Cold sore sufferers! Help my dd!

I suspect she was badly sunburned and this triggered the herpes. I had that happen when I was little as well. Prevention is the best policy. Sunscreen lipbalm applied often when outdoors. I would use ice packs and ibuprofen to help the pain and swelling. My heart goes out to her. I know how badly it hurts.

I have a prescription for Zovirax tablets that I take when I feel one starting. It has made a huge difference for me. Sometimes I don't catch it in time and I have a blister, but it heals much faster once I do start taking it. Topical Zovirax used to work for me, but eventually made no difference at all. I tried OTC meds and nothing helped.

I feel for your daughter. Cold sores are miserable.

I second the L-lysine. When my son was young, he would get huge patches going all the way down to his chin sometimes. The pediatrician tried him on several different meds, both topical and pills, but nothing worked. When we went to a new dentist, he recommended the lysine. It completely stopped the flare ups. After a few months I stopped giving it to him routinely, and only gave it to him when he would start to get a spot. Eventually, the cold sores stopped completely.

I will third the lysine, it really helps to keep the flair ups at bay. I have had good luck drying up a cold sore with toothpaste, not the gel kind, the good old paste stuff, the mint makes it burn for a bit but you can almost immediately feel it start to shrink. Just put a dab on the cold sore and leave it there.

L lysine. They uses to be huge.

I also use Zovirax ointment which dries them out super fast.

You can put a drop of tea tree oil on them and it helps lessen the pain and to heal them faster. Tea tree is an antibacterial and an antiseptic. It will help dry them out. I get them sometimes and this helps so much. It will burn for a second and then there's a feeling of utter relief that lasts a few hours.

You can drop the oil on a cotton swab or I just put a drop in the palm of my hand and dot it on using a finger. 3-4 times a day. If you want to be super cautious you could put a drop in a bit of olive oil or coconut oil to dilute it.

(Note, I'm not an advocate for essential oils. I'm the most conservative user you'll ever meet and mostly use them to make my house smell good bc I'm allergic to chemical fragrances. But tea tree and lavender are the two oils that are workhorses and are well-known for their healing properties. Feel free to google )

I'd also give her ibuprofen to help with pain & swelling and have her ice the area as well.

It didn't waste any money-he was completely cured. Sorry if you disagree with how our dentist said to take it 20 years ago, but it worked. 

My lips got sunburned on Saturday (I usually wear chapstick with at least 35 SPF). By Monday, I could feel the tingle. I have been taking 4 lysine tablets every day and I never broke out.

I have ALWAYS gotten them like that and it sucks. Poor thing. Exposure to sun can cause an outbreak. The only thing that works for me is a combo of the valcyclovir pills and the acyclovir cream. She needs to stay away from chocolate, wheat and peanut butter as something in those food makes the virus multiply faster. There are other foods too, so you may want to Google it. I've tried everything everyone's mentioned so far, and honestly nothing has helped. Oh, except the lysine everyday. Also, you need to get her a new toothbrush once she has cleared up, and anything else she had used around or on her mouth, or it will just happen over and over. Do not let her touch it and touch anything else because it can spread to anywhere on the body. My step son gets them on the palm of his hand (broken skin on his palm and he touched cold sore) and if it gets in your eyes, it can lead to blindness. Ugh! Cold sores truly suck. Oh, and I have to take the pills twice a day until the cold sores are gone.

I get them too, and 4th l-lysine! I've had good luck drying up the cold sore with toothpaste and I also grind up a l-lysine pill and put that on the outbreak area. I have found (and you can find in some research) that oranges bring on my outbreaks, and if I eat a lot of oranges that'll trigger an outbreak. You may want to see if there's something consistently that she's eating around the time of outbreak and then you can limit that. Cold sores are the worst! Good luck!

I have used everything listed above. If the cold sores are caused by sun overexposure, once they start they come on pretty hard but will heal up quickly. Lysine does not help in the case of sun overexposure and fever blisters.

1. Take the Zovirax pills as prescribed - two (2) pills at the first sign of break out then another two (2) pills 12 hours later.
2. Get a small tube of the Zovirax ointment. I don't care what the doctor's say about "pills are enough". They ointment helps.
3. Get a prescription for Xylocaine ointment to numb the lip. It works better than Blistex without over-drying and possibly scarring the lip. Ask me how I know about this.
4. Tea Tree oil does seem to help with better healing and keeping the lips most, but it tastes awful if you happen to get it on your tongue. A bit of lemon and lavender added to the oil mix can possibly help (I haven't tried it yet but it is on my list for the next breakout). Make sure you get a good quality oil if you go this route.

Keeping this regimen up will give her better looking lips by the time school starts.

Oh, and don't forget to drink LOTS of water with lemon or lime mixed in.

ETA:  Abreva doesn't work.  If you can return it, do so because that tiny little tube is too expensive to not do anything toward healing.

I used the valacyclovir prescrip. 4 pills right away, then 4 more 12 hrs later. I don't blister at all, and it dries up. I definetly have triggers. One of them is sun, which sucks. I suspect that is one of your dd's. Another is stress, and my period.