There is no good time to have a cold sore. But why do cold sores always seem to happen at the very worst possible time?

Most often, cold sores occur because of physical or mental stress. Anxiety about an upcoming wedding, job interview, or other special event in your life will create stress. This stress then affects your pH balance, your hormones, and your immune system. Quite often illnesses such as cold and flu will also trigger an outbreak.

The herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores has an early warning system because it lives in your nerve cells. It can sense the slightest change in your temperature, stress levels, immune strength, and pH balance. When the conditions are favorable, the virus will head to the surface along your nerve fibers. Once at the surface, it will create new virus through its replication procedure thus producing the herpes sore.

Your body knows how to heal a cold sore and will do so without any additional help or expensive treatments.

Provided you do not get a secondary bacterial infection, the duration of your outbreak could be three to four weeks. If you are like me, you do not want to suffer that long. The quicker you heal your sore, the sooner you can get on with your life.

The herpes virus needs three things to successfully replicate.

1. The virus needs plenty of arginine in the cell. Arginine is a protein that is a critical building block for creating new herpes viruses. Lysine, another protein, has proven helpful in healing and preventing cold sores. Lysine does this by replacing some of the arginine in the cells, thus reducing or preventing the cells ability to create clones of the virus.

Basically, if the herpes virus gets to the surface and cannot find enough arginine in the cells, it often retreats. Many folks eat high lysine foods prior to or during a cold sore event, and avoid high arginine foods. For many folks, healing cold sores fast has been as simple as taking 1,000 milligrams to 3,000 milligrams of lysine in capsule supplements during an outbreak.

High lysine foods to eat are most meats and dairy products. Cheese, milk and yogurt are excellent. High arginine foods to avoid would be nuts, seeds, grains, and chocolate. You need to find your own personal balance here for healing cold sores.

2. The herpes virus also needs a warm, moist environment. Applying ice as soon as you feel that first tingle or itch will greatly reduce or delay the cold sore. Delaying the outbreak just a few days can get you through that important event. Any cold object will do - such as a can of Coke. The quicker, the better.

3. The herpes virus prefers an acid environment. When in tip-top health, your pH balance should be around 7.4, which is slightly alkaline. When it drops below 7 on the pH scale, then your system is turning acid. Any stress, flu, colds, or too much sun will cause your body to move toward the acid side of normal. Avoid eating acid foods, such as tomatoes, citrus, carbonated soda or anything with vinegar if it will touch the cold sore area. You want nothing acid around that sore. Following this rule alone for healing a cold sore, along with continual cleaning of the wound with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, could cut your healing duration of the outbreak by 50%.

You are unique and you must take what works for others and fine tune it for your particular needs. Hopefully, now that you are armed with the knowledge of what works for others, you now have a better idea on how to heal a cold sore.