Sorry, long, long post...
Hmmm...my dental appointment is in three days. Actually, I just cancelled it, postponing it a week. Yes, the dentist wears gloves, but I'd feel guilty to have my dentist working so close to my cold sore! Yikes!
Yes, I realize most people (over 50 percent?) carry this type of herpes, called Herpes Simplex Virus 1 or HSV-1, I believe, versus Herpes Simplex Virus 2 which Is genital warts. At least most here in America, but likely worldwide for generations?
Even virgins can be exposed to it, correct? Via a simple kiss on the lips from someone just saying hello when a toddler, or sharing a drink from the rim of the glassware or bottle, perhaps. Hmmm, I hope kissing on the cheek is less risky than on the lips!
I've walked around this week in the cold and wind here in Boston (no, not nearly as cold as other parts of the country and Canada have been,) and that cold wind may have triggered it?
I hadn't had any outbreak I'm aware of since pre pandemic....I think. And I wasn't with anyone for 18 months or so at the beginning of the pandemic, so that maybe have helped avoid outbreaks.
Sure, I was wearing a facemask during the pandemic while on the subway and elsewhere in public, but not this winter, however. Coincidence?
I thought I had bit my lip by mistake, but when I finally checked in the mirror today, I could see it appears to be a cold sore, and maybe puffiness inside the lip. Yes, a bit of that tingling sensation is present.
It's not been bleeding that I know of ...in the past I think there was minor bleeding occasionally, and probably more noticeable sores Maybe the sore won't heal by my appointment, thus my cancelling.
I assume dentists have encountered patients who happened to have a cold sore that day. Not sure if they'd politely just ask the patient to leave and return when it's gone.
I have never had a prescription for it, but have read that some others take it at the first sign of a cold sore ....I guess it's that tingling sensation?
I've used Abreve, over the counter, but that tiny tube was expensive....and even more nowadays!
Sometimes I'd use Carmex ointment instead, much cheaper, and sometimes it's displayed in winter right at the CVS checkout counter. Seemed effective at times or oftentimes, within a few days at most. ....
From what I've read, I guess most people, at least here in America, likely worldwide, have been exposed to the cold sore virus...and it's lifelong, correct? Maybe a tiny fraction or maybe many of those occasionally or regularly get a cold sore in cold weather? Others never have symptoms.
Or do most of you in warm winter climates not get them -- whereas perhaps you have regularly in cold climates?
I am 63... have not been with anyone in 17 months ...have not given oral in maybe almost two years. Not even sure if giving oral has any relation to triggering cold sores. So I and you folks can't simply blame this "minor"noutbreak on a recent flurry of tricks.
Doctors never ask about it, and STD clinics never bring it up.... because it's so common?
If you've had cold sores, even only many years ago but not in years, do you always disclose that to your hookups? Have hookups or partners ever asked before getting down and dirty? I doubt it, right? No trick has ever asked in my many encounters over my history, whether on a date, at a gloryhole or understall -- or anywhere!
Yes I know not to give oral or kiss or even be intimate while a cold sore is present....but maybe some guys go out and play, anyway -- especially if "only" anonymous in baths, gloryholes and darkrooms? Always will be those types of guys, huh?
...
Am I overthinking the dental appointment, and cold sores in general? Seems most will be exposed to this virus eventually, so just don't worry?
s.