frequent cold sores: the worrrst, a trivial medical mystery

[fakely mctest]

Never used to get 'em until a few years ago although I probably picked up the virus from my best elementary school friend who had them all the time because kids: not the cleanest.

Anyhow, for the past few years I've gotten one on my lip per year, which is inconvenient but not a big deal. I use Abreva, a camphor-based drying gel, and lip balm to try to keep the skin from cracking too badly. I always buy a brand new lip balm and throw it away once the cold sore is gone.

Since I started dating my boyfriend 5 months ago I've had 4 separate outbreaks, sometimes with two sores at a time (one for each corner of my mouth, how special). He says he's negative for both HSV-1 and HSV-2. Is this just extremely bad luck or could something else be going on? Is it possible to be an asymptomatic carrier?

I have an appointment to see my doctor next Monday and I'll definitely be asking her all these questions, but in the meantime I am both baffled and annoyed (and spending a lot of money on Abreva).

[Conreezy]

Generally, cold sores are a viral thing and can pop up when your body's immune system is run down and can no longer contain it.  Stress is the usual culprit.  (I have a scared right cornea from HSV-1 outbreak in my eye. When stressed, sores can appear on the outside of my eye).

It is possible to be an asymptomatic carrier of those viruses, as you are when you don't have a cold sore. I don't think you can catch another strain of the virus from anyone else, though. (That is possible with other viruses.) But I'm no doctor.

[fakely mctest]

Generally, cold sores are a viral thing and can pop up when your body's immune system is run down and can no longer contain it.  Stress is the usual culprit.  (I have a scared right cornea from HSV-1 outbreak in my eye. When stressed, sores can appear on the outside of my eye).

It is possible to be an asymptomatic carrier of those viruses, as you are when you don't have a cold sore.  I don't think you can catch another strain of the virus from anyone else, though. (That is possible with other viruses.)  But I'm no doctor.  

Thanks for the response, Conreezy. I'll see what my doctor has to say. From googling around a bit it seems like I might end up with a prescription I can take to shorten the length of time of any future cold sores. Honestly, I find it straight up weird how little reliable info there is out there and how much misinformation is floating around. Then again, there probably isn't that much money in HSV research since particularly HSV-1 is more a cosmetic annoyance than anything else.

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