You might have severe or weak cold sores conditions. If you are suffering from a severe cold sores condition, you might have to lie down for a few days before you could actually move on with your day to day life. In the case of a weak condition, it would probably go un-noticed. However, both these conditions are harmful and would gradually harm you in some way or the other.
A sore throat, headache and swollen lymph nodes are some of the symptoms that you are likely to face when you are infected by the cold sore virus for the very first time.
Such symptoms last for about a fortnight, after which they start giving way to cold sores within 5 to 6 days. The interesting fact about this virus is that although 90% of the population carries this virus by the age of 10, most people remain unaffected as the virus is mostly latent. This virus is hidden in the nerve cells, deep within the nerve fibers. If we average out, one person gets a cold sore every six to nine months and it is not at all surprising to find that there are some people who actually end up getting three to four such attacks within a single year.
The very first symptoms that point to the fact that the patient is suffering from cold sores, include, dryness and itching at certain areas such as the lips and around the nose. Itching might be followed by pain and a burning sensation. These symptoms might be more pronounced and severe in some people. Once you start noticing these symptoms, it is high time that you do something about it. In approximately 36 hours from the first occurrence of such symptoms, hard, pimple-like bumps are formed in the areas where the itching sensation initially occurred. These bumps are rather painful irrespective of the fact that you touch them or not. The best thing to do in such a situation is to not panic as these are pretty normal things that happen to someone suffering from cold sores. Other possible issues might include fatigue, fever, headache and similar viral symptoms. The lymph nodes around the neck would also be swollen.
From this point on, your real pain would begin, when the pimples swell up and burst to merge into larger open ulcers. These ulcers are extremely painful and also look horrible. These ulcers also secrete a clear fluid, which is nothing but live viruses of cold sores. The best thing to do at such times is to stay away from people as you are highly contagious at this time and you might end up transmitting the virus to other people as well. This is the peak of cold sores and apart from the above mentioned symptoms, you might also experience a running nose and the lymph nodes would be swollen to their maximum and might cause a lot of pain as well.
After this phase, the healing process would begin. The ulcers would scab away and then you would experience a relief in a couple of days. Again, this phase will be accompanied by a headache and a fever, with swollen lymph glands as well, but these would subside in the degrees of their harshness. Itching and pain would still persist in the areas where the sores had occurred, but it would have mellowed down to a bearable level. Make sure you are careful while touching the areas where the sores had occurred, as touching might lead to pain. After the healing process has begun, you would notice a sharp recovery and you should be your normal self in a matter of a few days.
