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Athena (Mount Dora, Florida ) on 02/25/2024: 
mmsg (somewhere, europe ) on 06/08/2023:
Michael (New Zealand) on 07/06/2022:
However, down to business. The "Secret to a Happy Life Without a Sore Throat" I am now at liberty to reveal IS .........wait for it .... Chicken Noodle Soup with Cayenne Pepper or, as my better half would say, "Canine Pepper"! The results don't lie!
Having, in quest of appropriate home remedies and undergone numerous, unselfish, self-experiments on behalf of fellow (and fellowesses) EC, sore-throat- sufferers, tried several alternatives, including Manuka Honey lozenges and warm/hot water gargling, I now find myself unreservedly supporting the CNSCP remedy.
Yesterday, my can of 500 gm / one pound Chicken Noodle soup was decanted into a bowl and laced with a half teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper, stirred furiously and then split in half. Half went into the 'fridge for to-day and the other half was stirred again whilst being gently heated on the stove's top element until bubbles appeared, then removed and allowed to cool a bit.
Consumed whilst just hot enough to be tolerated, the initial shock of the CP gradually gave way to reluctant acceptance whilst muttering the mantra "It hurts, so, ipso facto, it must be doing me Good"!!
(Who was it claimed that "Whatever does not destroy me, makes me stronger"?) (Clue.. his name begins with an "N.."/ can't spell it! ).
Just two applications of the above protocol seem to have had the desired effect. I strongly suspect that I caught this malady from a cafe visit a while ago. Such misery from one innocent visit! I have always been susceptible to catching unwanted things from suspect cups BTW. Lesson for you too! Maybe take my own cup/mug next time and save the planet at the same time?
As a Certified Old Geezer, I am permitted to pass on a few of life's other hard- earned wrinkles on smoothing out the humps and hollows of one's daily toil.
For instance, now that our cold, windy, wet season has graced us with its presence, I am having lots of trouble with slugs and snails in our vegetable patch. Also, we are blessed with a thingy called a "Pear Slug/Peach Slug" which, I recently learned, is actually not a slug at all but a giant aphid! Anyway, whatever, they do a whole lot of damage but can be trapped quite successfully if one places a number of up-turned, coconut half-shells in between one's vegetables. I used to favour plastic pots and then switched to Terra-cotta/clay ones but these upturned half coconut shells are the bees' knees. Must check DAILY.
Again, there is a Chinese invention of a circular plastic protector for guarding against slug and snail attacks. It boasts an arching-over-outward-facing rim such that the critter can not negotiate upside down. Awesome!! Ingenious!! Works well and all these wrinkles tested by yours truly - I kid you not.
Next, if using a firelighter, I try to source an organic one (or as close as I can anyway). I have more success if I place it in the middle of four layers of newspaper. Seems to hold the heat better. When I was young a century ago, tramps in the park would keep warm under layers of newspaper.
Growing old is not for the faint-hearted but some of my wrinkles are useful ones!!
Cheers from Down Under
Science (Cyprus) on 03/07/2022:
Mark (United States) on 03/27/2020:
Megs (New Brunswick) on 01/19/2019:
Carrie (Charleston, Sc) on 06/21/2018:
I woke up in the middle of the night itchy, hot, generally uncomfortable and unable to sleep with a sore throat/cold I caught from my twin nieces (they were real cute though). First I took a hot shower for the steam. I had tried the cayenne remedy before but completely forgot (or blocked it out) until my boyfriend reminded me. I followed the instructions in your video pretty closely and did 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper in maybe 4 oz of warm water. I gargled the whole thing in separate gulps for 10 seconds each til it was gone. The great thing about this remedy is that the effect is tri-fold:
1) the (mild) discomfort of gargling cayenne water kind of makes you forget about the sore throat in the first place;
2) it relieves the soreness once you regain feeling in your throat; and
3) it completely clears out your sinuses (had to blow my nose several times and hocked up junk from my throat).
Two enthusiastic thumbs up.
As (London) on 01/23/2018:
Thank Earthclinic!! X
Tamara (Nj) on 06/24/2017:
Tamara (NJ) on 06/10/2017:
I tried my usual, using homeopathy, which often stops it in it's tracks, but this one was stubborn and strong, and I wasn't able to find much of any relief, so I started looking here on Earth Clinic.
Here is what I tried before taking the plunge into the cayenne pepper. Most of these things gave some relief, but not significant or lasting. I have listed these in order of relief, with the best remedies at the top, except the cayenne which I will speak about afterward:
-onion poultice all around front and sides of the neck (slice a big onion thinly, place it on a thin cloth, warm it up to approx body temp, then bend your body forward and lift the cloth with onions up to your neck, and wrap it around. Secure with pins, or what I did was to wrap an old cashmere scarf around several times, to keep everything nice and warm.
-licorice tea (sip as needed)
-sinus rinse (which often goes down back of throat, plus I was getting a sinus infection within 1 day of the sore throat)--including salt, 1 drop of strong colloidal silver, 1 drop of grapefruit seed extract, and 3 drops of povidone iodine
-salt water gargles
Just to be thorough, I was also drinking massive amounts of fluids. Each day I drank about 2 quarts of homemade chicken broth, 2 quarts of water, and 1 quart of oatstraw and nettle infusion. I was not really eating because I felt so sick, so I used the opportunity to basically fast and get all the toxins out.
