How And What To Gargle With Sore Throat

Angina appears as a result of infection of the nasopharyngeal mucosa, which is accompanied by inflammation of the pharyngeal or palatine tonsils, so the disease is also called "tonsillitis" (from the Latin tonsollitae - tonsils). Most often, at the purulent stage of the disease, the doctor can only prescribe antibiotics, but for the reliability of treatment and the prevention of further relapses, it is necessary to gargle with various medicinal solutions with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.

The main symptoms of tonsillitis appear as:

Sore throat and sore throat, especially when swallowing, due to enlarged tonsils;
Complication of the breathing process;
Hyperthermia
Weakness, dizziness, lack of appetite;
Inflammation (increase in size, tenderness on palpation) of the cervical lymph nodes.

With inflammation, bacteria multiply intensively on the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx and larynx, so regular rinsing is necessary in order to flush out excess microbes, their metabolites and purulent mucus. This promotes healing much more than it seems, even if you use plain clean water for rinsing. In addition, such a procedure is safe for the body, and without side effects it strengthens the protective barriers of the immune system, especially if a solution of correctly selected herbs or pharmaceuticals is used for rinsing.

How to properly gargle with sore throat?

To get the most out of gargling with a sore throat, you must follow some rules:

In order for the liquid to penetrate as deeply as possible, you need to tilt your head back and put your tongue forward.
Keep an eye on the temperature of the solution - it should not exceed 40 ° C. Cold water can have a negative effect, and hot burns are unlikely to help in the treatment of the disease.
When the solution is in the throat, gargling is facilitated by pronouncing the sound "Y", during which the root of the tongue clears the passage to the pharyngeal tonsils;
For the most effective flushing of the laryngeal mucosa, you need to spend at least 30 seconds for each rinse.
It is not recommended to swallow the solution even a little during the procedure - it is important to control your breathing through the nostrils and to protect yourself from the penetration of bacteria deeper through the respiratory tract.
The optimal number of daily rinses is six to ten times.

How to gargle with sore throat?

To gargle, hundreds of different solutions have been developed for various ailments and problems. The following list contains the best recipes for gargling for tonsillitis from home, folk and traditional medicine.

Strong tea. The easiest way is to use strong tea for rinsing. Green leaf tea works best. Add a spoonful of salt to it and wait until it cools.
Potassium permanganate solution. You should be careful with this rinse solution: make sure that all potassium permanganate crystals dissolve (otherwise they can cause burns to the oral mucosa), and also make additional lubrication of the throat 20 minutes after the procedure with vegetable oil.
Infusion of garlic. To cook it, a couple of garlic cloves need to be brewed with a glass of boiling water and let it settle for an hour. Add a spoonful of salt and rinse only on the day the solution was prepared.
A solution of iodine, soda and salt. The most common and one of the most effective rinsing solutions that can be prepared at home: 5 drops of iodine, a teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of salt in a glass of boiled water. Rinsing with this solution most quickly leads to an improvement in the patient's condition, but is not suitable for those patients who are allergic to iodine.
Malic acid and acetic acid are capable of quickly destroying most bacteria on the throat lining. The gargle solution is prepared with one teaspoon of natural apple cider vinegar per glass of water.
Beetroot juice is a complex drug that not only destroys microbes, but also has an anti-inflammatory, relieves swelling and reduces pain. To prepare the solution, add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to a glass of freshly squeezed beet juice. In the absence of a juicer, you can proceed as follows - grate the beets on a fine grater, add vinegar and wait a few hours. Then you need to squeeze the beet mass through cheesecloth, and gargle with the resulting solution every 2-3 hours.
Blueberries. Blueberries, rich in tannins, will help to stop the inflammatory process. In two glasses of water, you need to boil half a glass of blueberries for 10-15 minutes, cool and filter.
Lemon juice has an effect on swollen tonsils. Rinsing with a solution of natural lemon juice with water in a ratio of 2: 3 allows you to expand the lumen of the respiratory tract and facilitate the swallowing process, even with severe angina.
Collection of herbs. If you are sure that you are not allergic to herbal medicines, herbal preparations will help to quickly solve the problem of tonsillitis. Infusions of various herbs soothe sore throat and irritation, facilitate swallowing and have a detrimental effect on the causative agents of sore throat. For example: calendula, chamomile and eucalyptus; wormwood with plantain and calendula; sage, elderberry, mallow. The collection must be brewed (1 teaspoon per glass of boiling water), set aside for 2 hours and drain.
Pharmacy preparations. Ready-made pharmaceutical preparations for rinsing the throat are also relevant for angina. The most effective of them: Chlorphyllipt - for bacterial tonsillitis, especially useful for staphylococcal and streptococcal infections, Furacilin - copes well with viral tonsillitis, Iodinol, Miramistin, Lugol's solution.
Probiotics began to be used to treat respiratory infections recently, after it became clear that opportunistic bacteria from drugs are able to displace pathogens without consequences for the body. An excellent additional and preventive treatment for angina is rinsing the throat with solutions of Narine, Trilact, Normoflorin, etc. Instead of the usual chemical war against microbes, the purpose of which is the banal destruction of the pathogen of tonsillitis (often affecting the mucous membrane of the throat), it is much safer to simply displace it characteristic of the mucous membrane shell microflora.

The author of the article: Lazarev Oleg Vladimirovich | ENT

Education: In 2009, he received a diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" at the Petrozavodsk State University. After completing an internship at the Murmansk Regional Clinical Hospital, he received a diploma in Otorhinolaryngology (2010)