14 Natural Remedies to Get Rid of Cold Sores Fast + Keep Them Gone
We've all been there — just when you're gearing up for a big event or enjoying a stress-free day, you feel that dreaded tingle on your lip. It’s the first sign of a cold sore, and they have an uncanny knack for showing up at the most inconvenient times, leaving you scrambling for home remedies.
These pesky blisters are more than just a minor annoyance. They can be painful, embarrassing, and a real blow to your confidence. But don't worry, you're not alone in this battle. In this article, we'll dive into what cold sores are and some natural remedies that help treat and keep them at bay — so you can keep living your life without interruption.
What Are Cold Sores?
Cold sores, also known as fever blisters, affect over 3 million people in the US annually, with 90% of us experiencing at least one during our lifetime.
Cold sores are fluid-filled blisters that are typically found on or around the mouth and caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1). The sores are highly contagious and can spread to different areas of the body.
Note that these are different from canker sores, which appear on the inside of the mouth and are not contagious. (1)
Additionally, it’s important while you’re healing to set the area where your (or your lover’s) blister is as a no-contact zone. For example, if your blister is on your lip, that means no sharing drinks, utensils, face towels, or lip products — and unfortunately no kissing, either!
While cold sores do not heal overnight or have a single cure-all solution, there are various treatment options that can help speed up the healing process and decrease cold sore pain, symptoms, and flare-ups.
Here are 14 natural remedies to help kick your cold sores to the curb!
1. De-Stress
Stress is a common trigger for cold sore outbreaks, so it’s best if you can help your system maintain a sense of rest. Here are some of my favorite ways to combat chronic stress and decompress:
- Deep breathing exercises
- Float tanks
- Getting adequate sleep
- Infrared saunas
- Mindfulness meditation
- Red light therapy
- Tai chi
- Trekking
- Yoga
2. Shield Your Lips
When trying to heal cold sores, it’s important to protect your lips from direct sunlight and irritants like spicy and acidic foods. Direct sunlight is the big one here, as it is known to constantly trigger cold sore flare-ups.
I recommend getting a non-toxic SPF lip balm to wear daily. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a great resource for finding a safe, sunscreen-based one.
3. Boost Your Immunity
A key factor to getting rid of fever blisters is making sure your immune system gets a boost. You can enhance your T-regulatory cells, white blood cells that regulate your immune system response, by sipping on green tea or adding a little bit of cinnamon into your smoothie. (2, 3)
Mushrooms are also a great superfood for immune-boosting. Chaga and lion’s mane are my top two when it comes to cold-sore-slaughtering mushroom varieties.
If mushrooms aren’t quite your thing, not to worry. You can incorporate sprouts, specifically broccoli, into a meal instead, as the sulforaphane content in them boosts your immunity by helping optimize methylation pathways.
4. Increase Your L-Lysine
A study from the medical journal Dermatologica found that taking L-lysine could help reduce occurrence, severity, and healing time for cold sores caused by HSV-1. (4)
I would suggest taking a 1,000 milligram dose of lysine two to three times a day, while also trying to eat L-lysine rich foods like wild-caught fish and organic poultry.
5. Avoid L-Arginine
While you want to increase your L-lysine intake, you’ll want to suppress a different amino acid: L-arginine.
L-arginine is what the herpes simplex virus specifically needs for replication, so you’ll definitely want to avoid foods and beverages that are rich in this amino acid. Try your best to elimate beer, chocolate, cola, chicken soup, grains, nuts, and seeds from your diet.
6. Get Your Adaptogens
Adaptogens are botanical champions when it comes to knocking out cold sores and balancing the brain’s adrenal (HPA) axis. Holy basil (tulsi), maca, and schisandra are all great options because of their antiviral and immune-boosting properties.
@drwillcole HUGE advocates for adaptogens over here 🖐️ Listen to this episode of The Art of Being Well with @Dr Izabella Wentz for expert advice on healing adrenal fatigue, thyroid problems, or any other hormonal imbalances. Available anywhere you get your podcasts. #functionalmedicine #dearmedia #drizabellawentz #adaptogens #adrenalfatigue ♬ original sound - Dr. Will Cole
7. Use Essential Oils
Coconut, peppermint, lemon, and tea tree are four oils that are incredible for cold sore treatment.
