Weirdest outbreak I’ve ever had

I’ve had ohsv-1 since childhood and my outbreaks are always super tame, and I rarely even have them now. About a wk ago I felt a small cold sore tingle coming on, and I decided to start using aciclovir tablets the moment I felt it to get in the way of it (because I had a presentation coming up and didn’t want to have a cold sore during it). I also heard that cold sores can be prevented if you use tablets the moment you feel something. No visible sores actually formed but I felt that the tingling got a tad bit worse, but it was generally very dry and not even cold sore like. I assumed it would last a short time and go away. Normally whenever I have an outbreak the peak of the pain happens and lasts like 2-3 days and then the feeling basically becomes unnoticeable. This time around no sores still formed but my lips burn literally in multiple places as if there’s sores there, but there’s not even any redness or anything no lesions no bumps no nothing. I had a moment of extreme stress which may have made it suddenly get worse during healing. But a part of me somewhat feels like the aciclovir made the process longer or something. I started applying Zovirax cream which is what I normally do (I assume maybe my lips were irritated cause they were dry which made the feeling worse and maybe I needed to apply it specifically to the area), but I’m still unsure because it doesn’t seem normal to me. Is there a chance that the pills made it worse or was this prolly just gonna be a very long and painful outbreak?