How to stop picking
Now that we're moving into the warmth and promise of spring you could be forgiven for thinking that you'll be free of cold sores until at least the onset of autumn. Sadly, however, it is likely that you are wrong, for although most people are more prone to cold sores in the colder months of the year, they remain a fact of life, whatever the season.
Yes, they are uncomfortable, sometimes painful, embarrassing and more – there is no doubt about it, cold sores are a downer.
But at least they don't scar, right? Again – and please don't shoot the messenger – this another common misconception; cold sores can scar and, for some sufferers, they frequently do. The NHS says that "most cold sores disappear within 7 to 10 days without treatment and usually heal without scarring."
The key part of the above quote is the word "usually". For although cold sores do not necessarily scar, treating cold sores in the wrong way actually brings a very high risk of scarring. So, alongside using Herstat - a clinically-proven product for fast treatment of a cold sores - scarring can be prevented by not picking at the scab or blister.
It is hard to explain why people pick at their cold sores and every person is different, but the following are some of the most common explanations as to why people do it:
- Self-soothing – picking a cold sore can be a way, paradoxically, for people to comfort themselves.
- Anxiety – some people are so concerned about the appearance of a cold sore that they literally try and pick it away. This is a self-defeating exercise.
- Obsession – just as with spots, people who pick cold sores often do because of the manifestation of obsessive personality traits.
We understand it's all very well telling you why people pick at scabs, but it's not much use us telling you why if we don't give you some tips on how to stop picking. So, here they are:
- Avoid the mirror – avoiding the mirror can help prevent you from focusing on a cold sore and getting caught in the cycle of "inspect then pick".
- Remind yourself – it is important to remind yourself, whether through mental notes or even post-it notes around your house that picking a cold sore will only slow healing time and increase the likelihood of scarring. Getting a friend or family member to help remind you is also a useful idea.
- Visualise – by visualising the negative effects of picking – increased healing time, infection, scarring – you can help scare yourself into stopping
- Use Herstat – by treating yourself with our soothing and healing cold sore remedy you can reduce the appearance, discomfort and long-term impact of your cold sore.
There we are, that's it. Good luck for the spring and summer months and beyond!
Declining bee populations - are we over-reacting?
It's relatively common knowledge that the current decline in bee populations isn't a good thing, but the true extent to which bees benefit our lives is little understood. It's not just the materials they produce, either. While we reap much benefit out of honey and propolis (the ingredient we use in our cold sore treatment), pollination plays a major role in the production of crops worldwide.
The UN bio-diversity panel says that animal pollination accounts for 5-8% of global agricultural production and approximately three quarters of crops grown by humans either depend on or benefit from animal pollination – about 80% of which is done by honeybees.
A report by the IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) emphasised the issues that accompany a declining bee population.
"Pollinator-dependent species encompass many fruit, vegetable, seed, nut and oil crops, which supply major proportions of micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals in the human diet," the report stated and fewer pollinators would mean stable fruit and vegetable output could be jeopardised.
If bees were to become extinct, we'd have to rely on wind-pollinated crops such as rice, corn, barley and wheat - sounds bleak to us.
According to the World Weekly, since 2010, the commercial honeybee population in the UK has decreased by 45%; a depletion caused by a variety of factors including habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, climate change and pesticides. The latter have dominated headlines recently as certain pesticides have been suspended in the UK, and France plans a total ban on a number of pesticides by September 2018.
The importance of bees in creating health products, such as our cold sore treatment, barely scrapes the surface of how much we rely on the species. So, we guess, the answer to the question above is "No!" - we are most definitely not over-reacting to the threat of disappearing bees.
To see how you could help the bee population, read Buzz About Bees' tips here.
Why is there a social stigma regardng cold sores?
In a perfect world, everyone would prefer to have tip top health and constant clear skin rather than reaching for the cold sore treatment every other week and getting monthly outbreaks. This, however, is not the case for many people. The nature of a busy lifestyle means we're all susceptible to be being run down. And, it seems, that unlike spots and other ailments, cold sores have a social stigma attached to them that makes sufferers even more embarrassed.
