What are early remedies for cold sores?

carmex...works like a dream

go to the health food store and ask for lysine cream.

I put neosporin on everything that is split or cut or hurts or is bumped. It heals things quickly and has numbing agents to ease pain. At least until you can get cold sore medication, or something.

Honey. My 86yr old mother said.

The quickest way - tested and works by me and my dad is take one asprin a day when you feel it coming on. Also you can use Abreva - it is this tiny little blue tube sold in drug stoes and it gets rid of it the fastest - that is the only way. You can also use Carmex lip balm for cold sores (comes in a little yellow lid tin)

Also I have heard of this supplement and I know it works:
Lysine by eHow Friend (cut off of a site)
This pill-form amino acid (produced by the body) can substantially limit the size, duration, occurrence, severity of a cold sore breakout. At onset I will take 4 times the daily allowance twice or three times a day (this could be overkill) and cold sores never fully develop, or break open as is common. Be careful to get a high quality pill. Pills with too much cellulose can cause intestinal upset. It also fights warts, believe it or not

Abreva as soon as you feel it tingle. A lot of ice to help with the swelling. Don't break the blister or else it will spread. Good luck.

Have a "kissing session"...or that's what they call it! It's when you hold ice on the sore for a while. I usually wrap a wet cloth on an ice cube and put it on the infected spot for 10-15 min, two or three times during the day. It works like a charm, if you catch the sore in its early stages. It should be gone the next day. Even if you catch it late, the ice makes it less severe. TRY IT, IT DOES WORK!

abrevia is a good product but it's pricey. Blistex also works well. Get a bottle of Hydrogen peroxide at the drug store it's about 47 cents at Walmart and dab it on the cold sore five or six times a day until it's healed. Don't pick at it or it will get worse. And wash your hands everytime you touch it or it will spread. Don't kill anyone or you will give it to them.

If you can catch it the minute you begin to feel that "Tingle", you can prevent it from getting so big, and possibly shorten the length you have it. Apply "Abreva" (sold in all drug stores) as soon as possible.
To prevent future outbreaks--apply lip balm, such as Chap-stick with sunscreen in it, or you can just use plain old sunblock. I just prefer the convenience of the Chap-stick.
Heat is what causes outbreaks to surface so avoid sun-burning, fevers, very hot foods, etc.
Good Luck!!

a kiss

Hydrogen peroxide 3% . A bottle cost about a dollar and it is the best . dab your cold sore with it three times a day and it will be gone in a couple of days .

first, don't pick at it, go to walgreens and get some ABREVA, it's almost ten dollars and well worth it

no remendy, but a good story:

Two cowboys arrive outside the saloon, dismount and tie the horses to the rail.
One cowboy walks behind his horse, sticks his fore finger into the horse's butt and then wiped the coated finger across his lips.

The other cowboy says Wheew, why did you do that?
First wrangler replies: '"Chapped lips"
Second asks: does that cure them??
First replies--No, but it sure does keep me from licking them!

hold an ice cube on it

Okay, this is going to sound really gross. My Chiropracter turned me onto this years ago and it really works. Something to do with the bodies ability to heal itself.

Use earwax, yes, earwax. Your own of course. Use a Qtip to remove it from your ear and apply directly to the blister. Do NOT put the Qtip back in your ear after touching the blister. This also works really well if you apply it to the area before the blister appears, as soon as you feel tingling.

I use abreva as soon as my lip starts to feel a lil funny and the cold soare never shoes up. If your in a tight spot and you can't get to any for a while. Usually with abreva cold sores that are visible last about 2 days.

I am prone to them Eat Yogurt ! it really works ! its cheap & very good for you.

All of the answers are quite good, lisine tablets,abreva is good but pricey. I do the lisine and when the blister 1st appears it sounds groce, but try to pierce the blister, and then take a q-tip, and dab alcohol onto the open spot. It sterilizes the blister and helps in the itchy feeling going on. It is itching, and hurting right? This burns for just a few seconds but it will help dry the blister up, and then the abreva, or I use saymann salve from Wal-Mart pharmacy it works wonders.(you have to have the pharmacist get the salve for you) This salve works great on fever blisters, chapped lips, burns, bites, etc etc, to many to mention, it pretty cheap and lasts forever!!! Good Luck!

What you need to do is go to the doctor and they will give you meds for it. You know its a form of herpes. Valtrex is a good med for it. Also they will give you a cream to put on it to ease the pain. I

It's not a very well-known remedy in the West, but where I come from, riboflavin, otherwise known as vitamin B2, will cure a cold sore very quickly. You can find vitamin tablets of vitamin B2 in any drug store or pharmacy. Take one a day for prevention, and you can crush one up and mix with water to make a paste to put directly on the cold sores already there.

