Natural Remedy for Cold Sores – Herpes 1

My father, myself, and my kids all carry the herpes virus (stats show 67% of people under age 50 are infected) and it breaks out on my lips, and around and inside my nose whenever I get short of sleep, or stressed = run down. Remember: healthy food, enough sleep and low stress are cornerstones of the immune system. Viruses only manifest when your immune system is compromised or not strong.

I once did an intensive Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol for over 2 years (cycling on and off to kill MAP) but that was not sufficient to kill herpes. I also applied diluted wild oregano directly to cold sores but that didn’t do much to speed the healing.

Then I tried L-lysine topical ointment and wow, did that ever work brilliantly! Later I experimented with L-lysine oral ingestion. Let’s get into the details…

Why does L-lysine heal herpes or cold sores?

Lysine inhibits the activity of the amino acid arginine, which is required for herpes replication. So you’re knocking out a key building block the virus uses to grow itself and spread.

In my personal experience, and my childrens’, we have found L-lysine extremely effective at preventing or healing a cold sore eruption.

How to use L-lysine topically

I’ve experimented with taking it both topically and orally, my kids have only ever used L-lysine topically and been completely satisfied with the results. If you can get the L-lysine ointment on there before the sore erupts – when it just feels swollen, tender, or itchy – the sore may not even appear. But even if sores have erupted, applying the ointment 3x/day will greatly shorten the active and healing periods.

How to make your own L-lysine Ointment

You can either purchase an L-lysine ointment from your health store, we’ve used a product called Super Lysine and it works really well, or you can make your own at home.

Ideally, purchase a pharmaceutical-grade L-lysine in powder form (this avoids the fillers and flow agents included in capsules). But if you already have L-lysine capsules, those work too.

Take any olive oil-based herbal salve (I prefer comfrey or calendula) and mix in about 5% L-lysine and mix well to incorporate. So if you have 100 grams of salve, add 5 grams of lysine. Seal mixture tightly in a salve tin or glass jar and apply 3x/day.

Note: most commercial L-lysine ointments use less than 2% lysine, so you’re well covered at 5%. If you have genital herpes, then you may want to experiment with adding 20-30% lysine to your salve and see how that works.

How to take L-lysine orally

For oral treatment (and yes, you can do both): I take 500 mg/day during high stress or low sleep times for prevention. And then I take 1,000 mg if I have an outbreak. Thus far, I’ve only had outbreaks when I’ve forgotten to take the 500 mg during stress! I just open the capsule, or use the powder, and take it with a packet of Emergen-C (as I can’t swallow pills) – perhaps the Vitamin C potentizes the L-lysine as it supports the immune system? Who knows, but it feels good to my body.

The only caveat for oral use is if you tend towards diarrhea, which l-lysine can exacerbate. In that case, either try a small dosage and gradually increase, or, stick to topical application only.

However, research shows that L-lysine helps relieve anxiety-induced diarrhea and also shows promise as a colorectal cancer treatment. So I don’t see any downside to including a reasonable dosage of this amino acid as part of your holistic treatment.

Some people take up to 3 grams per day of L-Lysine (3 doses of 1000 mg each) but it’s not recommended to go higher than that, or to stay on a high dosage for longer than a year without a break. My experience – if you’re holistically managing stress, sleep, good diet, exercise – is there’s no need to use such a high dosage. It’s much better to treat issues holistically, rather than looking for one ‘magic bullet’.

Remember that L-arginine is also a beneficial amino acid. It’s converted by the body into nitric oxide, which causes blood vessels to open wider for improved blood flow. It’s essential under certain circumstances, like pregnancy, infancy, critical illness, and trauma recovery. It also helps counter the effects of aging, improves immunity and fertility. So you don’t want to inhibit L-arginine ongoing, by taking continual high doses of L-lysine. Just use it as and when it’s needed.

Remember health is about balance, not mega-dosing on anything long-term – except probiotics! But only because most of us don’t get good bacteria from our diet anymore.

Support your Immune System

Along with the powerful treatment above, it’s always good to support your body’s immune system during winter, or while travelling, to do it’s job with maximum efficiency. So make it part of your preventative regime to ingest immune-strengthening substances like:

Vitamin C – in mineral ascorbate form (eg. calcium ascorbate) is gentler on the gut and less likely to loosen the bowels. Take as much as you can, to bowel tolerance.

Medicinal Mushrooms & Herbs – in capsule, tincture, or powder form. Immune boosting mushrooms like reishi, shiitake, maitake, lion’s mane, chaga etc. You can also get these in a spray you can apply directly to your throat, if you wish. Or in powder or tincture form (add to hot water) where you can sip it slowly and let it wash over your throat. Herbs like cat’s claw, astragalus, and ashwaganda are all helpful for supporting and strengthening the immune system during times of challenge or stress.

MultiAbsorb Immune Booster – this is a product that I formulated for Imix Nutrition, with my ideal blend of 50 nutrients, herbs, supergreens etc to support the immune system, along with whole body health. If I’m traveling, or during flu season, I take MultiAbsorb Immune Booster daily as a preventative.

Vitamin D3 – in an adequate dosage for your skin color and where you live on the planet (distance from the equator). The darker your skin and the further you are from the equator, the more vitamin D3 you need. I’m half Indian and live in the overcast Pacific Northwest coast of Canada, so I take 5,000 IU per day. I also take magnesium because the body needs magnesium to convert D3 to it’s active form; so the more vitamin D3 you take, the more magnesium you need. Use magnesium citrate if you tend towards constipation and need help loosening your bowels. Or take atom-sized magnesium if your bowels are normal, or you tend towards loose stool, or a sensitive stomach.