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medicinal herbs

Herbal for cold sore?

Joylynn Hardesty

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I don't get cold sores very often, but I got one today. Boo! My go to is carmex. It works well for me. But I wonder, what would my Permie Herbalists use?

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Elanor Gardner

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I use marjarom essential oil - one drop on any mouth sore that ails you.

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Joylynn Hardesty

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Is that 100*/* EO? Or is it mixed in with a carrier oil?

For example, I buy 100*/* oregano EO. But I mix it 1 part oegeno oil with 3 parts olive oil. It's still VERY spicy hot when several drops are mixed in an ounce of water.

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Deedee Dezso

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If I can catch it in the "tingly" phase, I can almost stop it from erupting by 2000mg lysine 2x/day for 2 days. I have used oregano oil @ about 1:5 with olive oil carrier. It worked to shorten the eruption but burned like hell. I'm told alum works, but also hurts, used topically. Otherwise I try to keep it dressed with any waxy film, lip balm.

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Tereza Okava

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my go-to is lemon balm (melissa)-- I get cold sores inside the mouth, where it's easier to macerate a leaf and just stick it there for as long as i can stand, but I assume you could make a compress (leaf or tea) as well.

Nina Surya

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I'm also voting for lemon balm (melissa). If you can detect your cold sore at the tingy stange, run to your herbs, grab some leaves of lemon balm, mush them with your teeth (and saliva...) and place on the tingy spot. Do not press! Just let it rest over that spot.

The last time I used it, I pressed the leafmush firmly agains the tingy spot, just making it spread under the skin. Obviously caught it too late, or it just wanted to show its ugly face again after years of absence.
Being mindful of getting enough rest and vitamines (especially vitC) keeps it in check the best.

Good luck!

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Elanor Gardner

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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Is that 100*/* EO? Or is it mixed in with a carrier oil?

For example, I buy 100*/* oregano EO. But I mix it 1 part oegeno oil with 3 parts olive oil. It's still VERY spicy hot when several drops are mixed in an ounce of water.

I use the marjarom EO full strength, as it is not too strong that it would need to be diluted. Oregano and cinnamon are considered "hot" essential oils, and dilution is very necessary for any mouth application.

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E Sager

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You can try chewing on a high-quality clove. You just want to make sure the clove has its bulb intact.

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Nancy Reading

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I'm interested in what people come up with here. Not that I need it much now, but I used to get cold sores fairly frequently. I think it was a side effect of feeling rundown. Maybe hormonal - but they did seem to hit me when I was down already! My sister said the tannin in cold tea was good - dab a used teabag on - but I never felt it helped me very much . It was soothing at the time, but didn't seem to shorten the sore period.
Since I made a life change and moved out of the rat race and away from suburbia, I have only had one or two pop up - I definitely felt for me they were stress related.

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Tereza Okava

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Nancy Reading wrote:I'm interested in what people come up with here. Not that I need it much now, but I used to get cold sores fairly frequently. I think it was a side effect of feeling rundown. ... Since I made a life change and moved out of the rat race and away from suburbia, I have only had one or two pop up - I definitely felt for me they were stress related.

That would make sense, and I agree. I used to get them regularly, the week before I traveled with my daughter to stay a month with my mother every year. In fact I made sure she had a lemon balm plant there in her garden!!! I don't know if it helped but it made me feel better. Now that I do that trip with less stress and fewer obligations (and my work is less stressful as time goes by), it is rare for me to get a sore.
It's supposedly viral, and viral nasties generally show up when you're run down and stressed, so it stands to reason.

Kim Wills

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Lemon balm gets a hearty vote here! Studies have proven it to kill many viruses, including various flu strains and oral herpes (cold sores). I made a lip balm from it and my husband's annual 2-week cold sore was only 1 week, and half the size and half the pain.

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Jill Dyer

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Interesting topic - I've always used topical application of alcohol - isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) or perfume (not eau de toilette though) as soon as that first prickly feeling appears. Cold sore doesn't develop apart from minor swelling and redness which clears away quickly.
I guess vodka or other spirits might work too if they are available.

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Deedee Dezso

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Mine do pop after a high stress event.

Lemon balm? I think I can make a lemon balm ointment/ lip balm. And maybe there's a way to add some lysine!

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Ac Baker

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Kim Wills wrote:Lemon balm gets a hearty vote here! Studies have proven it to kill many viruses, including various flu strains and oral herpes (cold sores). I made a lip balm from it and my husband's annual 2-week cold sore was only 1 week, and half the size and half the pain.

"the study showed that lemon balm essential oil could inhibit influenza virus replication through different replication cycle steps especially throughout the direct interaction with the virus particles."

Antiviral activity of the oseltamivir and Melissa officinalis L. essential oil against avian influenza A virus (H9N2).
Pourghanbari et al.
Virusdisease. 2016 Jun;27(2):170-8. doi: 10.1007/s13337-016-0321-0. Epub 2016 May 21. PMID: 27366768; PMCID: PMC4908999.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4908999/

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Ac Baker

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My lemon balm dies right back in the winter, as it is now. I guess a tisane of the lightly dried leaves, or freezing the fresh leaves in ice cubes, are practical ways to have it available in winter.

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Anne Miller

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I have never had a cold sore though dear hubby uses what was mentioned in the first post.

I would try aloe vera if I ever get one.

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