𝕰𝖋𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝕾𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝕿𝖍𝖗𝖔𝖆𝖙 𝕮𝖚𝖗𝖊
My son has been home all week due to a sore throat. It started on Saturday, but he didn't tell me, so we spent 3 hours outside a the park. On Sunday, it was pretty bad and he told me. Lots of redness in his throat with splotch es and pinpricks of red. As a kid, I had to gargle with saltwater when I had a sore throat, so I had him do that 3x/day. That night, his throat looked worse and he had a fever of 100.6 F and was crying because of the pain, so I gave him paracetamol (which drops a fever down and relieves pain), and by morning the soft palate (the upper back part where there is no bone) was very red, too. His throat hurt a lot Monday morning, and his fever came back, so I gave him more paracetamol. He started spitting up some of his food (a PBJ sandwich soaked in chocolate soy milk), and kept on spitting out all the saliva and mucus because it hurt too much to swallow. It seemed as though it was viral, and he got it at school. His throat, soft palate and uvula were getting dark red, although there wasn't much swelling. I searched and found a few recommendations, and then I landed upon an excellent one that I wanted to let you all know about.
I asked a nurse at our clinic about it, but she really didn't have any data on its effectiveness, and could only recommend ibuprofen, salt water gargles, and such. She wasn't even familiar with paracetamol, which I also used on Ita when she would get a high fever due to the infections in her nephrostomies. Nevertheless, I am not a medical expert so please consider asking a medical professional about this remedy if you have any doubts. It worked for us but it may not be appropriate for all types of sore throats.
I fed him soft foods, and gelatin and popsicles to bring down any swelling as well as relieve the pain. He stayed in bed and, although I let him play with his tablet, I made him take a midday nap.
The solution I came upon is not a pleasant-tasting one, but it has proven to be quite effective. G̲a̲r̲g̲l̲e̲ ̲8̲ ̲o̲z̲ ̲o̲f̲ ̲w̲a̲r̲m̲ ̲w̲a̲t̲e̲r̲ ̲m̲i̲x̲e̲d̲ ̲w̲i̲t̲h̲ ̲2̲-̲3̲ ̲t̲a̲b̲l̲e̲s̲p̲o̲o̲n̲s̲ ̲o̲f̲ ̲a̲p̲p̲l̲e̲ ̲c̲i̲d̲e̲r̲ ̲v̲i̲n̲e̲g̲a̲r̲ (I used Heinz Unfiltered with the "mother" shown below) f̲o̲r̲ ̲a̲t̲ ̲l̲e̲a̲s̲t̲ ̲1̲5̲ ̲s̲e̲c̲o̲n̲d̲s̲ ̲p̲e̲r̲ ̲m̲o̲u̲t̲h̲f̲u̲l̲,̲ ̲3̲x̲/̲d̲a̲y̲. ⚡Don't wash out your mouth between gargles! Obviously, you shouldn't fill up your mouth all the way as it'll mostly spill out when you gargle - just keep taking in a comfortable amount until it's all used up. He tried it for the first time (and hated it) Monday night. But...
By Tuesday, there was a visible and significant reduction in the redness, and his throat hurt much less. By Thursday, his soft palate was almost entirely normal, didn't hurt, and only 1/4 of his uvula was still dark red. Today (Friday), his throat looks almost normal! Now, this may just be a coincidence, so I hope you'll try it out when someone in your family has a sore throat and let me know the results.
N̳o̳t̳e̳:̳ I started Iregi at 3 tbs in 8 oz of warm water, but reduced it to 2 because he really hated it and was very difficult. Now, I read to him while he gargles because it distracts him. ⚡I caught him watering it down, so don't trust a little kid to do it correctly!
ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜𝕤: Sometimes, the best way to kill an illness is to expose it to something that is dangerous to it. Chemotherapy works by killing cancer cells because they are more sensitive than normal cells to it. If you have a saltwater fish with parasites on it, a freshwater dip will kill the parasites far faster than the fish, so it's an acceptable remedy. Gargling with salt water attempts to provide such an alien environment that the germs can't survive. Using ACV works the same way - it temporarily changes the throat's environment so much that the germs get killed and weakened so that your immune system can kill the rest!
You can also use ACV to fight dandruff. Mix 1:1 with water, soak a washcloth in it, then rub it vigorously into your scalp. If you're not in a rush, don't wash it out for a while.
Oh, don't forget to shake the bottle!
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