Lysine for Cold Sores - Get Rid Of Your Cold Sore Quickly?

Published July 31st, 2008

by Denny Bodoh

Lysine and cold sores are enemies. Read this article now. You will finally know what works and what does not when using lysine for cold sores.

Lysine for cold sores is much talked about these days. The truth is - lab and empirical data strongly support the use of lysine for cold sores.

How does lysine work for cold sores, fever blisters and oral herpes? What is the best way to use it?

Good questions for sure.

But, prior to using lysine for cold sores, it is best to know as much as possible about how a cold sore is created.

It is the herpes simplex virus that is the cause of all cold sore events. You may call them a cold sore or a fever blister. Whatever you call them, they are identical oral herpes sores.

This very contagious parasite virus inhabits 9 out of 10 people throughout the world. Most of these folks caught the virus before their twelfth birthday.

For most of your life, the herpes virus is hiding in the nerve roots. For facial sores, the virus resides behind the ear, in the nerve ganglia. If the virus stays latent, you will never experience a cold sore.

The herpes simplex virus will become active to produce new virus. Since it lives in the nerves, it can quickly tell when your immunity drops. Stress of any sort can create the right conditions for cold sores to happen.

Herpes virus moves to the surface through the set of nerve fibers that it has chosen to occupy. At the surface, each virus particle picks out a nerve cell to enter.

The herpes simplex virus then compels the cell to build new virus. The cell eventually swells and explodes. Then millions of highly contagious virus particles cascade out.

The gaping cold sore ulcer is the result of millions of destroyed cells.

Arginine is a common protein fraction (amino acid). It is the primary protein needed to build new herpes virus. It is found, to some degree, in most foods. Arginine is particularly high in chocolate and nuts.

Your cells have a specific area within the cell for storing amino acids such as arginine.

Lysine is also an essential amino acid. Dairy and fish are good sources of lysine. New herpes virus can not be created using lysine. It is like putting water in your gas tank.

Lysine is stored in the same area as arginine in your cells. And, the more lysine your cells put away, the less room it has for arginine.

Reducing your arginine supplies by increasing lysine intake is a trick many folks use to stop herpes virus activity and support quick healing. It can also prevent future cold sore events by starving the herpes virus of the fuel it needs.

Lysine and arginine fight each other. Increase lysine in your diet with vegetables, fish and dairy products. Decrease arginine in your diet by leaving out arginine foods such as chocolate, nuts and grains.

Adjusting your eating habits to control oral herpes, cold sore or fever blister attacks is not usually much fun. Most folks prefer lysine in capsules for the bulk of their treatment. This amino acid is inexpensive and you can find it anywhere.

Lysine capsules normally come in 500-milligram size. You can get much more lysine into your system this way than trying to eat more lysine food. And you can easily take extra lysine rather than go without chocolate.

Two to five grams (2000 to 5000 milligrams) is a common dosage during an oral herpes cold sore outbreak. Between sores, folks take 500 to 1000 milligrams per day as prevention maintenance.

But, this is where you need to be careful.

Lysine for cold sores is powerful when used as an internal treatment. But it does not work very well as a topical treatment.

There are lysine salves on the market for use as cold sore remedies. Lysine must get into the cells to work. Lysine does not absorb through the skin. You must take it orally for good results.

Lysine for cold sores is one of the more proven and convenient cold sore remedies that you should be using.

There is much more I could share about lysine for cold sores and several other good cold sore remedies that honestly work. Unfortunately there is not enough room here.

Whether you suffer from frequent outbreaks, or each one seems to last forever, lysine is a great treatment choice. But do not quit here. There are other cold sore remedies you will discover that work equally as well as lysine for cold sores.

About the Author:

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