Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Lemon Balm for Cold Sores

A friend has had a lot of stress in her life, and to add to it, now has come down with a case of shingles in her throat. She's under a doctor's care, but it's still very painful. Anyone that has ever had chicken pox can later get shingles - a painful rash of blisters and sores. I know it can be brought on by stress, so I suggested finding ways to reduce the stress in her life. She's going to start going to a yoga class, which might help. The only thing I could think of that might help the pain in her throat was my herbal remedy for cold sores in the mouth.

Cold sores, herpes outbreaks, and shingles are all caused by the same virus family, and lemon balm is a great anti-viral herb. Lemon balm is an easy-to-grow perennial, a member of the mint family. Though I rarely get colds, my first warning that one is coming on is usually a cold sore. The faster I can stop the virus, the better. Whenever I feel the start of a cold sore inside my lip, I immediately boil up a really strong detoction of equal amounts of dried lemon balm and water. After it cools, I strain it, soak a cotton ball in the dark brown liquid, and hold it against the sore for a few minutes several times a day. It usually heals within 24 hours. My friend is going to try gargling with a strong lemon balm detoction, and start drinking lemon balm tea. Since lemon balm is a calming and relaxing herb, it might help lower her stress level too.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sadge, just thought I'd drop by and say hello. I found your information about treating cold sores with lemon balm very interesting. I will try that when I get a cold sore. I generally get one if I'm in the sun too long. We have a lot of lemon balm growing here.

I especially enjoyed reading about your day. It never fails to amaze me how different we all are.

Warm regards, RJ

Sadge said...

Hi Rhonda Jean,
So nice to see you here! Lemon balm is an anti-viral herb, so if your sun exposure aggravates a dormant virus it should help. Our environments might vary, but a lot about the way we all live isn't so different after all. Thanks for stopping by.

RosieB said...

I cant believe all the years I've grown lemon balm but didn't take advantage of the medicinal properties! Thanks for the information. I shall be planting lemon balm in my new herb garden and I'll make sure to dry plenty! :)

Anonymous said...

Sadge, do you know if it helps the stress sores that sometimes pop up in the mouth? These look like canker sores but are not.
Thanks!

how to get rid of cold sores said...

This one was a nice tip. I will be applying these herbs if ever sores occurred. Actually I don't use any herbs or plants in healing sores. Instead I used antibiotics to cure sores.