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What Really Causes Cold Sores?
What causes cold sores for some people, but not every one?
What causes cold sores for some people, but not every one?
You will see, in the following article, what the three main causes of cold sores are and how to easily prevent your future cold sore outbreaks.
Cold sores are the result of the creation of new herpes simplex virus - commonly on the lip or nose. For most of the time the cold sore virus is in hibernation in the root cells of your facial nerves. This virus, as with all living things, desires to reproduce itself. It will awaken should the conditions be right for the replication process and will move quickly to the surface.
Fact is, the cold sore virus can quickly sense any change in your body because it lives in the nerve cells. To understand what causes cold sores, what we really want to know are the physical events and changes to our body that triggers the activity of the cold sore virus.
These are the top three cold sore triggers that you should know about.
1. YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. If you are normal and healthy, your immune system can keep the virus that causes cold sores asleep indefinitely. The quality and quantity of vitamins and minerals that you obtain from food and supplements will determine, in a large degree, how resistant you will be to cold sore outbreaks.
Multiple reoccurring cold sore outbreaks often are a sign of a need for more nutrients - vitamins and minerals. Every one, including you and I, should be taking a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement every day. Today’s foods are grown on depleted soils and picked before they are ripe. Repeated cold sores will often disappear when you start taking a good quality supplement.
2. LYSINE AND ARGININE. These two protein fractions (amino acids) play a major role in the process of replication of the herpes simplex virus. Low levels of lysine and high levels of arginine create a situation within your nerve cells that causes cold sores. Arginine is the primary protein used in the replication of new virus. By the same token, high levels of lysine discourage the cold sore replicating process because it prevents the arginine from being used.
In your nerve cells, arginine is stored in special receptor areas. Lysine is always in competition for the same spot. Lysine is not used in the creation of new virus particles. Increased lysine intake will cause more lysine to be stored and less arginine. That is the simple truth as to why increasing lysine helps reduce cold sore outbreaks.
3. YOUR pH BALANCE. The perfect pH level in a healthy person is 7.4, which is slightly alkaline. When your pH balance drops below pH 7, you are moving into an acid state that encourages illnesses to become active. This definitely causes cold sores to develop, along with other illnesses, such as colds and flu.
Your body usually keeps your pH in a very tight range of 6.5 to 7.4. Do not go crazy on this but keep in mind that most vegetables and fruits will help your body maintain a good pH balance. Do not use this as an excuse to go vegetarian. Carbonated soda and beer are strong contributors to an acid situation in your body - often causing cold sores.
Yes it is true what you may have heard - that stress is the main cause of cold sores.
I have not mentioned it until now for good reason. Stress causes cold sores by what it does to the body and knowing that you will better able to prevent cold sores. Primarily any stress will cause the body to go toward the acid side, which in turn causes cold sores.
Also, the body in stress starts using large quantities of certain nutrients such as the B and C vitamins, and minerals such as calcium and potassium. Additional quantities of these vitamins and minerals during stressful situations will help cut down on the instances of cold sores.
Colds, flu and fevers, sunburn, dental work and any damage to the body are common physical stress events that cause cold sores. Mental stress always affects us physically, whether we notice or not. Conflict with people, jobs and upcoming events, such as your wedding, are very common causes of cold sores.
You now know that the actual causes of cold sores are based, primarily, on your level of health. You also now know the true reasons stress is blamed for causing cold sores. Armed with this information, you will, hopefully, be better equipped to banish cold sores in your future.