores.
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