whats the difference between canker sores and herpes?

i get a lot of canker sores. is this because i have herpes or is it caused by something else? i have been researching online a little and it seems that herpes are just cold sores and i dont have cold sores. my tongue and inside of my lips get canker sores at least once a month and they are really painful.
are canker sores different from herpes?
is there anyway to stop them from coming?
are they contagious?

[t21]

any advice?

[whatsok]

http://www.stjohn.org/HealthInfoLib/swArticle.aspx?2,41

That article had some good distinguishing info.

The main difference I know of is that cold sores appear on the lips or face (outside of the mouth) whereas canker sores appear inside the mouth as you've described.

Since such a high %age of the population has HSV-1, it's possible you have that too, but not from what you described.

I hope you aren't too worried either way.

[daisy315]

Canker sores in the mouth is a fairly common condition and not related to Herpes they are very difficult to get rid of long term as much of it is to do with your metabolism,I would recommend you get some blood work done to see if their is some minor tweaking needed to boost your syrtem sometimes lack of vitamin B can cause canker sores,unfortunately they can be caused by an allergy to something too and that can take a long time to work out,try eliminating something you eat or drink a lot of for a month or more to see if that makes any difference things like cheese,chocolate and citrus drinks have been known to be fairly big culprits for people prone to mouth ulcers and canker sores.
Worth a try I'd say because I imagine they are very painful ......

Daisy

  

[t21]

thanks!

[t21]

so i cant give them to my girlfriend?

[whatsok]

no - if they are definitely canker sores, you can NOT transmit them. Don't worry - you are OK.