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| Lemon Balm |
Cold sores are not only painful, but ugly once those tiny blisters take over a mouth. In my case, they always liked to appear when you have something important scheduled like a dentist appointment or a big date.
Of course, you can’t control when cold sores pop up since they are caused by a virus, the herpes simplex virus to be exact, but you can take several steps in limiting how long it stays.
The herpes simplex virus has to have arginine for reproducing in your system. This basic amino acid is found in most proteins. However, you can try counteracting the arginine from multiplying by taking a lysine supplement only while you have the cold sore and if not on medication. You might want to try a 1000mg. lysine tablet twice or as much as three times a day, but no more. You may want to check with your doctor first.
Another way is using lemon balm. If you have a garden, this is an easy herb to grow that is quite useful for help healing cold sores. What you can do is dry some leaves (about three teaspoons) to later brew a tea in one cup of boiling water, not to drink but to dab on the cold sore with cotton balls once it cools. You don’t have to keep making fresh cups for each treatment, but keep using this same one that day.
If you don’t have the fresh herb handy, you could always try lemon balm essential oil better known as pure melissa essential oil. Also, you need to use a carrier oil like grape seed or jojoba oil to safely dilute it. Use one drop of the melissa essential oil to a teaspoon of your carrier oil. Again, you might want to check with your doctor if you have any health condition or on medications to see if this is safe for you.
Having cold sores is no fun. Nonetheless, if it happens to you and those drugstore remedies aren’t doing much to end this misery, what I shared is worth trying because it did help me. Take care and I promise that you’ll be smiling with a pretty mouth again in no time!
