This strep throat remedy sounds crazy, but the author actually used it to cure (diagnosed!) strep throat while pregnant and wanting to avoid antibiotics. It worked incredibly well!!
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I got strep throat.
It was awful. If you’ve ever had strep, you know the horrid knives-in-your-throat feeling I’m referring to. Ugh. I shudder just to think about it again.
I do my best to avoid antibiotics quite stringently. Being pregnant, that desire was especially strong. However, strep is a bacterial infection. Many people believe that bacterial infections will only respond to pharmaceutical antibiotics. From personal experience, I’m gonna have to disagree. Here’s how it went down…
It was a holiday weekend. In Tiny Town. The doctor saw me late Friday afternoon and took a swab to send to the lab for testing. He gave me a prescription just in case, though, because I wouldn’t be able to get the results until Tuesday, when they opened again.
I went home without filling the prescription. I told myself I would get it if I was feeling desperate, but I’d try googling for ideas first. I found tons of sore throat remedy ideas online. Most involved things like lemon and honey, etc.
One of the suggestions involved a crazy ingredient: cayenne pepper. I decided to make my own concoction, and give it a whirl. I developed this recipe that day, and have tweaked and perfected it in the couple of sore throats I’ve had since that time.
So, does it work?
Well, I gargled every 15 minutes for about 2 hours that evening. There was noticeable improvement after the first couple of times. I could swallow without tears coming to my eyes. Then, I felt about 75% healed by the next morning, and I felt no more pain at all 24 hours later. By the end of the weekend, I was back to normal, and just taking it a bit easy to allow my body to catch up.
The throat swab came back from the lab on Tuesday. It was a confirmed case of strep throat. And I healed it using the craziest cayenne pepper concoction ever! Natural remedies for the win!
(By the way, if you have a more minor sore throat – i.e. not strep – I’d advise trying gargling with good ol’ salt and water. Sometimes that does the trick just fine!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Strongly brewed lemon herbal tea Other types of herbal teas may work too
- 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar I use Bragg's raw apple cider
- 1 tablespoon Raw honey
- ¼ teaspoon Cayenne pepper Add more if you can - as much as you can stand
Instructions
- Brew tea, then mix everything else in. Stir well.
- Gargle with small sips of the tea. Get it as far back in your throat as you can and keep gargling as long as you can stand it. Spit it out, and repeat every 15-30 minutes for several hours. You should feel the burn of the cayenne (within reason!).
Nutrition
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or medical professional, and this post should not be taken as medical advice. Please do your own research. Material on this blog is provided for informational purposes only. It is general information that may not apply to you as an individual, and is not a substitute for your own doctor’s medical care or advice.
Emily J.
I have used a product for years called Liqua-Dulce by Bernard Jensen. It is an ingestable iodine made from the seaweed Dulce. I learned this trick from a naturalist about 20 years ago. Place 1 drop of Liqua-Dulce equal to your age up to 15 drops, into water or juice. Drink it! Use this 2-3 times a day just until the sore throat stops. Usually only a few days, but sometimes up to a week if it’s a really bad one. It can also be used as a treatment for Croup. Once the couch begins to break up, I do one more treatment and then let the healthy cough do it’s job of expelling the phlem like it should. This is not a treatment for extended use. I have usually only needed to use it for about 3-4 days. I have been using this treatment for years with my family and we have very healthy children. Isn’t it great to have a plan in the middle of the night on a weekend when a doctor just isn’t available! This has done the trick many times and is my old reliable.
Kelly @ The Nourishing Home
I am definitely going to give this a try next time around. Thank you for posting this! 🙂
Jill @ Jill's Home Remedies
I’ve used a mixture of garlic, honey and cayenne for strep! It worked great!
Wilhelmina
Plinaesg to find someone who can think like that
Breanne
How about antibiotics AND this gargle? I’m all about natural remedies, but rheumatic fever is a real (and dangerous!) complication of strep throat.
PS, I have used a recipe very similar to this with viral throat infections with great success. It’s a great “tool” to have in the arsenal! Thanks for sharing.
Sharla Grossman
This makes PERFECT sense. Nothing weird about it. There are properties in the “hotter” varieties of peppers that kill bacteria, and with strep throat being a bacterial infection, it is perfectly logical. Additionally, salt draws out infection, which is why hot salt water works, too.
