‘Tis the season for sniffles, sore throat, and flu. Do you have natural remedies for strep throat and other winter infections on hand?
We all know that strep throat requires antibiotics, right? So widely prescribed for Streptococcus, the first sign of a sore throat can send a suffering patient to the doctor’s office demanding a prescription for this assumed ‘cure.’
So you may be surprised to learn that antibiotics are rarely necessary, and there are plenty of natural remedies for strep throat that can speed recover and ease symptoms.
Why are antibiotics over-prescribed for strep throat?
Complications from strep are outdated
In the past, strep throat often led to rheumatic fever, which is a serious disease and should be treated with medical intervention. In modern times, rheumatic fever has all but disappeared, which means the danger of complications from strep throat are minimal in otherwise healthy individuals.
Throat cultures create false alarms
It is standard procedure to get a throat culture when you visit the doctor for a sore throat. He or she will take a tiny swab of the tissues in the back of the throat which is evaluated for any signs of the bacteria responsible for strep throat. If strep is present, antibiotics are prescribed, generally without question, even if other signs of infection are not present.
The problem is that it is normal to have a small amount of the Streptococcus bacteria in the throat at any given time. Throat cultures may show a presence of bacteria, even if there is no current infection, which leads to unnecessary routine prescription of antibiotics. (source)
Children’s health expert Dr. Randall Neustaedter, OMD agrees that discovering the presence of strep bacteria is not an immediate cause for prescription medication – “The hazards of treatment outweigh the remote possibility that your child will suffer any lasting effects even if he has a strep infection.” (source)
Antibiotics for strep throat may cause more harm than good
Have you ever noticed that some people seem to get sick over and over again despite taking antibiotics? There certainly is a place for the miracles of medical science, but our obsession with eradicating germs may by making us more susceptible to future illness.
Over-prescribing antibiotics can actually cause harmful bacteria to develop their resistance to antibiotics, making infection more difficult to treat and often resulting in recurrence of the infection and slower recovery due to weakened immune function.
The National Institute of Health reports that “A study of patients with tonsillitis in 17 countries found that the mean duration of fever was 2 to 3 days, regardless of whether or not patients took penicillin. (source)
Perhaps it’s wise to start seeking natural remedies for strep throat, and stop setting off atomic antibiotic bombs in our bodies, eh?
Natural remedies for strep throat
Of course, it is good practice to cover your mouth with a tissue when you sneeze or cough and to wash your hands appropriately. Get plenty of rest and be sure to change your toothbrush immediately to reduce the chance of recurrence.
Beyond common sense measures, here are some natural remedies for strep throat that can help to speed recovery and reduce discomfort:
Bone broth
It turns out that grandma's chicken soup actually is a panacea after all…
When made from scratch with the bones of pasture raised beef or chicken, wild caught fish or other healthy animals, broth is not only extremely easy to digest, it actually helps to strengthen the digestive system and immune system. (source) Bone broth delivers hydration and essential minerals that will help to recover from nearly any acute or chronic illness.
Follow these links to learn easy ways to make chicken broth or beef broth. Want the health benefits of bone broth, but don't want to make your own? Buy bone broth online here. Freeze it to have on hand whenever you need it. At my house we like to stir in a bit of this delicious fish sauce for flavoring, but you can season it with a pinch of sea salt as well.
Marshmallow root tea & raw honey
To soothe the pain of strep throat and reduce swelling, sip warm marshmallow root tea and stir in raw, local honey for extra bacteria-fighting power.
Salt Water Gargle
Help your body create an inhospitable environment in your throat by gargling with salt water. The salt helps to break up mucus and reduce the swelling of delicate tissues by reducing water retention. Add one teaspoon of sea salt to an 8 oz glass of warm water and gargle for one to two minutes and then spit out.
Vitamin D
Since my family takes fermented cod liver oil on a regular basis and gets plenty of California sunshine, we don’t supplement with vitamin D daily. However, I keep a bottle of 2000 IU Vitamin D3 (like this one) on hand for the occasion when one of us starts to feel chills, fever, or sore throat.
A high dose of vitamin D3 for no more than three days, has been shown to actually halt or at least greatly reduce the symptoms of flu or stomach bug. The Vitamin D council recommends 900IU per pound of body weight (2000IU per kg) for therapeutic flu treatment. (source)
Boost your vitamin C
While food is our best medicine, when it comes to a full-blown infection, I prefer to use vitamins medicinally for a more effective punch. Additionally, the swollen and painful effects of strep throat may make eating citrus an unpleasant experience.