Perhaps it is because the medical name for the virus is Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 – with Type 2 being the genital virus - and the obvious connotations. Or, possibly, the ease of spreading cold sores may present a reluctance for non-sufferers to be in close proximity to people with them - creating extra shame for the cold sore sufferer.
As a result, people feel increasingly embarrassed when they have a cold sore – they even have their own page on Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies website.
While we agree that the discomfort of cold sores is (literally) a pain, we think the embarrassment that accompanies them is unwarranted and unhelpful. Many people catch the infection as children and in 2015 the World Health Organisation estimated that 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 carried the infection.* Not all those infected will be conscious of it, but with such a high percentage of the population carrying HSV-1, it seems ridiculous to feel so self-conscious.
Next time you feel that tingling feeling, don't be embarrassed – just reach for your cold sore treatment, there's millions of others in the same boat.
* http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/herpes/en/
The pressure of looking good in summer can be overwhelming
Here at Herstat, we'd recommend always having some cold sore treatment in your medicine cabinet/handbag/desk at work. That way, if an outbreak creeps up on you you're ready to treat it immediately and get back to feeling yourself again - because we know what a downer cold sores can be for your self-esteem.
However, while we think it's important to feel good about yourself, we also believe – especially as the summer approaches – that people are put under too much pressure over their appearance.
Summer stressing
Summer is the time of the year that many people look forward to the most. More hours of daylight, better weather and a busier social calendar mean that for a lot of people, once Christmas is over, it is just counting down the days until June. It's a double-edged sword for some, though, as weddings, holidays and festival seasons can often have us all self-criticising.
The term 'summer body' (or beach body, or bikini body) is often bandied around on social media and in magazines and, when they see or hear it, some people feel the immediate expectation to make some sort of dramatic transformation. This can be harmful and may increase stress at a time of the year when we should be enjoying ourselves. Whether you might be trying to lose weight, be more muscular, or get a tan, quite often the quest for external 'perfection' comes at the cost your internal well-being.
So, if the approaching summer months are filling you with a sense of dread, think of a 'summer body' as a healthy or happy body – it'll make your goals much easier and cut down on stress.
De-stress about cold sores
In the meantime, make sure you've got a tube of our cold sore treatment (containing the natural healing substance of propolis) at the ready, healing an outbreak quicker is sure to have you feeling happy and less stressed.
Stress-busting - the ultimate cold sore remedy?
"Relax, it will all be okay!"
If there's one piece of advice that is invaluable in combating a cold sore, this would probably be it, after all, stress is known to be a key trigger in the occurrence of a cold sore. But relaxing alone is probably not going to do it. Unless we are Zen masters it is difficult to keep a perfect equilibrium all of the time, so being told to relax, and merely relax, probably constitutes too much pressure. With that in mind it's probably advisable to rephrase the advice to, "Relax, when you're ready and reach for a tube of Herstat, one of the best cold sore remedies available."
Interestingly, scientists have now discovered the cellular mechanism by which the cold sore virus has an annoying tendency to reactivate when under stress – you know, like whenever you have some event coming up for which you categorically do not want a cold sore blighting your face, whether it is a wedding, a job interview, a date or a photoshoot of some kind.
Scientists at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine found that by blocking the pathway of a common stress hormone JNK they were able to prevent the latent cold sore virus from becoming active, even when under stress. And although the research only looked at mice suffering from the Herpes Simplex virus, it may have important implications for human sufferers.
"We're excited about the possibility that this stress-activation pathway exists in humans. All of the elements of these pathways are found in human neurons. And we know that stress reactivates herpes simplex virus in humans," commented one of the researches.
The good news is that they soon hope to achieve the same results in human neurons. The potential impact of the study is huge – although for most people the Herpes Simplex virus is only a relative annoyance, leading them to reach for the nearest tube of the best cold sore remedy they know, for others it can be serious and even fatal in newborn infants or those with compromised immune systems.
