What are remedies for cold sores?

Tea tree oil. just dab on the spot as soon as you feel the tingling start. Dab every hour or so and you will almost never get the coldsore.

Rinse your mouth with very strong tea several times a day. Lipton Black. Not that fancy tea.

This is going to sound really gross, but if you cut off the head of a toad, steep it in alcohol and then suck on it when the moon is full…....
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Naw. Just kidding!

filmfann’s right. You can also put the tea bag itself up against the sore, and it should help.

Are you talking about cold sores or canker sores? If the former, plain old ice will work great. If you regularly put ice on it it will fade away in a relatively short time.
If you mean canker sores then you might want to use a styptic pencil. It will burn for a second but then will numb the sore. I also read that another remedy is to mix equal parts of Milk of Magnesia and Benadryl. I’ve never tried that though. I just buy a tube of Zilactin®. It tastes like crap but seems to work pretty well for me. If I don’t have any of that then it’s the ol’ styptic pencil.

@daloon now that sounds like a great cure for just about anything.

I’ve got to admit sucking on a toad head sounds a lot better to me than a teabag on my mouth.

@AstroChuck remember, if you suck on a toad head first thing in the morning, nothing worse can happen to you the rest of the day.

The trick is not getting them in the first place, once you get them though its pretty bad. there are 2 things that I’ve heard help you prevent them the most. 1 is if you drink too much pop. Since I moved into college and realized that pop cost money and didn’t drink 2 liters of it a day I noticed I stopped getting cold sores. And the other one, there is an ingredient, or lack of an ingredient in toothpaste (I think its the lack of one) that causes, ore prevents it. I’d have to google that one but I don’t feel like it so if you are motivated enough you can check it out.
But once you get once there’s nothing you can do they are just miserable.

No, tea tree oil heals them quickly and they don’t hurt as much.

I used to get coldsores all the time, really regularly. My hairdresser mentioned that it was the acid or something in orange juice that gave them to her. I stopped drinking orange juice, and I stopped getting coldsores. I don’t know if this will work for everyone but it worked for her and me so maybe try taking orange juice out of your diet for a bit and see if that changes anything.

@LKidKyle1985 The chemical you are thinking of is called sodium lauryl sulfate. The most readily available toothpaste you can get that doesn’t have that in it is Sensodyne. Since I began using Sensodyne, I’ve only gotten them once, and I used to get them a lot.

Its not orange juice or pop individually that makes you get cold sores, its how they change the acidity level in your mouth, if you drink to much of it it really messes with that.

My grandad swears that if you dab it with lemon juice or perfume it dries the coldsore up and heals it quickly. Personally, I have never had the guts to try those remedies (both sound painful). I usually use Zovirax cream or Blisteze cream, both help heal it quickly if I catch the cold sore in time. I have also used the teabag technique! I asked a similar question a few months ago because getting a coldsore makes me feel really miserable.

Here is some good info on cold sores.

@Leanne1986 i use zovirax cream too and usually when i feel a cold sore coming on, all i do is dab a bit of it on and the cold sore doesnt have the chance to come out. i did that this time but it didnt work. this has to be the biggest cold sore i’ve ever had. i feel miserable and don’t even feel like going out in public.
as for the pop theory, i think you guys could be on to something here, i’m not a big pop drinker but in the last 2 weeks, i’ve had more than usual..(i usually only drink pop when i go to restaurants). that could’ve been what set it off! thanks for the info! it’s much appreciated!

Ice is a very good home remedy for cold sores. Rub ice on the infected skin for few minutes, repeat this every hour.

Another remedy is to apply a tea bag for few minutes on the blisters, repeat this every hour. One can also consider pressing a warm tea bag on the blisters for approximately 30 minutes.