Stress And Cold Sores

If you suffer from cold sores then it's no surprise to know stress and illness are the most frequent cause of cold sores. How many times have you had a job interview, test, important date or prom and had a cold sore pop out?

Stress and cold sores go together because stress affects your entire body, including hormones and resistance to disease. Remember the herpes simplex virus, HS-1 lives in the root of your nerve cell.

Because of its location the herpes simplex virus can quickly sense any changes in the body. This means changes in temperature, pH, stress or hormone levels. The HS-1 virus sensing the opportunity to erupt wakes up and moves along the nerve cell to start reproducing.

As it reproduces it takes over the reproduction system of the nerve cell it has been using as its hiding place. The virus continues replicating itself until the nerve cell swells and then eventually bursts. The viruses then find another nerve cell to hide in.

Your body does have the ability to defend itself against the cold sore inflammation. But for those of us who have suffered from cold sores know it takes several weeks from the initial tingle through the final healing stage to be totally cold sore free.

Most of us don't want to wait that long. The sooner the cold sore vanishes the sooner you can look in the mirror again without shaking your head. Then you can go back to enjoying your life without the cold sore.

It's almost impossible to make your life totally stress free. But if you're someone with frequent cold sore outbreaks you may want to investigate ways of decreasing your stress level.

Next time some ways to minimize the connection between stress and cold sores


Photo courtesy of Bob Smith

Is It A Cold Sore Or A Canker Sore?

What’s the difference between a cold sore and a canker sore? While both sores are painful, only one is both contagious and attracts people’s attention.

With a canker sore inside your mouth most people aren’t going to see it. You’ll definitely feel it as the sore tends to be quite tender. Canker sores begin with a red bump with a kind of tingly feeling. As the canker sore progresses it opens up with a red edge and whitish center. According to WebMD these tiny yet painful sores heal by themselves in a little over a week.

Medical research has not found the cause of canker sores. Some question an auto immune disease while others think family history plays a part. Certainly canker sores appear when someone is stressed or tired.

Treatment of canker sores means avoiding foods irritating the sore. Spicy or hot foods can really increase the pain level. You may want to stick with bland or cold foods to ease the pain. Gels used for teething pain can often numb the area for short periods of time. Be sure follow directions on the gel package.

Cold sores are also very painful. But unlike cankers cold sores most often appear on the lips or around the mouth. But cold sores are contagious, very contagious.

Cold sores are caused by the Herpes Simplex virus, which comes in two types. Most people with cold sores have Herpes Simplex type 1. As I’ve mentioned before the initial or original Herpes infection most often happen when someone was a child.

The Herpes virus lays sleeping until it senses a weakness in the body’s defense system. This could be fatigue, stress or an infection elsewhere in the body. As the virus duplicates itself it causes painful lesions or fever blisters around the mouth and lips. Cold sore treatment choices are mostly limited to pain control.

Cold sores last about two weeks from the first red spot to the scab finally falling off. Some people have found local numbing gels, or prescribed anti virus medications help with the pain of the cold sores. Other people use more natural approaches to cold sore treatment.


Photo used courtesy of Cris Watk

Cold Sore Treatment: Finding Your Triggers

What causes your cold sores? Everyone has a trigger starting the cold sore.
Every person is unique, but if you suffer from cold sores there are some common factors to all sufferers. The definite link all sufferers share is sometime in our lives we were infected with the herpes simplex virus.

You don't need to be a skilled detective just a good observer of your own life.

This virus is highly contagious. That explains why 9 out of 10 people have had an infection in their lives. But for some of those 9 out of 10 people it’s more than a one time infection.

The virus has decided to live with us permanently. Most of the time the virus is dormant sleeping away at the root of a nerve cell. But then the virus wakes up.
As it reproduces itself in a process called replication the dreaded cold sore appears. Cold sores are also known as fever blisters or recurrent herpes labialis by health care providers.

Key To Finding Cold Sore Treatment? Is Stress Your Trigger?

Finding your trigger is the key to finding your cold sore treatment. Stress is the leading factor in awakening the sleeping herpes simplex. Why? Well when our body is under stress our immune system the defense part of our body doesn’t work as well.

Now stress is not just emotional stress. Finances, work, new babies, school and family can all be stress causers. Stress can be anything that puts our body out of its normal balance.

With this definition stress can be a really hot or really cold days. When it’s really hot or really cold over a long period our body has to continually adjust. Sometimes our body (and our emotions too) just gets tired of adjusting. This is when the herpes simplex wakes up and goes to work.

Cold And The Flu Your Trigger?

Cold sores also happen when we have a cold or even the flu. Colds and flu happen year round. Now winter is considered the cold and flu season. We get more because we’re cooped up inside and closer to other people and the viruses and bacteria they pass around.

But colds and flu aren’t limited to the winter, as we all have either experienced or know someone who has had one of the dreaded summer colds.

Or Is Sunburn What Causes Your Cold Sore?

Sunlight is good for our skin in small doses. It helps our body get its requirement of Vitamin D. But sunlight in excessive quantities can cause sunburn, cancer and premature aging.

Kissing someone with a cold sore can also cause cold sores as well. So it’s important to protect yourself and your family by knowing the trigger factors.
Now stress by itself is impossible to eliminate. Just by living we encounter stress in our lives. But we can control how we react to the stress and what it does to our body.

A healthy diet, with a vitamin supplement can help our bodies cope with the stresses in our life. Healthy diets build up our immune system so we’re less apt to have the herpes virus wake up.

Vitamin supplements are suggested because often in the rush of everyday life we don’t eat as healthy as we should. The vitamin supplement is the extra level of protection to help our immune system with the building blocks our body’s defense system needs to do its job.

Be aware of the triggers causing cold sores in your life. Eat healthy and control what factors you can. Develop a holistic cold sore treatment plan and eliminate cold sore misery in your life.