Cold sore relief can mean a couple things. Fast healing of a present sore, or prevention of future outbreaks. Whatever you are searching for, this quick article will give you the cold sore relief you seek.

Cold sore relief is on the minds of millions of sufferers at any given time. Some treatments are quick, easy and work great. But there are many remedies that are a big waste of money when you need cold sore relief.

Save your money until you try these simple, but well proven, methods of dealing with your cold sores.

Are you seeking fast cold sore relief for an immediate problem?

Your primary desire is to reduce the irritating pain as soon as possible. The next step is to heal the sore fast, so you can get on with your life.

The herpes virus creates cold sores by destroying cells on the end of a nerve fiber. Your body will fight the virus causing headache problems, swelling of the target area, fever and the enlargement of lymph glands located below the jaw.

A headache and fever reducing remedy is certainly in order at this point. Many people use aspirin or similar products for initial cold sore relief. This gives some success in reducing the discomfort.

Applying ice, or other cold object, to the sore quickly relieves pain and reduces swelling. Besides providing blessed comfort, ice can slow down, or prevent, the herpes virus from doing any more damage.

Ice is available anywhere and basically free. But, ice is not always the most convenient for cold sore relief during certain situations, such as driving or working.

When the use of ice is not convenient for you, you may want to try a drug store comfort remedy for cold sores. Choose salves that offer pain deadening benzocaine or lidocaine.

These remedies often work quite well for cold sore relief – by numbing the nerve tips and reducing discomfort. Quite frequently these remedies also provide protection from secondary bacterial infection.

Keep in mind, however, that most of these products only provide comfort and do not speed healing of the sore. They often make big claims, but so far have not proven to actually shorten the duration of an outbreak.

Ice is one of the best for relieving pain and reducing heat and fever. Unfortunately, during the healing phase – after the sore has burst open – ice will slow down healing by driving blood away from the area.

Applying warmth during the healing period will give you the best cold sore relief by helping to cure the outbreak fast.

Using a warm, damp cloth works well. Better yet, a warm, moist tea bag will give much cold sore relief and contains phyto-chemicals that will aid fast healing of your cold sores.

While in the healing phase, clean the sore area regularly with cotton balls or tissue soaked in alcohol or peroxide. When the sore scabs over, keep the crust soft by applying olive oil, or other similar oil. This will reduce painful cracking of the scab.

Once your sore is healed, you will want to take steps to prevent, or reduce, future outbreaks of cold sores.

It is amazing. Nearly 35% of people who have the herpes virus never get cold sores. The primary reason is a strong immune system. Do you get a lot of cold sores each year? If so give the following method a try. It is quite likely you need it.

A good quality vitamin supplement is all many people need to reduce or prevent the frequent appearance of cold sores.

Go to a vitamin store and get a top quality vitamin and mineral supplement. The drug store vitamins you see are usually very poor quality. You will just be wasting your money. And if you do not actually feel the difference, try a different brand of vitamins.

Specifically, the vitamins and minerals you want in large quantities are beta-carotene, vitamins B, C, and E, calcium, magnesium and zinc.

For quick cold sore relief, use ice at the beginning, and warmth during healing. Keep the sore clean and the scab well oiled to avoid re-opening the wound by cracking.

To reduce or eliminate future outbreaks of cold sores, you will benefit greatly by boosting your immune system. To do this, eat more vegetables. In addition, you really should be taking an excellent quality vitamin and mineral supplementation program for the best chance of cold sore relief.