Nature provides everything we need to live a long, happy, healthy productive life. It is only when we have tried taking either shortcuts or sidesteps (with both growing our food and remedies AND with using synthetic chemistry rather than natural apothecary) that we humans have caused more harm than good. Good article! Thank you for sharing your discovery!
KiserRidgeFarm
I have used similar remedies with great success. When my children have had strep in the past we use a similar recipe but add crushed garlic to the gargle, also cloves. Garlic is a SUPER antibiotic, cloves are very soothing to irritated mucous membranes. 🙂 I haven’t transferred all my remedies over to my new blog yet, but stop on by and check us out anyway. I will be updating and adding remedies again soon.
Gemmel
It is interesting that cloves are No. 1 on the Orac scale. Thank you all for your input. I have used Dorothy Halls remedy for the common cold for years and these cut very close with a slightly different twist. Cranberries have around 6000 iu and cloves I think over 1000000 iu.
I know you can only bathe in clove oil but have heard recently of crushing cloves with garlic and one other remedy I missed but these I will certianly tuck away as a fix for the future.
Last night I used balsamic vinegar and juice of half a lemon and the knife like pain which comes in nose and throat periodically have gone by the morning although the other sinus and runny nose symptoms persist.
Beth
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Genelle
My family has been gargling with cayenne and water since I was a kid. Every time I pass on the tip I get the “you’re a weirdo” stare. Glad to see someone else doing something similar!
Liela
Hi, I have something called guttate psoriasis, that only flares when I have strep throat. I have done this same natural remedy upon diagnosis of strep, and it did heal my throat. Unfortunately, when the symptoms of strep disappeared my guttate flared up all over my body. I was told I could not avoid the antibiotics because although the symptoms of strep were gone, the virus was still coursing through my body and that is why I continued to flare up with guttate psoriasis. This last time, I used my natural remedy, similar to yours except with added lemon essential oil, basil essential oil, and rosemary essential oil, and I cured it in time to even treat the guttate naturally…antibiotics are not always necessary! Even when you get a double whammy like I do whenever strep is in the house.
Sarah
I usually gargle with ACV, and then follow up by eating a spoonful of honey mixed with some ginger and cayenne pepper. Works for lots of stuff!
Emily Brown
Love this! it popped on my facebook page today.. and i woke up feeling like i have strep so Hallelujah! a few weeks ago i had an ear infection and my wonderful husband poured peroxide in my ears to clean it all out. We did it right before bedtime and I was good as new in the morning!
sheila alger
Do you have any ideas for sinus pain and pressure and some cough
Debi
Hi Sheila,
My daughter periodically gets sinus infections, and the only relief she gets is when she uses the Nettie pot….so you might try that.
Elizabeth
Please take more Vitamin C That will help to kill bacteria an virus fast.
Elizabeth
This is a perfect combination of effective home remedies. Here are few more remedies you can try:
1. Throat and Tonsil Tincture
Make one pint of echinacea tea. While the tea is still hot, stir in 1/2 cup fig syrup and 1/4 tsp. cayenne. Add 1/4 tsp. of peppermint oil. Stir well.
Mix 2 droppers of this tincture with 4 droppers of water. Gargle and swallow every hour.
2. Throat Gargle
Mix a solution of 1/4 tsp. salt and a 1/4 cup very hot water. Stir to dissolve the salt and gargle. Spit out the solution after each gargle.
You can also add 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper to this solution that will also help with pain.
Source: (www.modernalternativehealth.com/2012/09/11/natural-remedies-for-strep-throat/)
3. Honey, Garlic and Pepper Chew
1 tsb of raw honey
1/2 tsb ground cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, grated on a micro-plane
4. Mix 7 drops of Oregano oil with extra virgin olive oil in a spoon.
5. Gargle with Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV).
Source: (www.healthyhobbit.com/how-to-get-rid-of-strep-throat/)
Hope you will get cured fast like me.
Sarah
I’m also curious as to why you couldn’t just drink the concoction rather than spitting it out?
Beth
I personally think it’s best to spit it out for a couple of reasons. 1) It tastes awful and might give you heartburn from all of the cayenne. 2) When you gargle it around in your throat and loosen up all of those phlegmy germs, you probably don’t want to be swallowing that. I think it would be best to spit it out (kind of like blowing your nose to get rid of the germy snot, you know?)
