One of the worst things that I hate is when I get a cold sore! About 3 times a year they pop up...about 3 or 4 of them on my bottom lip. If you've never had one...you are soooo lucky! I don't even want to go out in public because it's such a sight! And the pain is sometimes unbearable. Trying to cover it with lipstick doesn't help and neither does chapstick or anything else I have tried. I think that I may be allergic to something in lipstick and lip balms because it seems to cause a flare up. I haven't worn in lipstick in over ten years because of it.

Anyway, when I get a cold sore (or multiple sores) I just bear with it and stick it out for the 10 or more days it takes to run its course. I have tried several remedies and nothing seems to help. A friend told me about Abreva. I am a skeptic when it comes to stuff like that but I decided it was worth a try. For a 2.0 g tube (.07 oz.) it cost me about $15. But if it worked then it would be worth it.

Well, I never know when one of those things is going to pop up so I carried it with me when we went away on weekend trips or anywhere else that I was going to be away from home for more than a day. I didn't carry it to work with me though...figuring if the tingling started at school I would be safe until I got home. I bought Abreva over 2 months ago and used it for the first time this past Saturday. Today is Tuesday. I woke up in the morning with that tingling feeling and began to use it right away. We went shopping for the day and the directions say to use it up to 5 times a day, so I did. The blisters started to pop out on Sunday a little but after applying Abreva throughout the day they were starting to calm down quite a bit. By Monday it was super and today they are almost gone. I have never had such a pain free, embarrassing-free bout with these suckers. And I say BRAVO ABREVA!!!!

Now here's the specs of Abreva:

The active ingredient is Docosanol (10%). Docosanol is a cold sore treatment. On the back of the box it says that it shortens the healing time and duration of the symptoms (tingling, pain, burning, itching) and boy did it ever! I am totally amazed. Inactive ingredients in the medicine is benzyl alcohol, light mineral oil, propylene glycol, purified water, sucrose distearate, and sucrose stearate.


The directions say that it is for adults and children 12 years or over. Apply to affected area on face or lips at the first sign of cold sore/fever blister. Early treatment ensures the best results. Rub in gently but completely and use up to 5 times a day until healed. I did use it the 5 times as directed and mainly after you eat or drink something. If you use it before eating or drinking it seemed to come off easily. Then you could feel the tingling and burning sensation again. It seemed to numb the lip a little.

There is a phone number on the back of the package to call for questions. Abreva is distributed for Avanir Pharmaceuticals by GlaxoSmithKline, made in the USA.

By the way, even though the little itsy bitsy tube cost $15 I still have enough left for 3, 4 or maybe even 5 more outbreaks. $3 an outbreak? Not expensive at all!! And like I said before, it began on Saturday and today is Tuesday and you can barely see them. No scabs or anything like you have when you go through the entire duration of a usual outbreak. Yesterday I was thanking my friend for telling me about it and I thought "I wish I could let more people know about this." What better way than through Epinions!

Thanks for reading and I hope it's helped some of you that suffer from these nasty things!

Happy Thanksgiving!!



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