Author: admin February 8, 2019 0 Comments

Cold sores, which are sometimes referred to as fever blisters are the result of the herpes simplex virus or cold sore virus. These can appear in several places, but most commonly around the mouth.

Cold sores initially start out as with tight feeling, soreness and a degree of swelling but it isn’t always obvious that this will turn into a cold sore. After a couple of days however, fluid filled blisters can be seen. These can start out quite small, but form clusters.

The next stage is that the cold sores start to break out and form reddish ulcer type sores. It is at this point that they are at their most painful. After a couple of days, they will begin to form scabs or crusts which can break and cause some slight bleeding. Finally, after about seven to fourteen days, the cold sore will heal. It will just get smaller, turn into flaky, dry skin and disappear. No scarring will be visible.

So, are there old home remedies available for cold sores? In fact there are several. One very useful helper in the early stages is actually ice. This can ease the pain in the early stages. Applying ice every ten minutes or so for an hour can prevent the virus moving from the nerve to the skin.

Try making a cup of tea for example and apply the cold black tea to the sores. This can be helpful in speeding up the healing process. The use of vaseline on the sores can also be of assistance in easing the cracking and dryness when the cold sores reach this point.

Yogurt too is a helpful remedy. Yogurt is high in lysine which can inhibit the growth and spread of cold sores. They are very infectious of course. However, you need to be careful with yogurt as it can contain the thickening agent of gelatin which can have the opposite effect and promote cold sore outbreaks. You can find gelatin free yogurt however at most good health stores.

Another such useful remedy is our old friend the aloe vera plant. Applying the juice from the aloe vera plant when the tingling first starts can be very effective. However, it will also assist later on if the cold sore is not detected early and will assist healing.

So why not try aloe vera, one of nature’s great healing agents and keep your garden supplying this useful plant. When it comes to old home remedies, it has many uses.

In summary, there are quite a number of old home remedies for cold sores and they are certainly worth trying to remove them or at least speed up the healing process.