I Thought I Had Cured My Cold Sores Again. I Was Wrong.
The Herpes Virus that lives in my lips must have felt my pride as I was posting about my cold sore cure. It decided that I needed to be taken down a notch. It reared its ugly head within days. I was mortified! I felt so embarrassed.
I pouted for a couple days. Felt really sorry for myself. Moped a bit. And then I got back to searching for information and answers.
This is what I learned. It’s not just about taking probiotics. It’s not just about taking Lysine – an amino acid that is proven to help keep cold sores suppressed. It’s about making sure you are consistently taking in more Lysine than Arginine. Arginine is an amino acid that triggers cold sores.
I always say, What we take in becomes our skin. We cold sore sufferers have to make sure that our diet has the right Lysine to Arginine ratio. Through the day, through the week, the Lysine always has to be higher.
So, what foods have higher Lysine? Protein foods like meat, poultry and fish. Dairy. The majority of fruits and vegetables.
What foods are high in Arginine? Grains, seeds, cereals and nuts. Chocolate.
So, what triggered this last cold sore for me? A nutritious granola bar recipe. Peanut butter (the worst of the nuts for having high Arginine), oats (a cereal), and chocolate chips. And this little recipe was tasty! So I ate lots of it.
There’s more to it. Lysine is required to make hormones. This cold sore came on at a hormone shifting time in my monthly cycle. As I’m almost 48, my hormones are changing. I think the low Lysine levels in my body looked at my poor, peri-menopause hormones and looked at defending my lip from invading cold sores and made the executive decision to make hormones.
My lip was left to fend for itself and the high amounts of Arginine I had so recently eaten rolled out the red carpet for the heinous, heartless Herpes virus.
So, I’ve left Quentin in charge of finishing off the granola bar (he’s not complaining) and I’m avoiding Arginine foods and eating lots of Lysine foods. I’ve upped my Lysine capsules. Health Canada says up to 3 grams a day of Lysine is safe. I’m taking 1000 mg of Lysine since I am also eating a lot of Lysine rich foods and I need to account for that.
Getting rid of cold sores for good is high priority for me. I’ve found out that cold sores and shingles are cousins and I’m approaching 50. After 50, you become more susceptible to shingles. I’ve had chicken pox twice – once as a kid and again as an adult. Chicken pox and shingles are best friends. This makes me think that I might be at a higher risk for shingles.
So, if you have stopped cold sores dead in their tracks for quite some time now, I want to hear from you. Let me know what you have learned.
And remember, always do your own research. If you are a fellow sufferer, get all of the details you can, from as many different sources as possible, so you can make your own decisions. #TherapieThursday
Yours in Recovery,
Cherise
