Lysine and cold sores - an excellent remedy if used correctly. By the time you are done reading this short article, you will know the truth about using lysine for cold sores.

Lysine for cold sores is in the news a lot. You will find that empirical evidence strongly suggest the power and effectiveness of using lysine for cold sores.

How does lysine work for cold sores, fever blisters and oral herpes? What is the best way to use it?

Good questions for sure.

But, prior to using lysine for cold sores, it is best to know as much as possible about how a cold sore is created.

It is the herpes simplex virus that is the cause of all cold sore events. You may call them a cold sore or a fever blister. Whatever you call them, they are identical oral herpes sores.

This very contagious parasite virus inhabits 9 out of 10 people throughout the world. Most of these folks caught the virus before their twelfth birthday.

For most of your life, the herpes virus is hiding in the nerve roots. For facial sores, the virus resides behind the ear, in the nerve ganglia. If the virus stays latent, you will never experience a cold sore.

If the herpes simplex virus senses a weakening of your immune system, it may become active - wanting to create new virus. Stress, both physical and mental, is usually what triggers this chain of events.

The herpes cold sore virus wiggles its way to the surface along the nerve fibers. Once there, each virus chooses a nerve cell, enters it and takes control.

Each virus then forces that cell to act as a virus factory and construct herpes virus clones. When the cell is swollen with fresh virus, it is destroyed to free the new virus.

The gaping cold sore ulcer is the result of millions of destroyed cells.

Arginine, an amino acid, is the main ingredient your cells need to create this new herpes virus. Arginine is a common protein found in many foods. Chocolate and nuts are quite rich in this protein.

Your cells have a special area to store proteins, such as arginine, inside the cell.

Lysine is also an essential amino acid. Dairy and fish are good sources of lysine. New herpes virus can not be created using lysine. It is like putting water in your gas tank.

Lysine and arginine share the same storage area in your cells. The more lysine you put in storage, the less room for arginine.

You can easily lower the cell’s arginine supply by raising lysine intake. This is a tactic many people use to stop the progression of a cold sore and prevent future oral herpes outbreaks. You are, in affect, starving out the virus.

Lysine and arginine fight each other. Increase lysine in your diet with vegetables, fish and dairy products. Decrease arginine in your diet by leaving out arginine foods such as chocolate, nuts and grains.

The trouble is, changing your diet as a way to stop cold sores, fever blisters or oral herpes is not always practical. The best bet for most people are lysine capsules or tablets. They are quite cheap and available everywhere.

With lysine capsules, you can change your intake based on your need. And you often do not have to give up the foods you love, such as chocolate or nuts.

Lysine is very safe. Commonly people take 1000 to 4000 milligrams per day during a cold sore and 500 to 1000 milligrams daily as a preventative measure. Again, you can adjust this depending on how often you get them.

But, watch out for the hype.

Lysine for cold sores is awesome when taken as an internal remedy. But it has not been very effective when put directly on the sore.

There are lysine salves on the market for use as cold sore remedies. Lysine must get into the cells to work. Lysine does not absorb through the skin. You must take it orally for good results.

Lysine for cold sores is one of the more proven and convenient cold sore remedies that you should be using.

There is much more I could share about lysine for cold sores and several other good cold sore remedies that honestly work. Unfortunately there is not enough room here.

Whether you want to shorten the duration or to prevent future outbreaks, lysine is powerful medicine. But, keep this in mind. There are several other excellent cold sore remedies for you to try - that may work even better for you than lysine for cold sores.