Boots, Derma Care, Hydrocortisone 1% Cream

Cold Sores
Boots, Derma Care, Hydrocortisone 1% Cream 

When I am extremely tired I sometimes get a cold sore.
Thankfully I don't get them anywhere near as often as I used to when I was younger. I'm not sure if I'm less tired, or my body is just used to less sleep.
Now I only get the occasional cold sore, but even one cold sore every now and then, is one too many.
Cold sores are horrible, they are painful, unsightly, and I always feel as though my whole body is suffering and not just my lip where the cold sore sits angrily throbbing.

Anyway, over the years I have tried every cold sore treatment available, with varying degrees of success.
I've tried various cold sore soothing creams, as well as a few other things including ice-cubes, silver, and even Tiger Balm. Actually Tiger Balm works well, but it's inevitable that it gets in your mouth, and it tastes nasty.
I've never found any long-term relief with any of the creams specially formulated for cold sores. The cold sore creams don't really help clear the cold sores up any sooner than leaving them alone does.
However, I have found one treatment that works the best for me, and it does come in a cream formulation, it's Hydrocortisone cream.
Hydrocortisone cream is excellent for cold sores, or at least it works for me.
It's more traditionally meant for eczema and dermatitis.
I'm not telling you to dab it on your cold sores - I'm just saying it works well for me. It stops the throbbing pain pretty fast after the first application, and it seems to help heal the cold sore much quicker than if I leave it to heal naturally.

In the past I've only managed to buy teeny-tiny tubes of Hydrocortisone cream, usually a couple of milligrammes, apart from one time I purchased a huge tube from a chemist in Italy somewhere, but recently Mr.R popped out to our local Boots and came back with a much larger 15g tube of Hydrocortisone 1% Cream. Excellent!
Not that I need anywhere near as much as 15g of Hydrocortisone Cream, being such a large tube it will definitely last for ages, but it is also useful for other things such as insect bites and spots.
No doubt it will be out-of-date long before the tube is empty. At least that's what I'm hoping because that would mean I haven't been plagued with too many painful cold sores.

Do you suffer with cold sores?
What treatment do you find effective for you?