Let me share with you now how your cold sore symptoms come about and what you can do about them.
Where the virus first enters your body, it will choose a set of nerve fibers nearby that will be its home for life. Your cold sores from this infection will always occur in the same place.
Say, for example, you always get your cold sores (oral herpes) on your upper right lip. That is one infection. If you start getting cold sores on your lower left lip, that is a new infection area.
Following are 5 stages of cold sore symptoms that pretty much tells the whole story of these miserable events.
1. EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
Because the herpes simplex virus lives in your nerve fibers, you will get an early warning before they attack your surface nerve cells to create oral herpes cold sores.
When the herpes virus becomes active, it wiggles up the nerve fiber to the surface of your lip, nose or cheek. That movement you will sense as an itching, tingling or burning of the target area.
Your immediate action is required. As soon as you become aware of these signs, apply ice or some other cold object (can of Coke) to the area. This will definitely slow down the progression of the sore.
Sometimes it stops the virus cold and prevents the sore.
If you miss this opportunity, then the other cold sore symptoms come quickly.
2. PIMPLES AND SWOLLEN LIP.
Painful little pimples will start to pop up. The herpes virus has entered the surface cells and is forcing the cells to create new virus.
Your defenses kick in, and the battle begins. This can cause fever, headaches and swollen lymph glands under the near jaw. Depending on the size of the outbreak, even the lymph glands in your armpit may swell.
As the cells fill up the target area becomes quite swollen and painful.
Applying cold compresses at this point will give great comfort and discourage the virus from further damage.
3. OPEN ULCER COLD SORES.
When the cells are swollen to capacity with new virus, they are destroyed to spill out hoards of new virus particles. This is what creates the typical open ulcer cold sores.
In self-defense, your body floods the wound with a fluid to wash away as much virus as possible. This fluid is teaming with active virus and is VERY contagious.
Wash the wound and wash your hands continuously. Use tissue or paper towels soaked in alcohol to cleanse the sore. Throw away and wash your hands thoroughly. You do not want to spread it to a new site.
4. RECONSTRUCTION OF DAMAGED CELLS BEGINS.
The breaking open of cells (creating the open wound) marks the end of the damage process. Now you body begins reconstructing the destroyed cells and skin.
The first step in this process is the covering of the wound with a yellowish crust or scab to protect from bacterial infection.
Apply olive oil to the scab on a regular basis. This will keep it soft and pliable - and less likely to crack open. You will experience pain if it cracks open - and this slows down the healing process.
During this period, you will still have fever, headaches and painful lymph glands. These cold sore symptoms will decrease rapidly from day to day.
5. FRUSTRATING FINAL HEALING STAGE.
After a few days, maybe a week, the scab is gone revealing new skin. There is usually a red tinge to the skin, which indicates that healing is still taking place underneath.
You may feel normal and completely healed but you are not. The flu-like symptoms are gone, and your lymph glands are back to normal. Your energy and confidence have returned.
Keep in mind, please, that you are still quite contagious until after the redness is gone. This seems to go on forever and is very frustrating. You want your social life back.
Your best bet for comfort, and to really speed along the healing of your sore, is to apply warm compresses as often as possible.
These five stages of cold sore symptoms and oral herpes, may vary from person to person, but are the basic cold sore symptoms you should see. If yours are much different, it might not hurt to see a medical professional.
You should search out and try some good cold sore treatment options. Cold Sores are no fun. The fewer you have, and the quicker you heal them, the less you will have to deal with these cold sore symptoms.
Preventing cold sores (same as oral herpes or fever blisters) is as easy as taking a daily top-shelf vitamin and mineral supplement. Quite honestly, many folks find nothing more is needed.
You may find this simple trick hard to believe - for preventing cold sores. After all, so many suffer from oral herpes every day. But it truly does work, as so many folks will testify.
Before I explain how vitamins and minerals work so well for preventing cold sores, I would like to share one thing first. It is helpful to have a good understanding about what actually causes the cold sore.
If you have oral herpes, fever blister or cold sore outbreaks, you were infected by the herpes simplex virus at some earlier point in your life. 89% of the world population is infected with this virus. Usually this happens before our tenth birthday.
The herpes virus is - most of the time - in a latent state. It hides deep below the surface in the roots of your facial nerves. Should it sense a drop in your immune defenses, it will move to the surface, replicate and create a new sore.
Anti-bodies are the defense soldiers our body creates when a virus becomes active in our bodies. Each group of anti-bodies specially target the virus for which it was created. Each time the herpes virus becomes active, fresh new anti-bodies are added to the group.
Preventing cold sores means robust anti-bodies are needed. They will be strong only if the proper nutrients - in sufficient quantities - are available when the anti-bodies are created. Otherwise your defenses will be weak and multiple sores the result.
The nutrients you need for preventing cold sores can be provided by a high quality vitamin and mineral supplement. Nutrients that have a great impact on oral herpes are vitamins B, C, D, and E. Minerals that are critical are magnesium, calcium, and zinc.
If you get multiple cold sore, oral herpes or fever blister events, it is almost a sure thing that your body needs a lot more calcium. Calcium is the main tool your body uses to stay in a healthy alkaline, high oxygen, state. herpes virus cannot get traction if you are alkaline.
The anti-stress vitamins B and C are very important in reducing the effects of daily stress on our bodies. Stress weakens the immune system and is the primary cause of cold sore episodes.
Vitamins A, D and E are the skin vitamins. These oil-soluble vitamins keep your skin firm and radiant. If you do get a cold sore, it is these 3 vitamins that will help it to mend quickly.
Is it not possible to get all the vitamins we need from a good diet?
Food source nutrients are, without a doubt, the best quality and most effective. Many years ago our farm fields were rich with nutrients - and so was the food grown on them.
Over the past 100 years, our farmland has become quite depleted due to heavy commercial farming. Without the nutrients in the soil, our foods no longer have the nutrients they once had.
Spinach is a good example. Merely a half century ago spinach contained fifty times more of the key nutrients than spinach tested today. Several other vegetables were tested with similar results.
Researchers have come to the conclusion we are dramatically lacking proper quantities of important nutrients for disease prevention and a strong immune system. The herpes simplex virus, as well as other viruses, are rampant today.
One step in preventing cold sores effectively is to give your body the vitamins it must have to create super anti-bodies. Organically grown or homegrown food will help. This will give you the best quality, but not the quantity of nutrients necessary.
Getting additional vitamins and minerals through daily intake of supplements is one of the easiest and most effective ways of preventing cold sores. It will give your body what it needs for a strong cold sore defense system.
If you suffer a lot of cold sore events, than give this a try. There are other things you can be doing, but this should be the first method you use for preventing cold sores.
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