We love this non-GMO vitamin C supplement, but you can also pick up fizzy vitamin C at nearly every health food store.
Adults can take up to 4000mg of Vitamin C (kids 500-2000mg depending on their size) spread out throughout the day to boost natural immunity and help repair raw, damaged tissue in the throat.
Garlic
If you aren’t afraid of having garlic breath for a few days, go ahead and give your body and throat the extra infection fighting power it needs by mixing some raw garlic in honey to make a paste, then slowly swallowing one teaspoon every three or four hours.
Probiotics
If you have ever taken antibiotics in the past, the ‘good' bacteria in your digestive tract that are responsible for a large part of our immunity could be out of balance. In the day-to-day, I recommend consuming plenty of probiotic rich foods (like yogurt, kombucha, and naturally fermented sauerkraut and other fermented veggies).
To restore beneficial intestinal flora when the immune system is compromised (either from infection, digestive weakness, or after antibiotic use) I do recommend using a therapeutic probiotic supplement either short or long-term.
Click to find great probiotics for:
Chinese herbs
Chinese herbal formulas tend to contain quite a few herbs that work synergistically to treat both the symptoms of an illness and its root cause. As natural remedies for strep throat, Chinese herbs can really come to the rescue.
In the early onset of a sore throat, you can take the classic formula, Yin Qiao San. Personally, the formula I like to keep on hand is Cold Quell, which addresses the same things as Yin Qiao, but can often be effective further into the illness.
If you have not caught your sore throat in the early stages and you have full-blown strep throat, call your Chinese herbalist to have a custom-made formula whipped up. This takes a bit more effort, but the payoff will be pain-relief and shorter time of suffering.
Colloidal silver
Last but not least, colloidal silver is a powerful remedy that has antibiotic properties and no known side effects. It makes an effective gargle for killing bacteria in the throat. However, it should only be used occasionally to boost immunity, rather than for everyday wellness. Read more about this colloidal silver here.
These safe, natural remedies for strep throat may help you recover faster, and prevent further infection because they help your body’s innate ability to heal itself and maintain resistance to the myriad of bacteria that we are exposed to every day.
Have you recovered from strep throat without antibiotics? What natural remedies for strep throat worked best for you?
We have always gargled with raw apple cider vinegar. It has cleared up strep more times than one at our house!
I’m going to gargle ACV, I like to take a shot of it during the mornings I’m feeling icky, gurgling should help, too, thanks!
I’ve never used antibiotics to treat any illness and unless there is literally no other option, I likely never will. Gargling with salt water has been my saving grace any time I’ve had strep throat or just a regular sore throat. Thanks for the info and for always stating your sources, it is very helpful!
Thanks for the comment Maliya. I’m glad you find the information helpful. 🙂
I’ve never once had strep throat, but am defiantly saving this information! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lindsay, thanks for your comment and I’m glad you found it useful!
I give everyone in our family double doses of elderberry syrup and cod liver oil at the first sign of any infection. None of us has been sick for more than a day in a long time.
True, the same works at my house 🙂
Natural remedies are wonderful things, which I support using, and antibiotics can definitely be harmful when over-prescribed. That said…the family doctor always put my siblings and me on antibiotics when we got strep as kids. We invariably recovered within a couple of days, ate lots of yogurt to replenish “good bacteria,” and all survived just fine. My husband is almost completely sterile–a source of nearly two decades of heartache. The most likely culprit? Childhood rheumatic fever from an untreated case of strep. Natural remedies are a fantastic place to start. If they work for you, great! But if they’re not working for you, for goodness sake, get to a doctor before things get worse. Strep infections are serious!
Yes! As a child I suffered from tonsil infections often, so when I had a sore throat at 15, I did the whole gargling thing and hoped it would go away. This simple step throat developed into Scarlet fever. Even with antibiotics it still took me 3 mos to recover. Without them I probably would have died.
I recently got strep again and with a 2 mos old I was not gonna take any chances of passing something horrific to her. I got my shot of antibiotics (overdosed on probiotics) and was done with it!
Wow! We got lucky, I guess. A few weeks after we were married, my husband came down with a fever and no other symptoms. It would not go away, and we were mystified. Then the rash came. We took him to the doctor who said it was scarlet fever from untreated strep! Since he had no sore throat, we had no idea strep was even a possibility! The doctor gave him a z-pack (since he had a penicillin reaction as a baby) and he was better the next day. He said that most people run to the doctor as soon as they have a fever and sore throat so strep almost never goes untreated these days and as a result, hardly anyone gets scarlet fever anymore. He was kinda excited– called all the nurses in to look at my husband’s rash so that they could see what scarlet fever looks like. It was funny. We were glad, though, that we caught it in time before anything serious happened.
