10 Ways To Get Rid Of A Scratchy Throat
You’ve probably had to deal with a dry scratchy throat at one point in your life. Itchy throats aren’t normally a telltale symptom of a severe condition, but you will bear me witness that they are not fun, more so when it is a combination of scratchy throat and cough. Having a scratching and burning throat can be utterly depressing. Here are ten effective ways to get rid of a scratch throat without immediately rushing to your physician.
1. Gurgling Salty Water
This is one of the most effective scratchy throat remedies. Gurgling using with warm salt water helps soothe the sore throat. The scratchiness and pain results from swollen and inflamed mucous membranes of the throat. The work of salt is to draw water from the inflamed mucous tissue and consequently ease the pain.
Tip: The Mayo Clinic recommends dissolving teaspoon salt in a cup of warm water. Gurgle for several seconds. Don’t simply rinse your mouth with the concoction, make sure to gurgle until the back of the throat – which is swollen – is reached, and then spit. Repeat the procedure several times every day until the soreness disappears.
2. Try A Throat Lozenge
Most throat lozenges have methanol, an element that’s able to quietly numb your burning throat. Throat lozenges can offer short-term relief from the itchiness and scratchiness. If you’re experiencing a scratchy throat and cough, consider using cough drops and candies. They keep the throat lubricated by raising your saliva production. However, cough drops and candies do not offer a long lasting relief and you may require relief again soon after using them.
3. Use OTC Pain Killer
The Center for Disease Control points out that viruses are to blame for the majority of sore throat cases. Antibiotics cannot treat viral infections, rather, the virus runs its full course in you and that’s why over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers are important. OTCs like Aleve and Advil can help minimize the soreness and irritation in your esophagus.
4. Honey
Enjoying a drop of honey is another remedy for a dry scratchy throat. Taking warm tea that’s honeyed is another way of soothing your inflamed throat. Additionally tea offers another benefit of hydrating your body, which goes a long way to treating an itchy throat. Is your throat starting to give up on you with that pain and soreness? Brew up some tea, your throat needs it.
Tip: you can never go wrong with honey when you’re suffering from scratchy throat and cough or other sickness. Research has it that honey is a highly effective cough suppressant and it’s comparable to prescription cough medications.
5. Keep Your Body Hydrated
Keeping your body hydrated is crucial when you want to get rid of a scratchy throat. In fact, keeping your throat hydrated is the main goal of most scratchy throat remedies.Dehydration makes your body produce less mucous and saliva than is sufficient to sustain ample natural lubrication to your throat. This worsens the swelling and irritation. Having a sore throat should prompt you to taking more fluids in order to relieve the prickle. Getting dehydrated causes an already painful situation to be more problematic. Water is great, and so is a warm soup and warm tea.
6. Switch On The Humidifier
Staying in a dry environment can spell doom to your throat, particularly when it’s stinging. Turning on the humidifier will add moisture to your room, making the air bearable to the soft throat membranes that need the moistness to remain healthy and make you feel better.
7. Steam Shower
A humidifier is not the only thing that can give you moistened air. Giving yourself a steam shower and taking deep breaths of the steam can cool off the swelling membranes, and lessen the scratchiness of your sore throat.
8. Take A Garlic Broth
It is believed that garlic has antibacterial and antiseptic properties, and that it can effectively fight infection. Additionally, garlic can improve a person’s immune system. Garlic is strongly recommended by most holistic health practitioners when you need to soothe that dry scratchy throat and when treating other respiratory infections.
Peel and crush two garlic cloves. Add a glass of boiling water. You can make the broth more useful to your throat by adding a little salt.
If garlic taste is not a problem, you can alternatively accelerate your path to recovery by peeling, crushing and sucking on a clove severally.
9. Get Enough Rest
Getting up early and staying up late into the night in order to fulfill the day’s obligations can deny your body precious time to recover. You certainly don’t want that itchy throat to develop into a full-blown flu, right? Then give your body ample time to rest. Apart from taking plenty fluids and eating healthy, also consider staying indoors in the night rather than going out.
10. Know When To See Your Physician
Clearly, there are many scratchy throat remedies that you can administer to yourself without rushing to see your doctor. They range from OTC remedies to home treatment remedies to help you get rid of a scratchy throat. Still, bear in mind that a sore throat may not always go away. When you experience serious pain as you swallow, or you start nauseating, or you start to vomit, or if the sore throat progresses into a high fever, then it would be prudent that you pay a visit to your doctor. The dry scratchy throat could be a symptom of a serious condition.
Bonus Tips
Many people want to know the best kinds of soups and teas for itching and scratching throats. Warm water does the trick. Any type of tea can be useful. This can include peppermint, jasmine, chamoline, or any other tea. Consider adding honey to get the soothing effect on your prickly throat, remember we all believe that honey sticks or lines the throat.
Warm soups, such as chicken soup, are highly effective in treating sore throats. A beef broth can be very good as well. There is salt in the soup that will drawwater from the swollen throat membrane and other contents in the soup such as fats will line your throat.