I've been trying to find out more info about the virus and ideas of treating it and have found these:
Eleutherococcus senticous - Siberian Ginseng: https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/siberian-ginseng - University of Maryland Medical Centre.
A couple of other sites say that cranberry juice may help but the tests that have been done have only been done in the laboratory and not on people yet. The spice turmeric may also help. Easy things to try that don't have side effects if you don't take too much of them - everything in moderation! I sprinkle turmeric over all of my main meals because it is anti-inflammatory and helps with other aches and pains.
The Herpes Virus Association (http://www.hva.org.uk/coldsores.html) have this to say:
What can I do if a cold sore is starting to appear?
Apply well-wrapped ice for 90 minutes to cold the area, not cause frostbite.
Use a herbal cream made with lemon balm mint extract (melissa officinalis) such as Lomaherpan (formerly called LomaBrit). The active ingredient prevents the virus getting into the skin cells.
Can I speed up the healing process?
Cold used tea-bags applied hourly can help.
Geranium oil, tea tree oil also soothe and speed healing.
To prevent scabs from cracking and coming off too soon, keep the skin soft and moist with an unscented product such as Vaseline.
And of course you can continue to use Lomaherpan and LomaBrit
Hope some of this is helpful. I think the one thing I'm picking up from looking into this all is that so many people have it and SOOOOO many have it but don't know because they don't have symptoms and so are passing in on willy-nilly all over the place without realising it. That so many of us look to blame our last partner for the infection but you could have picked it up years and years ago and had no symptoms - it's just popped out when your immune system was down or you were stressed. The great fear for so many of us, and I am going to have to deal with this shortly because I have met someone really special, is telling someone and that they may reject us. C'est la vie!
A final sentence from the Herpes Virus Association regarding cold sores:
If friends/colleagues make comments, tell them they should be more considerate - they could have one next week. Cold sores are common and usually trivial. (italics and bold mine)
Let's fight this thing and get better.