- Coconut oil is a great treatment option for cold sores, thanks to its antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. (5) You can use coconut oil in smoothies or apply it directly on your lips.
- Peppermint oil has been found to thwart the herpes simplex virus. (6) You can dilute peppermint oil with coconut oil or water and apply the diluted mixture directly onto your cold sore.
- Lemon balm essential oil (Melissa officinalis) was shown to reduce cold sores significantly and speed up the healing time. (7) Within 72 hours, there was a noticeable reduction in the size of the lesions when lemon oil was applied.
- Tea tree, or melaleuca, oil is rich in antiseptic properties. You’ll want to use a lip balm with tea tree oil in it for application to a cold sore. You can actually make your own by mixing a few drops of tea tree essential oil into a little coconut oil. Then, add a little lemon balm and peppermint for an effective homemade lip balm for cold sore destruction!
8. Cut Out Sugar
It may be sweet, but sugar is known to weaken the immune system, which is the last thing you want when trying to get rid of cold sores.
Try reducing your sugar intake and eat foods like leafy greens, low-fructose berries, and healthy-fat-based foods instead. You may even find that there are extra benefits to your overall wellness when you do this.
9. Load Up On Vitamin C
You will want to increase vitamin C, as it’s an incredible antioxidant, immune system strengthener, and antiviral powerhouse. Eat plenty of vitamin C-rich foods, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, kiwi, and citrus fruits.
You can also incorporate a vitamin C supplement. A great one is my Brillian-C, a high-potency vitamin C formula supplement. It has the addition of 7.5 mg of BioPerine® per capsule, a proprietary black pepper extract, to promote prime absorption and bioavailability of vitamin C.
10. Snack On Berries
Organic blueberries are a simple and delicious snacking solution for getting some extra antiviral medicine in for the day. Eat them plain or add them to a smoothie or salad; you can even pair them with fresh fennel for an enhanced antiviral effect.
11. Sip On Skullcap Tea
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a tea fanatic. Skullcap, in its herbal tea form, is great for fighting viruses with vigor while making you feel perfectly calm.
Additionally, try mixing skullcap tea with pau d'arco tea and pouring it over ice. This makes for a refreshing iced herbal tea option for the summer that will kill any cold sore-inducing virus. Just make sure to try and purchase non-Chinese brands of skullcap tea to avoid any contamination from industrial pollution.
12. Try Astragalus
Astragalus is an herb that has been shown to greatly inhibit viral infections, specifically the herpes simplex virus. (8) You can take it astragalus in a tablet or capsule form, or you can use a topical cream that has astragalus in it.
13. Increase Your Zinc
Zinc is going to be one of your best friends when it comes to getting rid of your cold sores. Consider trying a zinc-oxide-based cream, as a clinical trial has shown that starting zinc-oxide treatment within 24 hours of a cold sore's appearance significantly reduces its duration. (9)
You can also up your zinc intake by eating zinc-rich foods like wild-caught fish, mushrooms, grass-fed beef, organ meats, and pasture-raised eggs.
14. Heal Your Gut
Improving gut health might be one of the most effective strategies to prevent cold sores. This is because vulnerability in your gut can cause chronic immune stress and open your system to unwanted viral infections, such as fever blisters.
You can start healing your gut by eating gut-healthy foods like coconut yogurt, bone broth, avocados, low-fructose berries, and sauerkraut.
If your gut is consistently in a state of distress, consider an elimination diet to make sure there aren’t any hidden food sensitivities that may be at play.
Read Next: What A Salt Water Flush Is + How It Can Benefit Your Health
FAQs
Typically, a cold sore heals in 2-3 weeks. If your cold sores do not heal and disappear within that time frame, you should visit a healthcare provider, as you may have an underlying condition to address.
A fever blister, or cold sore, is a grouping of fluid-filled sores that form around or on the mouth. It can easily burst as you talk, chew, or move your mouth in any way, will crust over, and finally turn into a scab that should fade.