My grandfather had strep settle in his heart. It’s serious business and is exactly what antibiotics are for.
This!!!! Especially with kids. The reason we don’t see it anymore is because of antibiotics. Most doctors don’t prescribe antibiotics unless your symptoms unless you have severe puss (infection) or test positive and have consistent symptoms like high fever and a severe sore throat.
While natural or holistic cures seem great, I had a bad illness at the beginning of October that I tried to fight naturally the first four days. Made homemade chicken stock, turmeric tea, essential oils to boot, apple cider vinegar, among others. After being that sick for 4 days, I finally went to the dr. to find I had pneumonia. I’m only 32 and don’t work in a hospital and the doctors kept questioning how I got pneumonia in the first place. They put me on 3 different medicines and while the side effects of some were awful, with something as serious as pneumonia, I stopped trying to fight it the natural way because well nothing I was trying was working. And with this article being about strep throat, just today 11/20/2017, there is an article on Yahoo about a mother who got 3 years jail time because her child died from an untreated strep infection, which she tried to cure with dandelion tea and oil of oregano. The point of this is to say natural and holistic may be good for somethings but if you don’t see improvement or symptoms worsen, take your child or yourself to a medical practitioner immediately.
Yes. I am all for holistic medicine and I use natural remedies over pharmaceuticals most of the time. Antibiotics have been and still are being overused. That being said, it is completely irresponsible of the author to claim that since rheumatic fever isn’t common anymore that it isn’t a danger. This is completely false, as the *reason* rheumatic fever isn’t common is because of antibiotics! We haven’t evolved past developing it or something…people have the same amount of risk of developing it now as they ever had.
We drink a tea (Throat coat tea with added lemon, raw honey, grated fresh ginger, ACV, and a dash of cayenne) then we eat half a clove of garlic (HORRIBLE but it works) I also swab my tonsils with tea tree oil..I dont do that for my kids, they would freak out! lol We sip that tea about 3 times a day and maybe take a tsp of ACV before bed. Totally works
The cespin in the cayenne pepper works WONDERS on strep throat. Cured in 5 days taking 1/4 tsp cayenne, 1tbsp honey (NEED the honey or it’ll burn like nobody’s business) and 1-2 tbsp acv in 8oz of hot water (as hot as u can tolerate).
How often should i take this? once a day?
Adjunct holistic therapy is always a good thing in my opinion but I have a bone to pick with this article. Frankly, the statement that rheumatic fever and resulting heart valve damage is pretty much a non-concern is a misleading statement. Rheumatic fever was more common because the widespread use of antibiotics was not used. The use of antibiotics is an effort to not only fight strep throat but to prevent the development of rheumatic fever and its lifelong damaging impact. I also was not surprised that the statement was not sourced. So here is a link to the medical review to the contrary:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/891897-overview#showall
I am not trying to discourage holistic therapy, I am just concerned that the statement I am referring to is misleading. If you don’t use antibiotics to directly interfere with the bacteria that may settle in your heart valve, you are running a risk and people should know that before making a decision.
Thank you for this! You took the words right out of my mouth.
Absolutely correct! Rheumatic fever can kill and it isn’t common anymore BECAUSE of the use of antibiotics! The author of the article clearly has NO idea what she/he is talking about and no real medical training to speak of! Parents not taking kids to the doctor with possible strep should be a CRIME because of the long term ravaging effects on the body!
My father in law developed congestive heart failure from strep throat. That’s what the drs believed, he was not treated with antibiotic. Also a man from my home town died from strep the infection went to his heart and he also did not treat with antibiotics. I am currently taking antibiotic for strep and I was also diagnosed with type B flu, my throat has hurt really bad this week. I have started doing water salt water rinses and coconut oil pulling. I am in amoxicillin and tamaflu, hopefully I will be better soon.
My daughter just had strep and I put her on antibiotics..first ever in her 6 years, because Strep CAN go to the heart. A 14 year old girl here in our city had open heart surgery last year because strep went untreated. It may be rare but it can happen! I am all for treating things naturally and I hated to put her on antibiotics, but Strep may be one thing not to mess with.
