10 Best Natural Remedies for Soothing a Sore Throat

Turmeric: An Indian friend of mine gave me a recipe for sore throat, colds, flu, sinusitis: Take about a teaspoonful of turmeric powder, a teaspoon full of grated fresh ginger (or equivalent of dried ginger powder), a pinch of ground black pepper, honey or sugar to taste, and put it into about half a cup of water and bring to a boil. Then add about half a cup of milk, heat to just below boiling point, and drink the mixture slowly, while hot. I also supplement this treatment by inhaling steam and keeping a hot water bottle on my head, throat or chest. I used to have colds that lasted two weeks; now I can get over them within three days.

Here are the instructions to easing your sore throat pain:

Stick out your tongue as far as possible, trying to touch the tip of it to your chin. This is an extreme stretch; when you feel you have reached full stretch capacity, stretch it further, and then even further. You should give this all you've got. You should stretch your tongue toward your chin until you nearly gag. That's it! Usually, sore throat pain will be minimized (if not removed!) immediately. Repeat this technique every half hour until signifigant improvement is gained. I have used and shared this technique for over 10 years with family, friends, and clients, with nearly 100% of people reporting moderate to complete pain relief. -richelle hawks

i tried this and it worked for me.

Hello, FIRSTLY, I THANK EACH & EVERY ONE OF YOU, ESPECIALLY TED for taking the time from your busy schedules or physical discomfort for sharing and helping all of us in need. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

My throat was not only like razors when swallowing, horrible coughing from chest with phlegm & fever, but my gums were very swollen especially on the right side of mouth behind the molars. They were seriously infected, sort of cut up, open lesions and extremely sensitive when I tried to eat. My Tinnitus was so loud my balance was affected. My head was pounding, sinuses all stuffed up and face puffy. I'm scheduled for nasal surgery on the 20th of this mth and needed to clear this up asap or no surgery. I need to avoid antibiotics now as I may need them later and less is more. Oh, and my lips were very cracked and dry. (I just threw out my toothpaste as per info re: fluoride poisoning on this site, using baking soda & H2o2 combo)

I read [your] article about the ice cream and lo and behold....that is exactly what I had at my favourite Chinese Buffet two days prior and even had more of it since then. This seems to happen every time I eat the darn stuff, but NOT as bad as this time. My body must have been very acidic due to over consumption of meat & starch from the buffet along with the poisonous chemical in the ice cream.

Ted's soooo smart and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for his compassion and knowledge. So I began to alkaline my body with the baking soda WITH NO ALUMINUM and 1/2 of a lemon in a glass of R/O water (reverse osmosis). The AVC just didn't do it for me.
I stepped up the Super Cal Mag Plus (Shaklee), Vitamin B Complex (which included zinc and Vitamin B2) as per Ted & took Emergen-C (best vitamin C around) & 3% H2o2 spray, food grade & CELL FOOD drops in drinking water & vitamins.

I had not read as far as the cayenne cure as yet, so I made a Organic green tea with ORGANIC ginger (huge difference and very potent) and raw honey. Chewing on the ginger really burned, killed me to chew as gums were so sensitive. (even chewing on ORGANIC garlic did me in). I love spicy foods, but this was so unbearable....I quickly took a large spoon of Virgin Coconut Oil & swished it around my mouth. IMMEDIATE RELIEF! Better and quicker than bread or milk. I pushed a chunk of it onto the cut gums and just let it gradually melt, WOW, IMMEDIATE RELIEF. The cuts started to close up. Lips are a lot better too. I kept all this up over the past 4 days. BUT, I wondered why I was having such coughing jags, then I remembered that I turned down the humidifier in the basement furnace during our last cold snap as the windows were full of moisture. I just turned it back on at 3 am last night. Woke up with no coughing & no pain but also no voice. If you live in an apartment, remember, it may be to dry in there, get a humidifier, air moisture very important.

I quickly came back to this site and read more. I started chewing on the cloves (not garlic) and finally I can speak, not great yet, but I can speak.

