I cannot thank my friend enough for telling us about L-Lysine! Our daughter, Miriam, has suffered from tremendous cold sores since she started first grade in the public school. These cold sores or fever blisters would show up and take over a rather large portion of her face. They were terribly painful and always embarrassing for her, not to mention they would last a rather long time. She has a few small scars left over near the corners of her mouth that are rather visible when the air is cold or her face is hot or flushed. We had tried various remedies and nothing really seemed to help very much.
We have never been able to pinpoint what causes these outbreaks. We have noticed them appear in times of stress and in peaceful times, when she’s been ill and when she’s been healthy, in all seasons of the year, etc. But one common factor we have noticed over the years: Pictures! If she is scheduled to be in an event requiring a photo, she will almost definately develop a cold sore. UGH! Poor girl!
Then a friend recommended we try L-Lysine. I went out and bought some right away. I gave her one before each meal as soon as she felt a new sore starting. She also continued to use Abreva often, though that didn’t ever yield as positive of a result as the L-Lysine.
Good bye cold sores/fever blisters!
Here is a great link about L-Lysine:
Lysine from University of Maryland Medical Center
Lysine is an essential amino acid, which means that it is essential to human health but cannot be manufactured by the body. For this reason, lysine must be obtained from food. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Lysine is important for proper growth and it plays an essential role in the production of carnitine, a nutrient responsible for converting fatty acids into energy and helping to lower cholesterol. Lysine appears to help the body absorb and conserve calcium and it plays an important role in the formation of collagen, a substance important for bones and connective tissues including skin, tendon, and cartilage.
If there is too little lysine in the diet, kidney stones and other health related problems may develop including fatigue, nausea, dizziness, loss of appetite, agitation, bloodshot eyes, slow growth, anemia, and reproductive disorders. It is extremely rare, however, to obtain insufficient amounts of lysine through the diet. Generally, only vegetarians who follow a macrobiotic diet and certain athletes involved in frequent vigorous exercise are at risk for lysine deficiency. For vegetarians, legumes (beans, peas and lentils) are the best sources of lysine.
Lysine is involved in the browning reaction, or carmelization, in foods such as pastries, doughnuts, cookies and cereals. In this process, lysine and sugar become linked together in a way that makes lysine difficult for the body to absorb. As a result, a diet high in cereals and baked goods, especially those that contain a lot of simple sugars, can result in low lysine intake.