When my son was in the 5th grade, he couldn’t shake the strep throat he was suffering with. He was put on 3 rounds of antibiotics over the course of about 2 months. It would go away for a week or so after completing each round and then come right back. I went online to look for natural cures since the antibiotics clearly weren’t working. I decided to try Manuka honey and silver colloidal instead. And it worked- quite well. No more strep for my son since. This was about 5 years ago. When my daughter came down with strep a couple of years later, I turned to the Manuka honey and silver colloidal once again- as well as added a few more things: a warm cayenne pepper and acv gargle, wild oregano oil drops, and liposomal vitamin c. Once again it worked like a charm. It takes about 3-4 days, but it works and I can feel good that I’m giving my kids healthy, beneficial things for their bodies to heal- not toxic things like antibiotics and meds.
Hi Lyn,
My girls are on their second set of antibiotics. How many times a day did you use the honey, silver and gargle? I just hate the fact that they have to go on the antibiotics again.
We alternated silver spray and spoonfuls of manuka honey every hour. And we rubbed garlic oil all over throat and behind ears and put vitamin c in our water. Worked like a charm
hi, thank you so much for sharing. My son is 6 and I am taking him to the doctor tomorrow to check if he has sore throat or not. Now, he is a holistic doctor so I know he will use antibiotic as a truly last resort. However, as I read your posting the silver spray caught my attention. It this an spray used externally? I understand it is very effective externally. Also, how do you do it with school and its application during school hours? Possible to replace the Manuka honey with raw honey? Where do you suggest I get this silver spray? are they sold at different concentrations? which one would I need? thank you again for the info. We will start with the apv gargles tomorrow for sure. I just rubbed his neck with garlic oil 🙂
Hi my son is on his 5th round of antibiotics from strep. I keep getting it too. It’s the 3rd for me. I’m currently trying coloidal silver. What did you do with the Manuka honey?
I’ve always been super susceptible to strep, and when I get it….it’s BAD. Huge swollen tonsils, fever, aches, terrible. This past winter I came down with strep, went to the doctor after it didn’t clear after a week (even with lots of tea, garlic, etc). Antibiotics were prescribed, but the first round didn’t help. So they put me on another round of more intense antibiotics, and I still didn’t get better.
The doctor then suggested I needed to get my tonsils out since the first two rounds didn’t work. I chose to go home and self medicate instead, with plenty of rest. It took me a month to kick it, but I still have my tonsils!! Long story short, I definitely want to try the Colloidal Silver and some of these other remedies.
My husband was having recurrent strep throat year after year. He was sick of taking antibiotics and we researched more natural approaches online. He did a cayenne pepper gargle twice a day for two days and it was gone. And hasn’t come back in over a year. Of course he swears by it and tells everyone who ever mentions a sore throat. If my child ever comes down with it thought I’m not sure we can get him to swallow the cayenne that’s why these other approaches above will be useful.
Hi Lori, thanks for your comment. Glad you found the information helpful. 🙂
We always use manuka honey and lemon or herb tea for viruses and sore throats. But taking a spoonful several times a day did even more. It has been such a gift from God for us!!
For colds and flu especially with a sore throat my daughter and I have been opening up a Biokult capsule at night before bed and dumping it in our mouth. Let your saliva moisten it, swish it around for a minute or so and swallow. Don’t eat or drink anything after doing this. Through the night the good bacteria seems to work it’s way into your throat, sinuses and ear canals killing the bad bugs. We’ve never used this on a confirmed case of strep but it sure has helped with sore throats and itchy ears.
Just tried this today in a panic. I have strep w fevers chills already my throat is better. Thank you. You’re the only person on the internets talking about opening a pro capsule and shaking it in the mouth.
At the first signs of any illness I take my elderberry syrup three times a day, change to a non-protein diet and with strep I gargle 3-4 times a day with warm water and a few drops of tea tree oil. That usually manages to kick it.
I love finding new sore throat remedies. I recently bought the Throat Soother Pastilles from Mountain Rose Herbs. Haven’t had the chance to use them yet, but your suggestions along with these should do the trick next time we need something! Thanks!
