Mouth ulcer trials and tips

Right folks, this is the little bit I wrote about dealing with mouth ulcers, cold sores and gum disease issues when you have CFS/ME, hope you find it useful! I'm going to ask my hygenist on tips about other dental care and possible short cuts for when we're bed bound or unable to brush regularly when i see her next week :-

Mouth Ulcers -
Talk to your dentist or hygienist. I have been plagued by mouth ulcers for years. I seem to get small clusters of them around a certain tooth or on the roof of my mouth. Last time this happened I was so fed up that I, bizarrely i know, took a photograph of them and showed them to my hygienist. She immediately told me what they where and told me that they actually can be caused by an allergy to the foaming agent in tooth paste and advised me on which tooth pastes didn't have this ingredient in them. She didn't make me feel weird about taking the photo and, although this hasn't worked for me, I'm sure something this simple could help other people who just hadn't considered this as the problem.
As for treatments i was prescribed an oral paste called Triamcinolone by an immunologist i was seeing, it's sticky, claggy and sometimes doesn't stick to where it's supposed to but when it does its pretty good. I've also been told about an over the counter treatment called Igloo. I haven't tried this myself yet as it is quite expensive (aren't they all) but i have been told it is very good and covers the mouth ulcer with a protective layer. I will be trying this as it sounds better then my weird, claggy, slimy paste. I find Bongela useless and the anesthetic treatments only relieve the symptoms for a very short time. Also rinsing your mouth out with a soluble Aspirin or Disprin can soothe mouth ulcers and help them to heal quicker.

Cold Sores -
I have found a couple of things helpful with Cold Sores. For long term prevention I take 'l - lysine 1000mg' once a day. This hasn't stopped them all together but has definitely lessened the amount of outbreaks I have had.
It is also possible to ask your Doctor for anti-viral treatments. I was put on a long prescription of them (it was months but I'm not sure how many) and I didn't have any outbreaks at all in this time and for quite a while after.
In my personal opinion for actually treating the blister, i have found nothing better then Zovirax. I always have a tube with me. I just wish it was cheaper and in a bigger tube! This can prevent a full blown attack if treated early enough or be put onto the blister to make it disappear more rapidly. It soothes the tingling and I think I'd spend most of my time looking like the swamp thing without it!
There are other treatments which i have not tried myself yet and therefore can not really advise whether they really work or not. I have heard of a Red Light Treatment which you are supposed to use at the 'tingle' stage I believe. It is a bit more expensive though, but if it works it would probably work out cheaper in the long term then using expensive creams as once you've got it you've got it!

Gingivitis/Gum Disease -
For years I struggled with Gum Disease, nothing ever seemed to work. My hygienist has been fantastically helpful and persistent and advised me on all sorts of things. Corsodyl mouth wash is great to use short term and there is a Corsodyl clear gel toothpaste which made my teeth exceptionally clean but these are only to be used sort term. Still after using them my gums where still terrible and bleeding a lot after brushing.
The only thing that made any difference was a totally none related set of antibiotics i was prescribed by my doctor for a sinus infection i think. this cleared my gums up almost completely and i still have hardly had any bleeding when brushing for 9mths now.
For the long term use, Corsodyl do a 'daily' mouth wash and tooth paste which are very good. i also really loved a mouthwash by Colgate called Peroxyl with Hydrogen Peroxide. There are 2 different ones of these, one boxed, one not, the one i used was the one that's not boxed. This was fantastic but my Hygienist said to use this only when my gums are worse as to not build a immunity to it. This works by penetrating below the gum line, i would suggest this to anyone. It seemed mild to use and, i feel, really helped.
For years i used to use Lysterine and after trying Corsodyl Daily and Colgate Peroxyl, I bought a little travel sized Lysterine to go on holiday with. This made me realise how strong and unpleasant it actually is in comparison. I didn't help my gum disease issues and just seems too harsh. I would now never go back to using this.

well, they're not the most flattering things to talk about but if it helps someone then I'm happy with that!