Can I combine Zovirax & Abreva

December 17, 2007 7:06 AM

So I have a cold sore coming on, and I have both Zovirax(Acyclovir) and Abreva(Docasonal) can I use both at the same time for a double dose of cold sore nuking ?
posted by zeoslap to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

Actually, the best cold sore remedy I've found is neosporin+pain ... it works as something of a preventative too.
posted by SpecialK at 7:29 AM on December 17, 2007

(Which doesn't make any sense because cold sores are viral and not bacterial in nature, but I haven't had -one- since I've started using neosporin instead of chapstick)
posted by SpecialK at 7:29 AM on December 17, 2007

I'm not sure about using those together, but I would recommend taking L-Lysine as well. As soon as I feel one coming on I take it and the cold sore never appears. Sorry I'm not actually answering your question, but I thought I'd pass this along.
posted by illek at 8:54 AM on December 17, 2007

My cold sore prone boyfriend always combines them. Who knows if it actually works any faster, but he's never noticed a side effect or downside to the combo treatment.
posted by mostlymartha at 10:46 AM on December 17, 2007

Response by poster: I always combine them too, and it does seem to work. I felt this coming on around 3:00am Sunday morning at which point I started blasting it with Zovirax and Abreva, now it's pretty much gone; it never really got going which is nice. Just wondered if the double whammy was ill advised.
posted by zeoslap at 10:58 AM on December 17, 2007

Try hydrogen peroxide. Just dab it on that spot a couple times a day. It won't keep it away completely, but will make it go away really fast once it pops out. (God I hate cold sores.)

Oh, and of course you know this, but whatever you do, do it now. Stop waffling. Starting whatever treatment you pick asap is the biggest decider in how long it lasts.
posted by anaelith at 11:13 AM on December 17, 2007

You might want to ask the person who prescribed those medicines to you....
posted by delfuego at 11:16 AM on December 17, 2007

Response by poster: Abreva is over the counter in the US, and Zovirax is over the counter in the UK where I'm originally from so I pick it up there whenever I visit (and I think it's just been released as OTC here in the US too)

Also there was no waffling, I used both as soon as I had an inkling and like I said above I nipped it in the bud and it never really developed at all.
posted by zeoslap at 11:21 AM on December 17, 2007

Seconding the L-Lysine supplement. It's found in normal drugstores.
posted by suedehead at 1:31 PM on December 17, 2007

I don't want to hijack this into a 'home remedies' thread, but I used Vicks Vapor Rub (i don't know the generic name of it off-hand) on them and it works well.
posted by fizzix at 5:55 AM on December 18, 2007

Response by poster: From my experience and reading up about how these work I think the double combo of Abreva and Zovirax is the way to go (assuming nobody answers my question and says it is inherently a bad idea!) Abreva stops the active virus from entering neighboring cells, so the earlier you can get Abreva on the better, while the Zovirax attacks the virus itself. I'll try Lysine as well next time too.

So if you use both, Abreva will keep it small while the Zovirax tries to knock it out. Once it has turned into a blister you just need it to heal which is where the antiseptics/balms come in.
posted by zeoslap at 6:47 AM on December 18, 2007