How to soothe a sore throat?

Question

Right now I'm using Halls mentho-lyptus lozenges but it's not helping too much. My throat is KILLING me and i dont know how to get rid of it. I heard of gargling with warm salt water, but can anyone tell me how much salt and how much water to use?

Answer 1

Gargling with warm salt water kills all yje bacteria in there, but make sure you don't swallow it. Just use one little mug full of warm water and a few teaspoons of salt, stir it up and gargle a few times, make sure you get it in the back of your throat, do that twice a day, and drink some warm tea with honey and lemon to soothe it. My parent's always make me do that when I have a sore throat. Also, eat some chicken noodle soup and make sure your taking your vitamins. Camp out on the couch today, maybe tomorrow and you should feel better in a matter of days! Good Luck, Hope Your Feeling Better! :)

Answer 2

Hello,

I hope the information below helps. Whenever I gargle with warm salt water my doctor has never told me the mixture I just do it to taste. Not too much-not too little. I repeat often. I would also read below.

The Medical Consumer's Advocate




Good for what ails you: how salt water helps a sore throat
This letter originally appeared in Dr. Hoffman's column on allHealth.com.





Q: What exactly is the mechanism/physiology of relief that gargling with warm salt water has on a sore throat?



A: This is an educated guess.
Sore throats are sore due to inflammation. Usually, the inflammation is due to a viral or bacterial infection (the common cold, and strep throat, are examples of each). However, sore throat may also be related to allergies or physical injury to the throat. In each case, an inflammatory response has been triggered. Pain, swelling and an itchy or irritated sensation are the common symptoms of this inflammatory response.
The medical term for swelling is edema. As part of the inflammatory response, there is an increase in the water content of the involved tissues. With respect to sore throat, a sense of fullness and difficulty swallowing are both related to edema of the tissue lining the throat (mucosa).
Water tends to follow salt. Anyone who has ever salted a snail knows what happens to the snail. Here’s a less disgusting analogy: have you ever salted slices of raw eggplant? The salt draws moisture from the eggplant; after a few minutes, you can see beads of fluid on the surface of the eggplant.
Everyone has a different recipe for a salt water gargle, but all recipes tend to be fairly salty. If the gargle has a higher salt concentration than your intrinsic salt concentration, it will tend to draw out some of the edema fluid from the mucosa of the throat. This will make SOME of your "sore throat" symptoms better. The relief is very real, but also tends to be short-lived, since the gargle has done nothing to remove the cause of the sore throat.
In some cases, gargling with salt water also has a cleansing action. If you are suffering from postnasal drainage due to a bacterial sinus infection or allergies, the mucus which drains from your nasal cavity is full of chemicals that tend to promote an inflammatory response. As this stuff drains down the back of your throat, it leaves a trail of inflamed tissues in its wake. Frequent gargling with salt water will help minimize this problem.
As with everything else in medicine, you can certainly overdo this one! Make the gargle salty enough, and you will dessicate the mucosa of the throat. This could lead to even greater irritation than what you started with!

I hope you feel better soon.

Answer 3

There are many different things that you can do to relieve your sore throat. I recommended a home remedy such as a gargle made of salt devolved in warm water or a hot drink made up of hot water, honey and lemon. But if you have tried these and they haven't worked for you, or you just don't have the ingredients, then I recommended a medicated throat lolly or gargle. If non of these give you relief, then I would go to your local GP and he might be able to prescribe you something stronger etc. Hope this helps!!

Answer 4

I always keep a bottle of Alkalol around to gargle with. It's an all natural mucolytic, which means it removes the mucus that often causes the pain.

It's available from just about any pharmacy and costs about $4 a bottle. It's more effective than salt water and you don't risk the chance of irritation.

Good luck and be well.

Kelley

Answer 5

Ease a sore throat and stop sinus drainage with 1 tsp vinegar in a glass of water,Gargle once a hour until cured. This works well

Answer 6

ok! the first thing you have to do is...have only one cup of water..and put one tea spoon of water! and the water has to be warm, because if it is cold then it wont help..so just have hot water from the tap and put salt and mix it...and gargle..or if it doesnt help..make black tea..and put 3 to 4 drops of fresh lemon in it..and drink as much as you can..and it is better if you make green tea too with the same process!

Answer 7

Take tylenol or some other pain reliever. It can help a lot. I would take a glass of water and fill it with maybe a teaspoon or salt. Drink lots of liquids.

Answer 8

Heat up a cup of water. Add a tablespoon of Lemon juice and a tablespoon of honey. If you're not driving or anything you can also add a little whiskey. (it works fine without) Stir it up and drink it while it is very warm. It is very soothing.

Feel Better!

Answer 9

My Patients ALWAYS ask me this.

If it is a virus, gargole with warm salt water. Hot chocoalte is very soothing.

Yogurt & other creamy food products help out a ton.

feel better soon!

Answer 10

DONT TAKE THESE LOZENGES OR FANCY MAKE NAMES!!! just use the home remedies from above... the make-names soothe for the moment, like panadols etc do for headaches, but arent any good for your body - and dont cure the cause...