How to Recover From SORE Throat

Generally in 80-85% cases, the cause for sore throat is viral infection (no need for antibiotics) and only 15-20% have bacterial infection (need antibiotics). Kindly keep this manual for guiding you to have better outcome of our treatment, to treat yourself at home in recurrent
cases and avoid spreading infection to others.

HYDRATION (Most important factor to recover faster)

• Drink at least 3 litres of water (10 -12 glasses).
• Make sure you drink luke warm water always when you are ill, as it will sooth the throat, keep it clean, decrease your need to drink tea/coffee , decrease halitosis (bad smell from mouth) due to infection, helps in pain relief and decrease the need for frequent gargles.
• Out of 3 litres of water, drink 1 litre electral water (if you are not diabetic), it helps you have alkaline body ph. It helps in relieving body aches & general tiredness and makes you more alert & active.
• You can also drink sparkling water or soda water (with no flavour and sugar) to make your body phalkaline (ALKALINE PH – helps body to recover faster, decreases growth of bacteria, viruses and fungus , increases efficacy of medicines).
• Drink less or no tea / coffee / alcoholic beverages / sweet drinks (packed fruit juices, cold drinks, shakes with added sugar).

TAKE STEAM : 2-3 times a day. It helps in moisturizing the throat, nose and vocal box
alleviating pain, cough, voice problems and nose dryness & mucus. If nose not blocked
then plain steam but if blocked then use either camphor or eucalyptus oil or karvol plus
capsules.

HUMIDIFY THE AIR : Dry air cause more throat pain, increases recovery time and increase cough. You can either use humidifier or simply put steamer on for 45 minutes in your living room or bedroom. For long term result you should invest on indoor plants
(4 plants per person). It is the best way to purify and humidify the air.

INCREASE HEALTHY SALIVA IN MOUTH

• Eat saunf or fennel seeds after every meal.
• Drink water every 15-30 minutes
• Keep something in mouth like Mulathi, Honitus & Sualin. Avoid Vicks, Strepsils
  & sweet candies as they make throat more dry, cause dehydration and increase
  cough & pain later.

FOOD: First of all it is must that you take regular meals but take light food which is easy to digest (it takes more energy to digest heavy meals) as our body needs energy to fight and recover from the infection. Avoid sour (Curd, lemon, pickles, sausages etc), sweets, cold and spicy food.

DO NOT cough harsh or strain your throat to clear the mucus or sputum with force. It will worsen the pain and will give you prolonged intractable dry cough. We do not need to clean or clear the mucus with force, our stomach bacteria can break it better but you can spit the one coming in your mouth.

DO NOT smoke or allow others to smoke around you. If you need help quitting, talk to your doctor about stop-smoking programs and medicines. These can increase your chances of quitting for good.

GARGLE with warm salt water (1/2 tsp. in 1 cup of water). DO NOT start betadine gargles without doctor’s advice as it can cause ulcers and cough if used inadvertently.

MEDICATIONS : You can take paracetamol for pain and fever. Cetrizine or allegra for running nose and sneezing. You should be fine in 3 – 5 days if still not better then visit your doctor.

BE ACTIVE : Kindly continue your daily chores and activities but not heavy exercise . Little activity increases blood supply and helps in having faster and smoother recovery.

IF YOU WORSEN, SEEK MEDICAL CARE PROMPTLY. Seek immediate care if the throat swells so much that it is noisy or it is difficult to breathe or you are sick out-of- proportion to throat infection (high fever not decreasing with treatment, stiff neck, rash, severe headache, etc.).

If your doctor prescribed antibiotics, take them as directed. Do not stop taking them just because you feel better. You need to take the full course of antibiotics.

Kindly change your tooth brush after 48hrs of taking the antibiotic.

The infection can take several days to improve, even with treatment. However, if you are not showing progressive improvement over four to five days, return to the Center or call the above numbers.