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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.
Directly rubbing a fresh clove of garlic onto the cold sore 2-3 times daily may help to speed up the healing process by three to five days. Just beware of the smell! 1  An alternative is to take a garlic supplement twice a day. 2  Begin by taking 1000 mg a day, before increasing your dosage.