Not on my wishlist
17Dec2003 Filed under: ObservationsCold sores are like the world’s worst advent calendar. Each morning for about two weeks, you wake up and see what new awful development has happened on your face. Every day a new surprise of disgustingness and disfigurement! What is the sore doing now? Is it smooth and bulging? Crusted? Oozing? Contageous? Cankerous? Festering? Gross enough to frighten away cute animals and small children? Every day a surprise!
Normally, I only get cold sores when I’m unfathmably stressed. This means I’ve started school numerous times looking like a lip-leper (most recently in NYC summer of 2001. Coincidence that the fashionista assigned to sit next to me moved her seat, and never spoke to me after that first day? Crusty McCrusterson THINKS NOT!) I usually move to new cities looking all nasty and cold sore-y, great for making good first impressions. I’m not sure what I’m so stressed about right now, but dear god. Hide me in a hole. Please.
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11 Responses to “Not on my wishlist”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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tlc
December 17th, 2003 at 11:07 am
OK, that’s gross. Have you gotten my packages?
sarah
December 17th, 2003 at 11:14 am
ewww….god love ya, relax for a sec. After a warm bath, make some chamomile tea for yourself and Dre. When finished - take the bags and put them on your eyes for a spell. I know it will not help your sore but it may help your nerves. Be sure to cozy yourself up too. Soothing music…
If all else fails, we’ll pamper ourselves a bit while you are here so you don’t have to look at that in all of your Hawaii pictures…I just got a cool spa deck of cards with all sorts of mixtures to mellow! Can’t wait to see you!
shana
December 17th, 2003 at 12:30 pm
Lysine. i’m telling you, 1000+ MG a day and it’ll be gone in two days.
it’s the miracle amnio acid.
Ariel
December 17th, 2003 at 12:38 pm
I’ve always been a huge proponent of lysine, but the last couple of times I’ve gotten cold sores, it’s been totally ineffective. I take thousands of mg a day, and nothing happens. It’s almost as if I’ve built up a tolerance to it, or as if a new breed of mutant SUPER COLD SORES has evolved in my body. Sucks. Thanks for reminding me that it was time to take some more, though. I’d only taken 2,000 mg so far today!
sarah
December 17th, 2003 at 1:07 pm
You can build up an intolerence to Lysine - I know I have. You should try the creams they sell at the pharmacy - abreva worked well for me. A while ago I went to the denist with a really really gross one on my chin (yeah high fever cold sore!) and he gave me some perscription strength cream that I swear to god keeps cold sores from ever moving past the tingling stage. Its a frigging miricale.
dori
December 17th, 2003 at 2:58 pm
ariel - my ex can identify. he gets cold sores that make half his face swell up (and sometimes he gets them on like, his cheek or something) - also when he’s really stressed out.
esther
December 17th, 2003 at 3:45 pm
I often get them when I have PMS, (fortunately not every month, but often enough to make it mortifying). :-{
Susan
December 17th, 2003 at 4:10 pm
I always found that tea tree oil worked really well on them! Just dab is on with a Qtip a couple of times a day!
Jen
December 17th, 2003 at 10:51 pm
My Dr. gave me Valtrex which is mostly used for genital herpes but works on both types. It is great. Skip Lysine and any other over the counter stuff. I have had cold sores my whole life and want to die everytime one is there. Valtrex is from heaven.
C
December 18th, 2003 at 7:14 am
1/2 water and peroxide … gargle
Yogurt works well too. But eat the yogurt, don’t gargle it.
Ariel
December 18th, 2003 at 10:09 am
Thanks for all the suggestions…I’ve dealt with cold sores for most of my life, so I’ve built up a pretty good barrage of techniques and tricks. Realistically though, you just gotta ride it out.
I’m closing comments now because I’m sick of deleting the repeated herpes simplex 1/std jokes and references. Ha ha. I get it, I get it.