how to get rid of a sore throat...

[Purple Princess]

ok, last saturday I began to get a mild scratchy throat which lasted about 3 or 4 days. I was okay again for less than a day. Wednesday night I came home and within 2 hours was developing a sore throat again. I also have a fever, cough, stuffy, runny nose,and at times it is hard to talk. I've been taking my claritin, tylenol, and alternate between daquil and robitussin. I spit up yellowish brown mucous. The on-call doctor ordered a strep test which came back negative, which is good. I missed clinical today and really don't want to miss tomorrow. We have to make up every single hour that we miss. What made me mad was he told me if I still have a sore throat to go to the emergency room! It just made me feel like I was being a pest. I would likely wait about 16 hours and be told that it's a cold and sent on my way. Not that I want anything to be wrong, I just wonder why it's continued to be sore. I also wonder what some nurses and docs take so they don't keep getting sick. I'm thinking orange juice IV and zinc alot. !!:)

[Nat_gagui]

honey and lemon in chamomile tea. i SWEAR it works, try it.

This one work on me , if i may add, mix and drink it on hot tea. :w00t:

Nat

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Slippery Elm tea -- a couple of swallows and the sore throat is GONE.

Thayer's Slippery Elm lozenges -- they work the same as the tea except you use them on the go.

You find both in health food stores or stores where they sell herbs. It is the slippery elm that is the active ingredient here. It coats the throat with some muculogenous component and therefore takes the pain away. Neither the tea or the lozenges ever looked or tasted mucusy to me. They tasted pretty good.

Another product would be BeeHive Botanicals Propolis Throat Spray (also in health food, natural food or herb stores). It comes from the part of the honey of bees that is usually removed by the large corporate companies. Bee propolis is like an anesthetic and numbs tissues on contact. This is why honey works, but it has to be natural honey that has not been pasteurized or processed.

Another natural product that will do some numbing is clove tea. Unfortunately, you'd have to be drinking on it all throughout your shift to maintain the numbing sesation. A concentrated clove tea made with a couple teaspoons of whole cloves and boiled up for awhile will numb your gums and throat and may even put you to sleep since is has some properties to relax and put you to sleep.

[markjrn]

This is happening to me right now. So, I have seen many ENT's over the years, and they all told me the same thing - to use a humidifier, and irrigate my sinuses with salt water using a bulb syringe. I've been doing it prn for years. Of course the sinus drainage gives me a sore throat, makes me cough, etc., but after I do this for awhile it all just clears up.

[meandragonbrett]

Ibuprofen 600-800 will always help a sore throat feel better until you can get rid of it.

[lovinghands]

Nyquil is my remedy for colds. When I wake up from the daze, I'm almost over it. Seriously though, if your drainage is coming out funky colors you should probably see your PCP. Sending you healthy wishes. :)

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

I'd definitely do these three things...

1. Go back to the doctor for a follow-up.

2. Do NOT go to clinicals - have your doctor write you a note at your follow-up visit. Your patients are more immunocompromised than you are - how horrible would you feel if one of them got sick from you?

3. Take a day or two and do NOTHING but lay around. You need rest!!!

Last time I had a bad sore throat, a coworker told me to go home and have a hot toddy. I never had one before, but it really helped. Make a cup of hot tea, then put in a shot or two of brandy, a lemon slice, and some honey. They tell you it works good because...the tea is soothing, the lemon cleansing, the honey coating, and the brandy for both numbing AND it makes you not care that your'e sick anymore!

Get well soon!!!

[sugabuga]

Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps. Just a capful. When I was little my dad would pour a cap in cider and warm it up. Worked every time.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

Water, water, water.

Warm/hot tea with honey and lemon.