Take Lysine pills. Works for me. Seems to heal them faster. Also, when first feel the tinkle of one coming on, apply ice. Finally, try to rest. I think can be caused by stress/exhaustion.

Try usng Abreva! It works double strength

dont dab peroxide on any infection it spreads the germs it doesnt kill all of the virus so it comes out on the other lip thers a few good new things at the pharmacy

Cold sores are a type of facial lesion that are found either on the lips or else on the skin in the area immediately adjacent to the mouth. Some equivalent terms that are used to refer to cold sores are "fever blisters" and the medical term "recurrent herpes labialis."


Cold sores are usually found either:
On or at the edge of a person's lip.
On the facial skin near a person's mouth.
While there is no cure for cold sores (fever blisters) there are medications and remedies that can be useful in their treatment and management. On this page you will find a discussion about some of the different types of over-the-counter cold sore medications that are available, and also the rationale behind some common cold sore home remedies.

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Home remedies for cold sores.
While none of the remedies listed below have been scientifically proven to cure or shorten the duration of cold sores many people do feel that they find them to be beneficial .




Apply ice to cold sores.
The benefits of ice are thought to be twofold.
Applying ice (for five to ten minutes each hour) during the Tingle stage will lower the temperature of the tissue where the cold sore is forming. This temperature reduction will reduce the area's metabolic rate and therefore, in turn, stifle the cold sore's development.
Intermittent application of ice to a cold sore can act as a numbing agent and therefore lessen its pain and itching.


Apply a tea bag to the area where a cold sore is forming.
Tea contains tannic acid and it has been suggested that tannic acid possesses antiviral properties (some over-the-counter medications for cold sores contain tannic acid). Placing a tea bag on a cold sore when it first begins to form (especially during the Tingle stage) can possibly help to minimize the extent to which the lesion will develop. One should position the moistened tea bag (regular black tea like that used to brew ice tea) on the area where the cold sore is forming for a few minutes every hour.


Coat a cold sore with petroleum jelly.
Moisturizing agents such as petroleum jelly can be applied to cold sore scabs. This will moisturize and soften them so to help to prevent them from cracking and bleeding.

raw egg on area.

those are the symptons!

This will probably freak you out ... cause it freaks everyone out that i tell this to. But i swear it truly works. Use preparation H. I know i know... you don't want to put butt cream on your mouth. It's not like you have to put it on your butt first. And it really does work and fast. After all that's what it is made for to shrink sores. Try it and i guarantee it will work. And i promise your lips won't pucker. LOL. Seriously it really works. If you don't want to do that then try any of the other suggestions i am sure they work too.

glycerine is the thing you are looking for

I've had cold sores off and on for years. When I feel the first tingle and small knot inside my lip, I start plastering on Carmex to the spot and about 3/8" around it. I use it two or three times a day and the tingle goes away without erupting in about half the cases, and it erupts a slight bit and goes away in up to 4 or 5 days the rest of the time.

BTW: I always use a clean, fresh finger to dip the Carmex from the small lidded bottle or the tube. If I don't get enough with the first finger I dip, I dip the next finger rather than touch my "exposed" finger back onto the Carmex. And if someone asks to use some of my Carmex and double-dips, I give the Carmex to that person. I'd rather buy a fresh tube or bottle for about a buck and a half than complicate the rare occurrences.

I have been prone to cold sores all of my life. The best remedy I have found is L-Lysine which is an amino acid naturally produced by the body. When you are affected by the virus which causes the cold sore, the levels of this amino acid produced by your body has dropped. I generally take at least 1000 mg per day, as part of my vitamin and mineral intake. When I am going to be going through a very stressful time I will up my intake to 2000mg per day for four or five days before the peak of stress and several days thereafter. This past weekend from Thursday through Sunday I actually upped my intake even more as I was traveling for business for the initial two days and then Saturday and Sunday I was helping some friends of mine move to a new home a couple of hundred miles away. I actually upped my intake to 3000mg per day and did not have one single cold sore when all was said and done and I was headed home. During an outbreak you can actually dry up the sore(s) by crushing a lysine tablet and putting the powder on the sores. I did notice that someone else had suggested the use of hydrogen peroxide, which will dry up the sores, but will actually break down healthy tissue as well and can cause more scarring. This is something that has only been proven by the medical profession within the last year, and not everyone is aware of it. I have a son who is a doctor and many friends who are nurses and paramedics this is how I learned of the negatives of peroxide. I purchase the lysine at Walmart it is a Rexall product. Their toll-free number is 1-877-273-9255 and their website is rexallvitamins.com if you cannot find them near you. Best of luck to you and happy healing!