Stanster (Wilmington, Nc- USA) on 12/12/2016:
In addition to the tomato tea, I would also recommend the Sore Throat gargle recipe:
To a coffee cup of very warm, purified water, add
1 tsp ACV (natural, unfiltered apple cider vinegar)
squeeze a lemon slice, tsp of local honey,
1/4 tsp powdered cayenne pepper. Take a sip, lean head back and gargle in throat for 10 secs and then swallow. Do this 3 times a day, esp in morning and before bed. I did and my sore throat pain went away for 5 hours at a time. The second day it went away forever. This site is a blessing!
Victor (San Antonio, Tx) on 11/22/2012:
Hi I am an avid cayenne peper fan even have a garden in my back yard. any way I had a cough sore throat for 3 days but due to my laziness I fail to take my home remedie.
2 hours ago after staying home from thanksgiving celebrations finnaly broke down and chopped 2 garlic cloves saturated them with cayenne powder and chewed on them till they were all gone ate a peace of lemon and amen. Pain and cough is gone thank you for reading. if in doubt visit your doctor.
Anne H. (Santa Ana, Ca) on 11/21/2012:
I woke up with a sore throat that I believe is related to a cold I think I am starting to come down with. Caught it from my oldest daughter. I tried the cayenne pepper. I put 1/4 tsp. in a 1/2 cup of warm water. I took a swallow and gargled, and then swallowed it. It really wasn't that bad. And it feels like the pain in my throat is 1/2 as bad.
Ann (Oakland, Ca, Usa) on 11/17/2012:
After suffering for four days with each day being worse than the last I finally got the nerve to try the cayenne pepper. I had tried the apple vinegar cider and the warm salt water gargle - both somewhat soothing but still leaving me miserable. There is a bad viral infection going around and I had talked to a few people who had similar experience and they said the sore throat lasted for up to two weeks. My throat was swollen along with tongue and had pain along jawline and neck. Also had earache on occasion. I already had the pepper flakes but decided to buy the powdered cayenne pepper. Read several of the recipes but went with 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 cup of very warm water. Coated my lips with vaseline as someone recommended and gargled twice for about a minute each time. Yes it burns! However, after about two minutes you can feel it working. I gargled with the mixture about every 30 to 45 minutes for the evening. This morning I woke up and the swelling had decreased. It still hurts to swallow but not near as much. Teeth, jaw, sinus and tongue no longer ache. I want to post to let others know the misery can be reduced and almost eliminated with the cayenne pepper gargle. View Entire Thread
James (London, United Kingdom) on 11/04/2012:
Cayenne pepper not only cured my sore throat and cough it also cleared up an ear infection that antibiotics could not. Again thanks View Entire Thread
Michael (Crested Butte, Colorado) on 09/14/2012:
In reading this thread and seeing that people seem very surprised that cayenne pepper works for their sore throat, I can give you a solid pharmacological explanation of why that is: the chemical in hot peppers such as cayenne that makes them hot is called capsacin (spelling correct?), and believe it or not it is the main active ingredient in a great many ARTHRITIS medications. The science behind it has to do with something along the lines of causing the nerves to fire too much to a point where they finally turn off, so to speak (this is a dumbed-down and probably not wholly acurate explanation of the science, however the fact remains that Capsacin does have pain-dulling properties and this is no doubt why it works well in a gargle for sore throats). Thus although the cayenne feels hot at first, eventually the user experiences relief! View Entire Thread
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