I also took enough magnesium supplementation to cause my stools to run, again, just to get those toxins out. Other supplements I was taking were: 1000 iu vitamin D (I'm very sensitive to it), lots of B-vitamins, multi-minerals, fish oil, probiotics, and about 1.5 tsp of camu camu powder for vitamin C.
I also took off work and my husband took the kids so that I could really rest.
When nothing was really bringing any lasting relief, I finally tried the cayenne pepper. I made it with 1/4 tsp to 1/4 cup water ratio. I also threw in a drop of strong colloidal silver, a drop of grapefruit seed extract, 4 drops of povidone iodine, and a couple drops of clove oil for numbing.
I rubbed Lansinoh all over my lips (the natural equivalent of vaseline), and I took a gulp-sized amount and gargled for as long as I could, and spit it out. Oh. My. God. The incredible PAIN this caused. I did not read about this anywhere here, and I actually have a pretty good tolerance for pain. My eyes were watering, and I was basically debilitated from pain for a full 2 minutes or so. BUT THEN, my throat felt better!! I had about 2 hours of reprieve before I felt that I needed to do it again!
Another interesting thing was that, during the painful part, the heat from the cayenne radiated into my ears. I felt like that was a good thing, since the throat, eustachian tubes, and sinuses are all connected.
As for the pain just after gargling, it has been gradually getting better, but not as fast as I wish.
Now for the past 24 hours, I've been repeating this every 2 hours or so (except while asleep). My fever broke during the night (after about 4 doses). I've been keeping up with the onion poultice on my neck also (replacing it twice a day), because I found that my throat got worse when I discontinued it at one point. I also continued the sinus rinses because I developed a sinus infection, and I found that it gave a slight irritation which made me sneeze a lot afterward, and that seemed to help my sinuses. I also continued to explore homeopathic remedies, and found minor relief, but nothing significant.
I'm not sure yet if this cayenne will be my final cure, but it gives me enough relief that it's bearable in the meantime, and the improvement has been slow and steady.
Mary (Macon) on 11/26/2016:
Okay, so I rolled a dry q-tip in organic cayenne and then rolled it as far back on my tongue as I could. Ughhh... be careful, that made me gag. It didn't burn like I thought it would though. It was a weirdly pleasant sensation as the cayenne started hitting the back of my throat. The second time I did it, I wet the q-tip first with water and then rolled it in cayenne to get more cayenne on the q-tip. And this time I rolled it about 3/4 of the way back on my tongue. Awesome! Gonna do this a few more times today just to make sure.
Michele (Harrisburg, Pa) on 11/01/2016:
Zark (Emerald City) on 09/13/2016:
I used some chilli in my juice with a dash of ACV and sipped from that regularly.
Margie (Apple Valley) on 05/30/2016:
Peterd (Everett, Wa) on 05/29/2016:
Robert Smith (Atlanta, Ga) on 12/08/2015:
Joanie (Ny) on 11/02/2015:
Nateinmpls (Minneapolis, Minnesota) on 07/06/2015:
Cayenne works! My local co-op has some really hot stuff, with a much higher scoville rating than regular cayenne. At first I gargled by drinking out of a glass however my mouth was on fire! I then thought of this trick: Get a drinking straw and suck up some of the cayenne water, then use your finger to plug the end you drink from, creating a vacuum. The water stays in the straw and you can tilt your head back and bypass your tongue! It worked great and the cayenne has already helped my throat after 15 minutes. I used a little water at a time and swallowed afterward. Rich (Atlanta) on 03/02/2015:
Heather (Dallas, Tx) on 02/14/2015: 
Abbadackerygirl (Alabama, US) on 02/05/2015:
This is a true account on my part: I had been battling a particularly bad case of strep throat with antibiotics and motrin 'round the clock. I had read that cayenne can help strep, but I was skeptical so I didn't even try it.
After a week of continuing to feel miserable, I forced myself out of bed to go with my family out to eat at a restaurant, and for some reason, the vegetable soup sounded like the only thing I wanted. I had never eaten at this restaurant before, so little did I know that the soup was SPICY! I usually don't eat spicy things, but I forced myself to eat the soup...then something magical happened. With each painful bite, I could actually feel my strength returning. As I continued to eat the warm broth, my aches and pains subsided, and I felt better and better...way better than I had in a week! Why was this soup making me feel so good, I wondered? Then I remembered the suggestion to use cayenne pepper...and I wondered if the chef used it to spice up the soup. He insisted that he didn't, instead he used a hot sauce...a lot of it, lol. I asked if I could read what was on the bottle, so he ran to the back and grabbed it for me to read. When I looked at it, low and behold, the first ingredient was...cayenne pepper.
I was sold. This wasn't a case of the placebo effect, as all I wanted to do was eat. I didn't think that this soup would cure me when I ordered it, but in the end, it helped so much that I ended up naming it, the Magic Feel-Better Soup. Ha ha...I wonder if they changed the name after I called it that, but I haven't been back to check.
Miyo (Tennessee, US) on 01/21/2015:
Miyo (Tennessee, US) on 01/21/2015:
Carrie (Livonia, Mi) on 12/31/2014:
Michael (Clifton Park, Ny) on 12/13/2014:
Martha (Hermosa Beach, California) on 05/07/2014:
Gina (Montana, Usa) on 12/11/2013:
Wendy (Westport, Ct) on 10/01/2013:
Sore Throat (Land Of, Oz) on 03/26/2013:
Max (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) on 03/15/2013:
*** YOU MUST USE WARM WATER OR ELSE THIS WILL NOT WORK ***
