Home Cures for Strep Throat

Strep throat is an infection and inflammation of the tonsils and tissue of the throat, including the lymph glands draining the lymph from the throat that is caused by Group A Streptococcus bacteria. It is more common in those who have tonsils and in young people of preschool and school age.

When many people think of strep throat, they think automatically of antibiotics. While antibiotics do a lot to cure strep throat, you can also do a lot for strep throat by making the most of the proven home remedies. Some of them are as follows:

You should always drink plenty of water or other fluids when you have strep throat. This flushes out your throat and gets rid of the bacteria harboring in your throat. Try chamomile tea. It has analgesic properties that can help relieve the aching of the throat and the headache that often comes along while your body fights off the infection. You basically drink a cup of chamomile tea every few hours while you rest and recover.

Sage is another excellent remedy. You can take age as a form of a caplet or in tincture form. Both help reduce the bodily inflammation you have with strep throat. It also protects your throat’s soft tissues as well as the tissues of your respiratory tract. Garlic has natural antibiotic effects and can be a home cure. You can eat it raw or take it in the form of a capsule every few hours for some antibiotic power against the infection.

Have you heard about gargling with salt water? It really works to kill bacteria and to decrease the amount of the inflammation in your throat when you have strep throat. Keep your room warm and humidified with a humidifier. Use a warm or cool mist humidifier to keep your room misty. This moisturizes your throat and keeps it from feeling dry and scratchy. You can also use saline nasal sprays or a Neti pot in order to keep your sinuses free of bacteria. A Neti pot can be obtained at your local pharmacy and they are used by pouring saline water into one nostril, allowing it to drain out through the other nostril.

Stay away from irritants like chemical exposure, cigarette exposure or alcohol vapors. These things can adversely affect your body’s ability to fight off the infection and your healing process will be diminished. Avoid also the drinking of very hot drinks or very cold drinks. They can irritate the throat further and will impede the healing process. Make sure you drink fluids that are about body temperature so that the healing process can go on without problems. Spicy foods are bad for your inflamed throat as well so try and eat more bland foods that are also somewhat soft. Foods like yogurt, soups, mashed potatoes and non-acidic fruits are good for strep throat and can give you the nutrition you need to heal.

Don’t let a case of strep throat go too far without getting antibiotics, especially if the home remedies aren’t working. Antibiotics are the mainstay of strep throat treatment and should be used as soon as possible.