The Cold Sore War Is Over!

I can’t remember the first time a cold sore appeared on my lip but I always felt like I should have a little bell for ringing when one appeared.  I just felt royally unclean when they struck.  I have been plagued with them for most of my adult life. 

Cold sores; in layman’s terms these are unsightly, sore and a bloody awful nuisance.   

Medically they are described as being caused by the Herpes Simplex Virus.  They are notoriously contagious and can be passed on by something as innocent as a kiss, sharing the same towel as someone who has one and I won’t go into why the rigorous washing of hands is essential.

From the first sighting of that annoying little burning blister till the last piece of dry skin falls off, I am looking at a good three weeks of healing.

And nothing seems to speed up that process.  Believe me I have tried everything.   

Toothpaste is regularly bandied about as is aftershave.  TCP also gets a mention.  Tea Tree Oil, my all-time favourite essential oil, does nothing either. 

Instead of relieving me of my acute embarrassment, topical over the counter creams just relieve me of a tenner each and every time.

I was delighted when I discovered Labello containing SPF 25 and practically ate the stuff to prevent summer sun break outs. 

In the winter I always made sure I had Zovirax to hand.

But this proved to be all talk and no action as well.  For me at least.

Any time or any season, they would just pop up overnight.  I don’t even get that warning tingle anymore; I wake up in the morning and bam, there it is.  An unsightly blister on my lip.

I have never been able to source my trigger; sunlight, too much sugar in my diet, stress, a PMS thing, the break outs are just too random to link to any one thing.  So I get on with it and treat them accordingly as they appear. 

Cold sores.  The bane of my life!  Thankfully, their occurrence seems to have reduced somewhat but I still occasionally suffer with a break out. 

On adults they are pretty much par for the course; unattractive and rather-you-than-me ailments, but to see them on little kids used to make my eyes water. 

They just looked dirty somehow.  In my eyes the child must have been neglected, their diet was lacking and they were run down.

Then Oldest Boy started to get them.  He is just seven years old and already has had outbreaks for the last couple of years. 

He tends to get his on the cleft of his chin and they can be whoppers.  So much so that he now has a lovely scar as a result.

I am disgusted by this.  Young kids should not be getting cold sores and I can’t help beating myself up over the fact that it must have been me who “infected” him.  No-one else in the house suffers.

And so the search for the perfect cold sore cream started again.  On Oldest Boy I have used Blistex, Fucidin cream, Sudocrem and Zovirax.

All with much the same results that I had.

Then, I hardly dared hope, someone whose opinion on these things I respect very much, mentioned a product that is readily available in health food shops.

A product called Bio Propolis by A-Vogel.

I had nothing to lose and everything to gain plus another cold sore was sprouting but this time Oldest Boy said it was painful.  He never complained before.  So I went in to my local health food shop and purchased a tube for just €8.55.

It is surprisingly small but a little goes a long way.  The cream is quite thick and butterscotch in colour.  It smells lovely. 

These are the amazing results.

Day 1.  I applied the cream every couple of hours as directed.    

Day 2.  This day saw even better results.  The blisters didn’t even get a chance to pop.  They seemed to shrink and recede. 

Day 3.  Still no popping and certainly no scabbing over.  The cold sore seemed to be melting away.

Day 4.   Oldest Boy asked me why I was bothering to apply the cream as his cold sore had gone.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I wanted to make sure I had blasted the thing into oblivion.  I dabbed on a bit just to make doubly sure. 

This stuff is amazing!  I highly recommend it.  I almost want a cold sore myself to try it out first hand.  I have never seen something work its magic so quickly and so well. 

So what is Propolis?  Gather round because this is fascinating altogether.  I will keep it short but please read.

Propolis is a resin from bark and tree leaves which honeybees collect.  They combine it with nectar and use the mixture to seal and protect their hives from outside contaminants.  And, they also use it at the entrance of the hive to sterilise themselves as they come and go! 

How clever is that!

It is an ancient healer that can be traced back to the time of Hippocrates to heal internal and external sores and ulcers.  Even as recently as World War II it was used to treat battle wounds.  Propolis is an excellent natural anti biotic and natural immune system booster.

Nature’s penicillin.

I for one am hugely impressed and delighted to have found it.

If you suffer from cold sores, you know the misery of them.  Here is your chance to really, really speed up that healing process.  This product is also really nice to use on lips that are dry. 

In a nutshell, you just can’t go wrong with it.