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Many folks eat high lysine foods prior to or during a cold sore event, and avoid high arginine foods. For many folks, healing cold sores fast has been as simple as taking 1,000 milligrams to 3,000 milligrams of lysine in capsule supplements during an outbreak. High lysine foods to eat are most meats and dairy products.
Cold sores are caused by a Herpes Virus (HSV-I not the genital variety HSV-II). Abreva is a topical medication that can help fight and speed healing of cold sores. Abreva is over the counter in the USA. Neosporin will not keep the virus from spreading but could help it from becoming secondarily infected with bacteria. Neosporin contains 3 antibiotics: Neomycin, Bacitracin and Polymyxin.