Ted's remedy with Green Tea & Baking Soda combo was what got everything in my throat to finally settle down as of yesterday. I used Organic, no pesticide tea. This combo is the best, I even squeezed in 1/2 lemon juice. (Always remember to wash the outside of the lemon with some of your dish soap to remove pesticides and other germs before cutting into it.) Oh, and to aid the alkaline, I made a pot of Organic Black Turtle Bean Soup as per the Gout remedy (I do not have gout) but thought this would feed me and keep everything alkaline.

I forgot to mention, I also started taking New Chapters Holy Basil to reduce cortisol due to STRESS. Do not swallow. Just crack open the gel tab with teeth and let the God awful contents stay under the tongue for a few minutes and then swallow. You can spit out the gel tab after you get all the contents out. Really helps with the soar throat & stress. Take as often as needed. It really helps to calm everything down.

I have not had a sore throat for over 10 years now. For me, Zinc lozenges were the key.

By the way...it seems some people have sore throats for more than 6 days. If you want to know what it feels like to get a heart valve transplant or artificial heart valve, then do not go to a doctor and do not start antibiotics after a week of sore throat that doesn't get better.

The home remedies only work when the sore throat is caught early. When the infection becomes systemic, it can go to the heart valves, as it did to a dear friend and many patients I have nursed through the years.

The one possible exception is Cayenne Pepper. However, it would need to be taken at least three times a day (preferably early so it does not keep you awake).
This is because the Cayenne (if it is cold processed or not cooked) makes the body shift to alkalotic which will kill both virus and bacterial infections in some cases.

Again, this is only possible. It is your life to gamble with.

Good Health to you.

Simple remedy that is working for me to assist in ridding your body of sinus issues and assisting in the reduction of sore throat is just this.... 1 cup of lightly pre sweetened tea, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 vile of ginseng and royal jelly. Heat in the cup for about 2 minutes, let set for another couple of minutes and slowly drink. You will start to feel the sore throat go away while your sinuses drainage. It also appears to help me relax. Always remember to discard of any excess mucus in order to get rid of the bacteria that has collected in your sinus cavities during the time of mucus build up. Good luck to everyone.

I have used this remedy for YEARS and can tell you, IT WORKS!! The only thing that I do different is, I add an equal amount of ground ginger along with the cayenne pepper into a cup of HOT water and allow it to steep with a lid on the cup for 5 minutes. Then allow it to cool to a comfortable temperature (or add a little cold water) and gargle. This may seem time consuming when you are in a lot of pain but it is worth the wait! Allowing it to steep like that makes sure the spices are at their best. The cayenne brings the blood to the throat helping circulation for those well needed "healing soldiers" and the ginger calms the throat and helps reduce the swelling. I sometimes drink this as a tea on those cold winter nights to help me stay warm! For you hunters out there...sprinkle cayenne in your socks to keep your feet warm out in the field. The moisture from your feet activates the heat of the pepper keeping those toes TOASTY!!! CAYENNE PEPPER IS THE BEST!

An oldie but a goodie, my recipe is a little different. Mix vinegar of any variety with a spoonful of cayenne, a spoonful of licorice root, and a small amount of RAW honey. Drink it back - the sore throat will go away shortly. The raw honey is great because honey has natural antiseptic properties, and it makes the mix a little easier to drink!

Been using hot peppers for ever, but I just take a very small bite of Tai, Jalpeno, Habanero or whatever hot pepper I have on hand. Your saliva starts to flow like crazy but then just swallow very slowly, letting your choice of pepper ease down the throat. Don't choke and I can eat unusually hot food I am told. But it works like a charm within hours it you can handle the heat.

I fill a spray bottle with cayenne and water/honey/lemon, and I don't have the problem of burning lips, mouth etc. I squirt it down my throat (i'm using an old Cloraseptic bottle), and I avoid that unpleasant feeling in and around my mouth.