When my baby was about 3-4 weeks old my doctor put me on medicine for Mastitus. I had previously been on diflucan. They couldn’t decide if I had yeast or not but my baby did a small white spot on the gum (which they said could have just been a pearl) However, I had lactch issues and things look rough. My baby had digestive stress from the time I brought her home until I removed wheat and dairy from my diet. Anyway, I never gave my baby a probiotic because I couldn’t find one that didn’t have dairy. I did take a probiotic during the antibotic stage and have taken them for quite awhile after. She is 1 year now. She rarely has digestive issues but I wonder if it will help to go ahead and supplement now with a probiotic to give her a boost from what she lost. She does get the occasional diaper rash and she did have 1 reaction with food that left her with hives. I still nurse and drink kombochu, eat fermented foods, and occasionally will take a probiotic tablet. I have started giving her fermented foods also. Should I give her a probiotic? My natural doctor at the time said my milk would resupply her digestive system.
I definitely prefer taking the natural approach before resorting to pharmaceutical solutions. However, I, like Tesleyc, have an issue with one of the comment made in the article. In my case the “danger of complications from strep throat are minimal in otherwise healthy individuals.” In addition to causing rheumatic fever which does still exist (although as Tesley says not as often as it used to), strep can also lead to PANDAS which causes sudden onset OCD, anxiety, and tics in (usually) children. It is sometimes described as rheumatic fever of the brain. Please refer to http://pandasnetwork.org/pandas/ for more information. Regardless of which avenue you choose to treat strep, please make certain you limit your exposure to others until you (or your children) are completely well as what is a bad sore throat and fever for you may trigger neurological issues in someone else.
Also propolis throat spray works wonders for a scratchy throat
What about activated charcoal? Would that work, too?
I do like the natural remedies but I think you still have to be careful with strep, watch it closely and get antibiotics if needed. My mom went without antibiotics. It turned into rheumatic fever and actually attacked her eyes. It resulted in scar tissue covering her corneas and two subsequent cornea transplants. I lawn towards trying natural remedies first, and if those don’t work, getting help from antibiotics.
I think if you are treating strep with natural antibiotic like oregano, garlic, manuka honey then you can hardly say it is going untreated. Everyone should go with their gut. My husband and I both had strep last year. We both kicked it with oregano, lemon, and OnGuard from doTERRA. If it had not gotten better, we would have used common sense and headed to a doc. But that is the last resort for us. But just because someone doesn’t treat a sickness with conventional anitbiotics does not mean they are not treating it.
My daughter used to get strep every year. Now, when she complains of a sore throat, I have her gargle with hydrogen peroxide 3x day and she hasn’t had it since! Thanks for the great post!!
I have to say, I have strep throat right now, my first time in all my 28 years. I, for whatever reason am a very healthy individual. I don’t eat like a health nut or anything, I’ve just always had a great resistance to illness, and so I was quite surprised to learn that my ‘sore throat’ may very well be strep throat.
Let me say, I absolutely hate the hospital, and I refuse to go in almost every scenario. However, reading these comments, even more so than the article, made feel a lot better about all this. I started getting it Wednesday night, and it is now Saturday, and of course I’m missing work because of it (grr). It made me realize that, if it doesn’t subside by Monday/Tuesday, I should go to the walk-in and get some antibiotics. I don’t want to, as I also prefer a natural remedy, but it isn’t worth risking further damage in the future.
Now, I just want to say thank you to each and everybody who has participated in this conversation. You have helped someone today, and you may not even know it. I’m the type of person who gets sick with worry when I catch a sniffle, call it a morbid fear of dying, thus, my resistance to go to a hospital where I may hear some dreaded news. I feel a lot better after reading everybodys comments, not only because I learned a thing or two, but it made feel confident about going and getting an antibiotic if necessary. Ironic though, how it’s kind of the opposite of the point of this article.
Thank you everyone and take care!
I’m a PA and I just had a child come in last week with rheumatic fever. It is just bogus to say that complications from strep no longer exist. One fact is that most people with a sore throat (90%) don’t actually have strep; only 10% of sore throats are true strep infections. If your sore throat got better with natural remedies, it was most likely NOT a strep infection.
THANK YOU. I am an ARNP. I do a lot of natural things but I don’t mess with strep. I had scarlet fever 3 times as a kid and each time the strep was treated within 24 hours of onset. People without medical degrees should not be giving this advice. Natural remedies for viral pharyngitis? Great! Take antibiotics if you have strep. Your heart, your fertility, etc will thank you.
Honest question though. As a PA. I had strep throat once as a child then again three months ago at age 35. I went through antibiotics which messed up my digestive system big time, then it recurred again around August 20th. I just finished my second course of amoxicillin 2 weeks ago today, which messed up my digestive tract further, and now I feel like I’m coming down with it again. Do I get checked and get the same antibiotics thrown at it a third time? It’s like the second course never killed it fully.
