... and bacteria. Not viruses.
I've heard stranger strategies though. We used to have an advocate
here for frozen peas. Said to just place the bag on the affected area
to make it feel better. And there was the Tea Tree Oil advocates. Same
application directions.
But as long as we're passing out non-FDA approved suggestions, here's
mine:  Buy yourself a tube of Abreva (about $14 American). It's a tiny
tube but the stuff goes a long way. Just dab it on and rub it in a few
times a day.  A couple of people here have raved about it and one or
two had dismal results. Only way to find out if it'll work for you is
to give it a shot.
Naturally, I would normally suggest starting on antivirals but it
sounds like you're a little late for that. You'd need to start pills
immediately for them to do much good. Starting at the first sign of
prodrome is even better.
Anyhow, good luck, and let us know how you're doing.

M2

http://viroxyndirect.com/ExecutiveSummary.pdf
read and compare (where are those old good times when you could just
say RTFM? nevermind, just kidding)

Perl von Molson

P.S. I've posted another answer but I don't see it popping-up here so
I've tried this one now.

DrugFacts .
Active ingredient Purposes
Benzalkonium Chloride, 0.13%
..............................................................Cold Sore
/ Fever Blister Treatment
Topical Antiseptic

Al, I should rather, say: RTFM, but it's not the case in your
situation.
I know, during an OB even the brain doesn't seem to function as it used
to the mild fever-like symptoms
are pretty draining on our body and mind.

Anyway, back to the topic, I've posted before an article about
Benzalkonium Chloride,
the whole story is in here, a product that contain the same ingredient
in the o.13%
as the product I've mention, that is bactine.
Besides, the other Bactine's component, a derivative of cocaine,
Lidocaine hydrochloride 2.5% w/w (Pain reliever)
it's additionally added for the purpose of relieving the pain.

In fact, Al, Benzalkonium Chloride alone can relieve the pain as seen
here: (you can buy a similar product that have
even only Benzalkonium Chloride in it, but I would say additionaly
Lidocaine may be even better).

·User reports that Viroxyn® (basically Benzalkonium Chloride, Al) is
immediately effective; it can be used at any stage of the infection.
·User reports that when the sore is in full-ruptured weeping stage,
the product stops the cold sore's progress
in a matter of minutes.
·User reports of reduction/elimination of pain caused by the HSV
virus within 10 to 30 minutes.
If you read the article, you will find out that Benzalkonium Chloride
http://viroxyndirect.com/ExecutiveSummary.pdf
History of Clinical Development
Following the development of a product and packaging design that would
be ideally suited to human use,
the Company continued its efforts with a literature search to learn if
work done by others might lend
support to this new approach to treating herpes lesions. It was found
that Benzalkonium chloride, the active
ingredient in ViroxynÒ, has demonstrated in vitro germicidal efficacy
against HSV-1 and HSV-2
(Kawanda, et al., 1997; also Belec, et al., 2000). Additionally,
benzalkonium chloride has been shown to
have germicidal activity within 1 minute against HSV-1 in the presence
of whole human blood (Wood and
Payne, 1998).
In addition to patient case reports from dentists and numerous
testimonials received by the firm from
individuals who desired to use the drug on themselves during the
development process, an open label
human pilot study was conducted under IRB supervision. In this study,
use of Viroxyn was compared to the
average natural history literature value of 10 days to healing
(Essman, 2000). Patient population (n=41)
consisted of a mix of naturally occurring cold sores (44%) and UV
induced cold sores (56%). The clinical
study (QL01-1-01) was conducted at an independent study site by a
Board Certified Dermatologist. Both
study arms had similar demographics. The endpoint for healing was loss
of scab and return to intact skin.
Using this endpoint, the Intent To Treat (ITT) population for both
groups showed a mean time to healing of
5.4 days (median = 4.4 days) versus the literature value of 10 days
(S.D. = 2.6 days). The ITT population
included all patients who developed disease and were issued drug
whether or not they treated their lesions
with study drug or were later withdrawn for protocol violations (eg:
using prohibited medications) or who
were lost to follow-up. (Patients lost to follow-up and patients who
were withdrawn were handled as "last
observation carried forward" to the maximum literature value of 10
days. Patients who developed second
cold sores or who experienced secondary lesions, but who did not treat
with study drug were followed to
complete healing of all lesions and the total time to healing was used
in the ITT analysis.)
A "per protocol" analysis was also done. Patients who were lost to
follow-up, who were withdrawn, or who
experienced second cold sores or secondary events and did not treat
with study drug were excluded from
the this analysis. When the "per protocol" analysis was done the
combined groups showed a mean time to
healing of 3.6 days (median = 3.4 days) versus the literature value of
10 days. (S.D. = 1.1 days)
This is significant to the oral herpes sufferer in that medications
already approved by FDA have only been
shown to improve time to healing by approximately one day when
compared to the placebos in the studies.
The pilot study provided a basis for filing an IND and proceeding with
Phase II human clinical trials. A
Phase II human clinical study was begun in summer of 2002. The
clinical portion of the Phase II trial for
Viroxyn (oral herpes indications) was completed on March 11,2003. The
trial design was for the enrollment
of 180 patients and randomized blinded treatment of 120 patients.
Analysis of the data is not yet complete
and a final report is not yet available.
In preparation for submitting a New Drug Application to FDA, the
company's technical team is working
feverishly on a scientifically sound protocol to test the safety and
efficacy of this new and innovative
technology on cutaneous Herpes Genitalis lesions. Future trials will
also test the drug to obtain FDA
approval for label indications allowing the treatment of genital
herpes that present on the genital mucosa.
These efforts will be followed up with work to test a variant of the
drug on cutaneous lesions caused by
Herpes Zoster (shingles). The Company is also considering the
development of a variant that may be used
to treat Ocular Herpes.