Cold Sore outbreak

[angi-is-altered.livejournal.com]

My son has been sick and passed it on to me. I have only been sick for about 3 day and each day has been pretty bad. I woke up this morning to nearly my whole mouth broken out in cold sores. I get one or two a few times a year. I have never gotten this many at once. Could it be that the cough/cough is just compromising my immune system so much that the cold sore virus has an easier time attacking.

Comments

[katrina-splat.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely having a weakened immune system might predispose you to worse outbreaks. Hope you feel better soon.

[angi-is-altered.livejournal.com]

Thanks

[archangelbeth]

As said, yes, unhappy and overworked immune systems are less able to keep the cold sore virus in check. I've been sick with a cold/cough horribleness for about 5 weeks now, and had a sore pop up. (As you probably know, but I didn't for a shockingly long time, cold sores are 1: contagious, and 2: caused by the HSV, or herpes, virus. Try to keep from touching your mouth and then getting your fingers near the kid's face, especially the eyes.)

I was having cold sore outbreaks one after the other, some time back, and got a prescription for an antiviral. Generic Valtrex is available, but may be hard for pharmacies to keep in stock, so if you go this route, try for acyclovir instead. Lysine capsules from the vitamin or health food section of the store may also help.

Hope you feel better soon!

[angi-is-altered.livejournal.com]

Thanks..this is useful information.

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

Just to check, by 'whole mouth broken out in cold sores', you mean inside your mouth? Or outside, on the lip area?

Because cold sores occur on skin - usually on the edges of the lips, at the corners of the mouth, etc. Sores inside the mouth, on the mucus membrane of the gums, tongue, etc are usually canker sores which are an entirely different animal.

(forgive me if you knew all of this and my comment is obnoxiously elementary to you)

[zerobabies.livejournal.com]

I've said this to a bunch of people but Zovirax (the pills) is great for stopping an outbreak; it's cheaper than Valtrex and it works. If this outbreak is particularly bad you could use the drugs to make it stop.

[angi-is-altered.livejournal.com]

Thanks