Sorry you are dealing with those darn sores. The point of the meds are to help supress your immune system, thats why if you have a surgery or procedure of some sort, the doctors make you stop taking them. Unfortunately, with the supression, it can cause the blisters to rear their nasty heads. I used to get them all around my mouth. Now i just get them in my nose. I’m on humira. The doc gave me acyclovir. I found the cream works best. When i start to feel one coming up, I apply it like crazy. Most of the time I can catch it, but if not, it does help heal them faster.

Interesting question! I had the typical cold sore herpes virus which traveled up into my nose after a lengthy dental procedure on my front teeth. To make a long story short, I've been on acyclovir (anti-viral med) for years and until this year I had required the maximum oral daily oral dose. I ran short of the med while traveling a few weeks ago so lowered the dose until I could get some more med. I did very well on a lower dose and have left it at that, and have been pondering whether either the RA or the RA meds are the reason I'm doing better. And now when I read @A myRAteam Member 's comment about methotrexate helping her, I'm going to ask my rheumy at my next follow-up. Just saw her yesterday but hadn't read this Q/A until today. I hope there's a correlation and that if you take mtx, it will help you also!

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A myRAtea...

Well this is a tricky one. I suffer from cold sores and I tend to get them in cycles. I can get 4 or 5 in the space of 3 months and then nothing for 12 months. Surprisingly I seem to get fewer CS since I started taking Methotrexate. I have noticed though that if my temperature rises for any reason (even just hot weather) this can trigger an episode. When I started menopause I had constant CS for about 3 years, it sure was miserable. Hope yours are on the mend soon.

Thank you all for your comments to my question. At least I feel validated instead of floundering on my own & always wondering. The outbreaks have just been the past 2 years , I'm off mtx for years but started plaquenil 2-3 years ago & biologics for 6-7 years. I just feel that either the RD or meds are lowering my immune system to trigger this