I had read alot of positive feedback about using cayenne pepper powder to cure sore throat but unfortunately, in this part of the world, cayenne pepper isn't easy to find. So I thought I'd try a substitute instead-pure chilli powder which we keep an abundant supply because we cook curries so much.Then I decided to combine the other effective ingredient which have been also highly recommended by readers here-ACV! I had a terrible sore throat which was hurting very badly so I mixed a teaspoon of chilli powder with a 1/4 cup of ACV, then diluted the mixture with 1/2 cup of warm water and gargled 1/2 of it. The back of the throat burned a little but I didn't make much out of it. Then I rinsed my mouth and drank some water before going to bed.It didn't seem any better immediately after but the next morning , when I woke up, the pain in the throat was gone although I still felt as if a cough was still going to come up.I gargled the mixture again throughout the day, about 2 hourly and by evening, the sore throat was totally gone. I tried it with my children, aged 4 -13 and it worked for all of them too. Although my 4- year old felt it was too hot for her, she quickly took a chip of ice to cool her throat down. I must also add, it will not work if it's only done once a day-it will only be effective if it's gargled at least 3-4 hourly and for a very bad sore throat, every 2 hours.

I didn't have any Tabasco but I had some habanero sauce. I swallowed a spoon full and my sore throat ceased immediately. I'm sweating a little from the heat of the sauce but it is a welcome relief from my sore throat.

Hello, today I got a bad sore throat and found this site. I'm only 15 so I don't have a lot of this crazy stuff people have laying around but I read about people using different kinds of hots, so I thought about things I have like that. A1 Steak Sauce (best stuff ever) came to my head. The way this work is, you get a table spoon and fill it with A1, then one by one drink 5-10 spoon fulls of it in a row very fast(between 5-8 sec between each spoon full), in about 3-7 min my throat stopped hurting. The measurements for this will probably varies for more or less server cases, and I don't suggest chugging the bottle. Only thing bad that happened is a bit of face sweating from the A1. ((And you'll have less sauce for your steak!!)) One more thing that could be important is, my A1 was cold, I know it adds something to it that I don't get from warm A1. So if your a steak guy, or a woman married to a steak guy, or a steak woman this is a great tasting cure for a sore throat.

One more thing: if you're using milk to unbond the capsicum from your mouth and stop the burning, I'd advise just rinsing with it and not swallowing. You should avoid eating dairy products as much as possible while fighting a cold because they cause your body to secrete more mucous and phlegm--which means that you'll actually be making your congestion worse.

I've found another good vehicle for the cayenne sore throat cure is bouillon broth. It ads to the beneficial effects of the hotness the other beneficial effects of salt exposure. I don't have any cayenne or Tabasco on hand (and the weather is not such that I can easily get out and get them right now), but I have Sriracha, which is a hot pepper/garlic sauce I got from a local Oriental food market. I mixed a teaspoon or so of it with the beef bouillon (didn't really measure, just squirted a glob in that looked about that size), and it worked well.

I read through a wealth of information here. I was very skeptical about using tobasco sauce! It is just way too hot. However, I didn't have any in my kitchen anyway. If I did, I probably would have used it as bad as my throat was hurting. I ended up using a derivative of the tobasco sauce. I got the Louisiana Hot Sauce from my cupboard. I read the ingredients and Cayenne Pepper was in there. So I figured, what the hell! Most people on here have said that it works, I am in so much pain! I thought, well, my throat feels so bad, it can't do anything but get better from this. I took a small 4 ounce plastic cup. I put about six shakes of hot sauce, and the rest hot water. I gargled with this solution for about 5-6 gargles in a row. The first few times, my throat felt like it was on fire. I thought that the fire department would need to be called. I was looking for a fire extinguisher! Anyway, to my surprise, this remedy actually gave me alot of relief! I couldn't believe it! I am going to see how I feel in the morning. I was just about to go to the ER. I just decided to search the net first and found this site. Awesome guys! Thanks for your helpful suggestions! I feel alot better.