Thank you for the information about anti-virals, informative article. I will keep the name of these treatments for future reference of course hoping I don't need them. Thanks Collen for your help. I do always wonder about the mention that most sufferers of GD are male. Not so on this site, but I think women are more proactive about personal heath and we also need to share.
My husband suffers from frequent cold sores and takes Valcyclovir, honestly not sure how it works, but it helps control the frequency of his outbreaks. He takes a low dose daily and if he has an outbreak (always at the same spot on his lower lip) he takes an increased dose. This medicine worked better years ago but this year his frequency is increasing.
His last outbreaks have taken a toll and the lip skin has not been healing like it should. I read about Propolis helping heal cold sores as well as eczema. My husband has been trying it on his lip for month now and his lip has healed tissue, no longer raw yet it is scarred. Yet scarred is better than raw. No new outbreaks since using the Propolis. I have him apply it several times a day. I have a bee sting allergy and it is possible it could cause a reaction in for those of us with this allergy. It is basically regurgitated bee spit from plant matter which they use to line the hive to protect it from bacteria. I patch tested myself applying it inside one elbow for a week and had no reaction.
The brand I bought on Amazon is made in Russia, $13.84 for 3, 30 gram tubes. It is called Propolis Ointment Homeopathic. The tube is all in Russian but the box is half English. Great reviews on Amazon. I plan to order some for a friend who suffers greatly from cold sores, her lip hasn't healed completely in 5 months.