Cold Sore?

So anyways, I had cold sore aka fever blisters aka Herpes Labialis. I bet you're freaking disgusted when you hear the word Herpes because you probably think cold sore is a STD but noh! I am a very kuai kuai lui and if I get an STD it would probably mean the end of the world because it will never happen! I am super defensive about that but I feel the need to tell people is Herpes. -_- Anyways, it is merely the same strand of virus as the STD Herpes. Cold sore is like the prim and proper cousin of the slutty STD Herpes.

Anyways, this is my first time getting it so I was completely clueless about what to do about it so I thought I would write a bit about it in case people google it and freaks out after seeing so much (too much) that google has to offer.

1) symptoms
The infected area (probably your lips or somewhere near your lips because the virus strives in warm and moist places) gets freaking itchy! Crazy crazy itchy that it is impossible to not touch it! That's pretty common for a lot of other things tho such as your skin being dry or something so how do you differentiate? It is when your lip is not only freaking itchy but it burns like hell also!

2) Causes
Probably the weather, stress, menstruation also can cause this or being infected directly from another person (don't share lip balm!) and some unknown factors aka I'm don't know. -_-

3) Treatment
There is no forever cure for this virus. Once you have it, you have it for *cues dramatic music* life. It will hit you once in a while if your body is not well taken care of. Anyways, I don't have any medication to recommend because I didn't use any. However, I bought Abreva (freaking expensive for such a small tube!) but didn't use it because when I got it, my cold sore was...kinda rotten. -_- It had open wounds and all those and didn't itch anymore so I thought I'd just save Abreva for the next time it happens. But from what I read, Abreva is great when you first discover you have a cold sore.

Anyways, how did I survive this horrible thing for around 14 days? I used ice! Whenever my cold sores burn or itch, I apply ice directly to it. That will not only help ease the itch and burn but also keep your hands busy. I also took Vitamin C for those few days because I needed to boost up my immune system(cold sore is a sign that your immune system is not doing good). Oh and I forgot to mention but I think everyone should already know this, DO NOT SCRATCH YOUR COLD SORE (freaking caps lock to show you how important it is)! That will make it spread like wildfire.

My remedies are simple and convenient but are freaking life savers! But of course, if you're sure it is a cold sore, get your Abreva asap!(apparently it doesn't work for some people tho...)

Without any medication or whatsoever, my cold sore lasted for about 2 weeks. The pain and agony of it was only for the first few days. After that my cold sore burst and because it was located at the side of my mouth, the only pain was from smiling, laughing, anything that has to do with opening my mouth too big.

Pictures

This is what it looks like when it first started to itch. Probably day 2 after the itch started. Freaking#$%^&*&^%$%^&* disgusting! Had to go class with this. -_- (had to blur the picture because you can see up my nose! hahaha)

The next stage, yellowish pus in the cold sore. (click image to see it clearer. -_-) Some people recommend to burst the pus but it's really ma fan because if you don't clean the pus properly, you risk infecting other areas! Plus you need to sterilize your needle (or knife if you're hardcore) with fire before you do this. Very very troublesome and scary!

 Pop goes the weasel! The damn thing burst by itself. -_- Cleaned up the pus carefully with a lot a lot of cotton wool and I am left with an open wound. When I close my mouth, the wound would stick together so when I open my mouth it would huuuuuuurt because I'm tearing open the wound. -_-zzz

Here comes the scabs. Big chunk of scabs at the beginning of every day. It comes off a little slowly throughout the day as I bath, talk, laugh and eat. A painful process. -_-zzz

Bleeding after half of a Jimmy Johns sandwich. Impossible to finish it. T_____T

Ps: oh ya it's called feever blister because fever is supposedly one of the symptoms. But lucky for me, I didn't get it.

Pps: I had fever after my cold sores healed which probably had nothing to do with my cold sores. But seriously, engineering is so stressful that I've lost so much weight, got canker sores, got cold sores and then get hit immediately with flu, cough, sore throat and fever the night before my exam. -_-zzzz

Ppps: Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between canker sore and cold sore. Canker sore does not itch nor burn and is not contagious at all. Canker sore(sounds like a dinosaur hehe) is an open wound outside your mouth that has trouble healing and looks like this.

Not very good pictures but it's just like a normal wound that just wouldn't heal. (took around 2 weeks + for it to go away -_-)