Cold Sore Home Remedies - The Good, The Scary, and The Weird (but sometimes effective…)

What Causes Cold Sores?

The cold sores you are suffering from are a byproduct (symptom) of infection by the Herpes Simplex virus in your nervous system–oral herpes is generally considered harmless, although it may be annoying.  The virus fluctuates between active and dormant states, usually it’s dormant the great majority of the time and some people can go years without having an outbreak.  It does, however, remain in your system forever and cannot be gotten rid of.

How Do You Get Exposed to the Herpes Virus?

Odds are you were not recently exposed to the virus that has caused your outbreaks, or even your first one (you may have been exposed years prior to your first outbreak).  Cold sores are not a sign of recent infection but a sign that the virus has reactivated itself–cold sores generally happen generally as a result of some type of stress being inflicted on the body (too much exposure to sunlight, cold, heat, physical and emotional stress).

Where Did the Herpes Simplex Virus Come From?

The virus you originally caught came from another person–this initial infection is called the “primary herpetic stomatitis”.  Like I said, it doesn’t usually cause an immediate outbreak, therefore you probably won’t connect the original infection with getting sick (having your first cold sore).  The most common way that people get the virus is that they were kissed by a close relative who was infected when they were a small child (Aunt or Uncle Whoever kissed you when you were 5 and TA-DA! a present in the form of a lifetime of cold sores), thereby infecting you with the virus.

Want to Know How To Get Rid of Your Cold Sores Naturally?

Check out my post here: Cold Sore Home Remedies: My Experience With What Works and What Doesn’t