What Causes Cold Sores and Easy Prevention Of A Cold Sore

By Denny Bodoh

What causes cold sores, fever blisters and oral herpes? If you will let me right now, I will reveal what causes cold sores in most sufferers.

What causes cold sores, basically, is the herpes simplex virus. It comes in two varieties - type 1 and type 2. Both create identical sores. Most common is type 1 which is responsible for about 80% of the outbreaks.

Normally the herpes virus is asleep, deep in the roots of your facial nerves. For about 35% of those infected, it never wakes up. But the majority of those infected will have at least one cold sore attack in the next 10 months.

If the herpes virus senses the right conditions, it will travel through the nerves to the surface of your face. It enters surface nerve cells and makes them create clones of the virus.

When you see the swelling, the cells are filling up with new virus. When full, they burst open. This releases the virus particles and creates the visible sore.

Basically, the herpes simplex virus is what causes cold sores, fever blisters and oral herpes sores. But, we really need to focus on is what conditions we can avoid to keep the virus from becoming active.

There are a number of things that can cause the virus to activate. Below you will discover the three triggers responsible for 99% of the outbreaks.

1. POOR IMMUNITY.

An effective immune response is directly related to the quality of your antibodies. Certain factors must be available for your body to build great antibodies.

The most important elements needed for strong antibodies are the nutrients you gain from diet and supplements.

If you get a lot of outbreaks, your immune system is not strong enough to protect you properly. Eat more vegetables. Your best bet would be organic. Veggies flood you with the best quality, body-ready nutrients you can get.

You should start taking a multiple vitamin every day. For many people, this is the only extra thing they do for success in preventing cold sores. But use caution. There are many drug store rip-off vitamins that are totally worthless.

Go to a vitamin store and buy a good quality product - or you will be unhappy. The B and C vitamins are important for stress situations, but burn up quickly. You need to replenish these water-soluble vitamins every day.

2. ARGININE AND LYSINE NOT WELL BALANCED.

You hear a lot about these two amino acids in relation to cold sores. They are both essential to your overall health. They also play a big role in cold sores, fever blisters and oral herpes.

For the cell to create new particles of herpes simplex virus, it must have ample arginine nearby. Without this one main building-block, virus cannot be created. Thus a cold sore is avoided.

Lysine is not friendly to herpes simplex virus creation. In fact, it is like putting water on a fire. Your cells store both these amino acids in the same area. Space is limited - the more of one protein, the less space for the other.

Eating high lysine foods - dairy products and fish, for example - crowds out a lot of the arginine. Lysine capsules are available and a great way to go. Often this lysine remedy is enough to prevent cold sores for many.

3. YOUR ACID-ALKLINE BALANCE IS TOWARD THE ACID SIDE.

You are healthiest when your pH level is slightly alkaline. The pH scale ranges from 1 (very acid) to 14 (very alkaline). The perfect level for health is said to be 7.35 on this scale - which is slightly alkaline.

Your body tries to maintain pH levels of 6.5 to 7.4. When you drop below 6.5, you are becoming acid. This is inviting illness - and responsible for causing cold sores.

The more acid your body, the lower your oxygen levels. This hampers your immune defenses. The herpes simplex virus finds this a perfect environment for activating. Pop - diet or regular - and sugar are acid producing products to avoid.

Also, winter causes cold sores because it causes your body to move toward an unhealthy acid level. Cold, less exercise, lower intake of vegetables and limited outdoor activity all play a big part in acidifying your system.

If you have a cold sore problem, avoid the acid foods mentioned previously. To keep your pH level alkaline is easy. Eat calcium-rich green vegetables such as cabbage and asparagus. Vitamin stores have alkaline-raising supplements too.

There a few other causes of cold sores to share with you. But, hopefully, this short article has helped you toward answering the question of what causes cold sores in your life.