DEAR DR. GOTT: Last June, you published a column about cold sores, and I thought you might be interested in my experience. I grew up having cold sores occasionally, more often in my childbearing years (I assume because of stress). I began taking garlic pills for another reason and two years later when I discontinued them, I started getting cold sores again. I now take a garlic pill three times a week, daily if I’m stressed, and seldom have the sores. If I feel one coming on, I take garlic morning, noon and night, and the sore never fully develops. I thought this might be of interest to you and your readers.
DEAR READER: I had not heard of garlic pills being beneficial in preventing cold sores prior to your letter. To the best of my knowledge, garlic pills are most commonly used in an attempt to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. I have even had readers tell me that they are beneficial in preventing mosquitoes from biting.
Other readers have recommended taking L-lysine daily. Rub the oil from one gel cap onto the affected area of the lip daily until the ulcer is healed. Yet another option is to coat the lesion with a layer of crystallized or powdered alum, which can be purchased at your local grocery store. Once the lesion is healed via either or other methods, future outbreaks can be prevented by the ingestion of one L-lysine gel cap each day.
Thank you for pointing out yet another use for garlic.
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