Fever blister or Cold sore- Your food is your medicine

What are fever blister or cold sore?

# The skin around your lip, especially at corner

become sensitive.

# You feel burning and itching or tingling.

# Then a painful spot appear and blister erupt at the

corner of your mouth.

# They are called fever blister because they come

along with fever.

# If they come with cold, they are called cold sore.

# Initially they are tiny fluid filled blisters around your

lips which breaks forming scabs.

# It can be painful and may stay there for 8—10 days.

What is cause of fever blisters or cold sores?

# They are caused by Herpes simplex 1 virus (HSV-1).

What is treatment of fever blisters or cold sores?

# As such, there is not treatment for fever blisters.

# Your dermatologist might prescribe you topical

antiviral creams or antiviral medicines to reduce your symptoms.

But yes, don’t worry-

Fortunately, your food can help!!!

# Herpes require arginine to grow. Lysine

reduces the absorption of arginine.

# Thus, lysine helps to prevent the growth of herpes virus

which is responsible for your blisters.

So now what you need to do is-

You need to reduce your intake of food rich in arginine &

increase your intake of food rich in lysine.

Good natural vegetarian sources of lysine are :(good for you)

• Guava
• Bathua leaves ( chill ni bhaji)
• Shepu ( suwa ni bhaji)

So when you have active symptoms, incorporate these lysine

rich sources.

Natural vegetarian sources of arginine are: ( not good for you)

• Walnuts
• Almond
• Cashew
• Sunflower seeds.

even if these food are healthy for you, you need to

avoid them during active phase of cold sore/ fever blisters.

Stress is another aggravating factor. So to combat stress, you

need to exercise daily and take at least 8 hours sleep.

That’s all for today

See you next Tuesday

With another Tuesday tip

Till then,

Take care.

Providing simple solutions for the complexities of life-

Dr Bhumita Makwana

Your Dietitian & cosmetic clinician.