Kim
I’m so late on this, but was just wondering if you only gargle this for those first few hours, or did you continue to use it? My husband was just diagnosed with strep (although no culture was taken) and now I have a sore throat. Thanks!
Beth
Hi Kim! I think I continued to use it a couple of times the next day as well. You’ll start to feel relief within an hour or two, hopefully. I hope you feel better soon!!
Kori
Do you have to spit it out? Any reason you can’t just drink it?
Beth
I personally think it’s best to spit it out for a couple of reasons. 1) It tastes awful and might give you heartburn from all of the cayenne. 2) When you gargle it around in your throat and loosen up all of those phlegmy germs, you probably don’t want to be swallowing that. I think it would be best to spit it out (kind of like blowing your nose to get rid of the germy snot, you know?)
iphone 5
Howdy, I jumped over to your web-site via Pinterest. Not a thing I frequently read through, though I like your perspectives nonetheless. Thanks a lot for putting together something worthy of reading through!
Muriel Ponder
I gargled peroxide to get rid of strep so bad I spit out my saliva instead of swallowing. It was GONE in twenty four hours.
1/2 oz. peroxide mixed with 1/2 oz. water, gargle as far back as you can, then spit, using up the entire ounce of mixture. repeat at least hourly mixing the small batches. Peroxide oxidizes so fresh batches guarantee the best effect.
May be followed with water you swallow.
I have not had a really sore throat in 40+ years nor many colds since I do this if I even imagine I have one coming on.
Marie-Dominique
Hi Muriel,
What % strength was the peroxide? Thank you 🙂
Carrie
We’ve had a natural remedy win over strep too for our five year old, but with oregano and tea tree oil mixed with a carrier oil and applied externally 4x/day for the first few days to the soles of the feet, glands under the chin/neck, and behind the ears. We kept it up for 10 days, but only 1-2x/day just cause that’s what I read. I was so excited! I had no idea there were natural remedies for strep! Thanks for posting another remedy:)
Kristin
My husband uses something like this. He is the only one in the family that can stand it! He uses a honey, minced garlic and cayenne. The honey coats the throat all the way down and allows the cayenne to work. Of course, I have to sleep in another room! I will have to share this with him to see if he likes it better. He hasen’t used it for strep though, just those nasty colds.
Elizabeth
Yeah,
I also hate garlic smell, but this remedy is very effective. You can also suggest your husband other remedy to get rid of strep throat from here.
http://www.grosserkredit.pw/
that he had not complained of any pain at all – Dad was a different story though.I wish you both well for this stage of your journey. I is a remarkable thing that you are able to do for your son.Kim
autokredit
I recognize this when off subject but I’m considering starting my own blog and was thinking what all can be get build? I’m assuming having a blog similar to yours would cost quite a penny? I’m not very internet experienced so I’m not 100% positive. Any recommendations or advice can be greatly treasured. Cheers
andrea
I am a little confused….are you supposed to gargle one cup every 15 min or one whole cup for the entire couple of hours?
Beth
You just gargle a small sip at a time. Whatever amount you can comfortable gargle in your throat (for me, it’s a tiny sip). The one cup of tea that you make initially will probably last the whole 2 hours (as you take just a couple sips, every 15 minutes or so). Does that make sense? 🙂
Heather
That was my question too, thanks for answering. I’ve been doing it for several hours now today to try to get rid of this sore throat asap. Do you warm it back up every time too?
Deborah
what if your throat hurts so bad u can’t even gargle.
beth@redandhoney
I’m not sure what to tell you… I guess just try to power through it and do it anyway? So sorry to hear you’re feeling so horrid. Feel better soon!!
wendy
I had strep so bad so many times! I thought antibiotics were the only cure because I tried lots of natural treatments. Soon the antibiotics stopped working. So I did this the next time my tonsils became white and infected. 1500 mg of v-c every 15 min. I couldn’t get up to gargle because I was so I’ll so I put AVC in a spray bottle and would spray my tonsils every 15- 30 min or so. I also fasted and ate garlic cloves like crazy! I did Epsom salt baths and every other natural thing I could find on the internet, finally after 2 days I started feeling more myself! I couldn’t believe it! I was healed. Thanks be to God because our prayer was answered! I no longer rely on antibiotics for strep throat!
Brian S.
Thank you, beth! I am on hour 2 and already feeling a lot better.