How often can I expect to get cold sores?

They don’t come back on a schedule or anything. You’ll just get them when you’re stressed or run down and not feeling great, that kinda thing.

Sorry to hear that though, sucks.

Cold Sores are often caused by Herpes Simplex I, not to be confused with Herpes Simplex II that occurs below the waste. Herpes Simplex I is quite common and most people have it without knowing it.

Truth be told, after the initial cold sore, which could have been when you were 1 month old etc, many people never get an outbreak again, but are carriers (so don’t be so quick to blame your boyfriend).

In any event, regardless how you got it, the virus stays in your body for life. As for the symptoms, the frequency of outbreaks has a lot to do with your immune systems ability to suppress the virus. In fact this may be your first and only outbreak, or you may get an outbreak every month.

Many studies have shown that people who are stressed out tend to have more frequent outbreaks. Also, people who allow their lips to chap or experience other traumas to the area have more frequent outbreaks. Also, infections such as cold tend to increase outbreaks, cold weather, over exposure to the sun, and hormonal changes.

Above all, the ability of your immune system to control the outbreaks is the most important determination in frequency since avoiding all of the above triggers is not always possible.

Abreva does help because it is an antiviral and suppresses the virus. You may want to see doctor who can prescribe something like Acyclovir that may be just as effective and it only costs about $4 a month. It does the same thing to the virus that Abreva does except it is oral (likely making it more effective rather than topical like Abreva)

Good luck and I hope this helped.