It’s important to note that fever blisters around the mouth are commonly caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Type 2 of the herpes simplex virus (HSV-2) is what causes genital herpes, not usually oral herpes. (10)
The symptoms of cold sores, specifically a first-time outbreak of the blisters, can include a tingling, itching, or burning sensation where the sore will show up, a fever, swollen lymph nodes, a sore throat, muscle aches, painful gums, or headaches.
Contact your doctor if your symptoms become severe or if you feel grittiness or pain in or around your eyes.
Over-the-counter (OTC) antiviral topical creams and ointments for cold sores, like Abreva (docosanol), are available at most drugstores. You can apply them immediately when you see a raised sore or feel a tingling sensation.
Other antiviral drugs and oral medications for cold sores are only available with a prescription from a healthcare practitioner. These antiviral medications and anesthetic gels include Denavir (penciclovir), Valtrex (valacyclovir), Zovirax (acyclovir), and Famvir (famciclovir).
If you’re experiencing pain in your cold sore, try applying a cold compress to the blister in 5-10 minute intervals several times a day. Applying a wet, cool towel can also help reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling.
If the cold compress isn’t doing the trick, you can try taking small doses of pain relievers like Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Advil (ibuprofen).
There is also Herpecin-L fever blister treatment, which contains lidocaine to provide instant relief from cold sore pain. Oragel (benzocaine) is also a pain relief gel that can help.
Get To The Root Of Your Cold Sore Flare-Ups
As a functional medicine practitioner, my job is to get to the root cause of health problems like cold sores, rather than just treat the symptoms.
If you’re ready to take control of your health and break free from the cycle of outbreaks, let my team and I help you start your own personalized health journey!
As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe.
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- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (n.d.). Fever blisters and canker sores.
- Wu, D., Wang, J., Pae, M., & Meydani, S. N. (2012). Green tea EGCG, T cells, and T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. Molecular aspects of medicine, 33(1), 107–118.
- Pahan, S., & Pahan, K. (2020). Can cinnamon spice down autoimmune diseases?. Journal of clinical & experimental immunology, 5(6), 252–258.
- Griffith, R. S., Walsh, D. E., Myrmel, K. H., Thompson, R. W., & Behforooz, A. (1987). Success of L-lysine therapy in frequently recurrent herpes simplex infection. Treatment and prophylaxis. Dermatologica, 175(4), 183–190.
- Intahphuak, S., Khonsung, P., & Panthong, A. (2010). Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antipyretic activities of virgin coconut oil. Pharmaceutical biology, 48(2), 151–157.
- Schuhmacher, A., Reichling, J., & Schnitzler, P. (2003). Virucidal effect of peppermint oil on the enveloped viruses herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in vitro. Phytomedicine: international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology, 10(6-7), 504–510. https://doi.org/10.1078/094471103322331467
- Shenefelt, P. D. (2011). Herbal treatment for dermatologic disorders. Herbal medicine. NCBI Bookshelf, 18(2).
- Sun, Y., & Yang, J. (2004). Experimental study of the effect of Astragalus membranaceus against herpes simplex virus type 1. Academic journal of the first medical college of PLA, 24(1), 57–58.
- Godfrey, H. R., Godfrey, N. J., Godfrey, J. C., & Riley, D. (2001). A randomized clinical trial on the treatment of oral herpes with topical zinc oxide/glycine. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 7(3), 49–56.
- Cologne, Germany: Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG). (2022). Overview: Cold sores. NCBI Bookshelf.
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BY DR. WILL COLE
Dr. Will Cole, DNM, IFMCP, DC is a leading functional medicine expert who consults people around the globe, starting one of the first functional medicine telehealth centers in the world. Named one of the top 50 functional and integrative doctors in the nation, Dr. Will Cole provides a functional medicine approach for thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, hormonal imbalances, digestive disorders, and brain problems. He is also the host of the popular The Art of Being Well podcast and the New York Times bestselling author of Intuitive Fasting, Ketotarian, Gut Feelings, and The Inflammation Spectrum.
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