How do I prevent cold sores ?

Cold sores are not always preventable.

If the attacks are triggered by sunburn, application of sunscreen or avoiding heavy sun exposure may reduce the number of attacks. Taking daily prescription antiviral medications can significantly reduce the frequency of cold sores. This can be costly and is not always practical.

However, the vast majority of people do not have enough attacks to justify taking a daily medicine.

Some basic options you can do at home:

Fight Fatigue

Like stress and illness, fatigue can sap your immune system, making you easy prey for a cold sore outbreak. In today's hectic world, feeling "beat" can give cold sores the advantage. So relax. Exercise. Sleep. And give your immune system a fighting chance. 

Stay Calm

Sure, stress messes with emotions. But stress can also wear down your immune system, giving that dormant cold sore a chance to launch a sneak attack. Fight the urge to stress out. Instead, breathe deeply

and relax.

Keep Warm

Protect yourself from the cold. Wear a scarf or pull up that turtleneck to avoid exposure to cold weather, dry air and winter wind that can dry out lips.

Shade Yourself

Go on the offensive against sun exposure. Ultraviolet (UV) rays can damage your skin and lead to a cold sore. So fight back with a good sunscreen, a wide brimmed hat and a beach umbrella.

Know Your Hormones

For women, hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle can trigger an outbreak. Pay attention to your own hormonal cycle to manage stress.

Protect Your Mouth

Trauma to your mouth or lips can launch a cold sore outbreak. Could be an injury. Could be a dental procedure that pulls at the sensitive area around your mouth. If this is one of your triggers, make your dentist an ally and join forces to minimize trauma. 

Stay Strong

A fever, a cold or the flu can leave you feeling run-down and on the defense against a cold sore outbreak. When you feel a cold, fever or flu coming on, listen to the experts and get plenty of rest and fluids. It could be just what you need to KO a cold sore.

If you manage to still get an outbreak there are other options.

There are several options of over the counter treatments that may be beneficial. Many of them are topical and do not prevent the outbreak.

There is a new supplement which is so unique it received a patent. It helps your body fight off the cold sore in three ways:

        1) deprives it of the essential amino acid it needs to replicate

        2) helps open the protective coating (lipid envelope) around the virus so your body can clear the virus.

        3) It boost your immune system.

This new supplement is called SimQuell and early testing has shown it to be very effective in helping your body fight off the viral re-activation.  You can read more at:

http://www.simquell.com/