What to do if your throat hurts and it hurts to swallow?
Autumn is traditionally considered a period of colds, flu and acute respiratory infections. Therefore, you will not surprise anyone with a sore throat at this time. It seems that the person has not yet fallen ill, but he is no longer healthy. It is early to see a doctor and it is difficult to work. Especially if the work is connected with the tension of the vocal cords.
It is possible and necessary to provide "first aid" to your sore throat without waiting for the further development of the disease. And here two options are possible, applied sequentially or separately. The first is quick, but not permanent, pain relief. The second is to eliminate the cause of its appearance.
How to relieve a sore throat
There are many ways to relieve a sore throat relatively quickly. The most affordable ones:
pain relievers and tablets;
aerosol spray products;
solutions for lubrication or instillation.
It is safe to use lozenges or tablets containing local pain relievers. They do not need to be swallowed - just kept in your mouth. The longer the better. Any pharmacy offers many of these products, for every taste and wallet. One of the first, in terms of price-quality ratio, are Strepsils lollipops. Cheaper tablets - Antiangin or Faringosept of domestic production.
With the removal of not too severe pain in a sore throat, funds enclosed in aerosol cans, for example, Ingalipt, do well. One spraying is enough for an hour or two, after which the procedure has to be repeated. But often it is impossible to sprinkle - the annotation on the packaging also warns about this.
Oil solutions designed to lubricate the throat or instill through the nose have a slightly weaker analgesic, but a noticeable therapeutic effect. Perhaps the most effective is Vitaon balm. It is nothing more than a mixture of herbal oils. It is used in two ways: lubricate the tonsils or instill it in the nose, so that the drops flow down the throat. The second is much more effective, although it seems unpleasant at first. If Vitaon is not at hand, you can also use Pinasol drops from the common cold. This is also an oily solution of herbs, but with a slightly different composition. Both drugs are completely safe and are recommended even for children.
If there is none of the above, and you need to relieve the pain urgently, then for a short time, just a glass of hot tea - strong and without sugar - will help you.
How to treat a throat
In the case when it is desirable not only to relieve pain, but to cure a sore throat, you will have to use other means:
milk with honey;
inhalation;
rinsing;
warming up.
An old "grandmother's" remedy - hot milk with honey. It is probably known to everyone. But not everyone knows that to enhance the effect it is useful to add a little soda and butter to it. It turns out that the drug is not very tasty, and you need to drink it as hot as possible. It is best to do this at night, before bed. Pain relief is usually noticeable the next morning.
Various steam inhalations are also proven folk remedies. Better, of course, to use a special inhaler consisting of a double reservoir and a special mask with a tube. But if it is not there, a regular earthenware teapot will do. Inside, they load medicinal herbs, a little Asterisk balm or a pack of menthol tablets. All this is poured with boiling water and closed with a lid. The inhaler is now ready for use. It remains only to take the spout of the teapot into your mouth and inhale the hot air with medicinal vapors from it.
There are also cold inhalations with essential oils. But for them you need to have a special inhaler - a glass tube bent in the middle, with various protrusions and thickenings. Essential oil is poured into one end of the tube, and the other is taken into the mouth to inhale the healing vapors generated inside the inhaler. It does not work immediately, but it is very effective.
Gargling is one of the easiest and most effective remedies to help a sore throat. For them, you can use various substances, from baking soda to medicinal herbs. But we must remember that almost all of them have, first of all, a drying effect.
A variety of objects can be adapted to warm up a sore throat. Without a doubt, the most comfortable will be a special warming collar stuffed with buckwheat husks. But not everyone has one. But table salt can be found in any kitchen. It is enough to pour it into a cloth bag, heat it up and put it around the neck - an impromptu heater is ready. An ordinary rubber heating pad with hot water, plastic bottles and even an iron for leveling ski ointment are also suitable for treatment. Too hot items must first be wrapped in a towel or scarf, removing it as it cools.
You should not seriously consider such folk remedies as smearing with kerosene or rinsing with a solution of propolis in vodka. The first is dubious and difficult to do. The second is extremely unpleasant, although it gives a noticeable effect.
Of course, all of the above is only "first aid", not capable of replacing more serious treatment. But it happens that it becomes enough to prevent the development of a real disease, which requires a mandatory visit to a doctor.