My question is this – “how do you know you are treating strep if you have not gotten a strep test?” I am not a PA but I second what the above PA said. A sore throat is not necessarily strep, but the bacteria that causes strep is not to be taken lightly. Better to know for sure and if it is not strep and just something viral, then go for the natural remedies if they make you feel better.
theses are great ideas. they do work and should be tried if you have a sore throat. if after a day or two you aren’t finding relief. time to get checked. common sense approach
I used to get strep throat every winter. I wish i’d had this remedy back then.
You know you have Strep if you see white spots in the throat. Also, that unmistakable feeling that you are swallowing glass everytime you take a sip is my first clue.
Complications from Strep are not outdated. I work on a cardiac unit at a hospital where we see older people having heart valves replaced because of damage from untreated strep infections they had long ago. It is much less common in younger people because now we see strep throat and treat it immediately. Please use natural remedies along with antibiotics. Don’t discount modern medicine!
The best ideas in this article, i really love these ideas and i’m glad follow these ideas to solve my problem with sore throat. Thanks for this post!
I definitely agree with you.
At the first signs of strep I take Quercetin 1 cap, 1 cap of L-glutamine 750mg, and 1 cap of probiotics all at the same time. I do this on am empty stomach twice a day with pure pineapple juice diluted with water.
I also take elderberry caps 3 times a day with food. I gargle with salt water and other times with apple cider vinegar.
I drink nettle leaf tea and chamomile tea with raw honey and plenty of room temp water. No sugar, white bread or grains. Lots of Chicken soup, steamed veggies, plums, almomds.
its very nice to find natural remedies. but who decided its better than antibiotics. garlic has natural antibiotics in it. why is it healthier it also kills the good and bad bacteria and it can also make bacteria susptible to it.
People should be really careful about giving advice like this. I ignored strep throat because I didn’t want to take antibiotics. I felt pretty good that it went away without treatment after a couple of days. The fifth day after the initial symptoms appeared, I woke up in agony. The bacteria had spread to my lungs and I just about screamed trying to put clothes on….my skin felt like it was on fire. I went to the doctor and told him how I felt and he new exactly what was wrong. He gave me codeine and antibiotics. I had a fever of 105. He said that the first symptoms ( sore throat with white and red streaks) will often go away, but the bacterial infection is still there and can actually kill you if left untreated.
Natural remedies ain’t go do nothing antibiotics is still the best for curing streptococcus
I love this article you have written; I never knew all these different home remedies could help! I have always used the tip gargle with salt water and that usually will work but I will have to try some of these new tips. Thank you!
I have strep right now which is how I found this article. First of all, many of the comments discuss a sore or scratchy throat. Let me just say, strep causes WAY more than a regular viral sore throat. It’s like razor blades in your throat with fever, body aches, headache, and even nausea and vomiting. It’s awful. And while I am all for avoiding antibiotics whenever possible, I disagree that strep rarely leads to complications nowadays. It can cause heart valve problems and PANDAS in children if left untreated. I don’t want folks thinking the normal sore throat you get with a cold is strep. It’s a whole different animal that requires a throat culture. I will use these remedies in addition to antibiotics for strep.
I’ve used colloidal silver as one part of a plan to heal a gum abscess. I’d brush, swish with peroxide then pack the spot with a colloidal silver soaked cotton ball for about an hour a day. Mine got better in about a week and a half, but I was able to get it draining. So, I’m thinking it would be good for swishing for sore throats too.
Strep is one of the few strains of bacteria that have not developed resistance to penicillin. So the risk of resistance here is obsolete. I am very homeopathic in nature… but strep is not something I screw with. I will treat it with fire every time as rheumatic fever is not the only danger of untreated strep. I have 2 friends who’s children developed severe and debilitating P.A.N.D.A.S. due to untreated strep (http://www.pandasnetwork.org/understanding-pandaspans/what-is-pandas/) . Choose wisely whether or not to treat your child. For me seeing a child lose over a year of their life due to severe anxiety attacks caused by swelling in their brain from strep (P.A.N.D.A.S.) and another child be misdiagnosed with autism due to the life sucking symptoms of P.A.N.D.A.S. I will gladly treat with Penicillin and do my best to repopulate their little tummy with good bacteria.
I had antibiotics every year as a child for strep throat. I finally had my tonsils removed at age 25 after three bouts of strep in 6 months. I am so glad I did. My tonsils were scarred with deep pock marks that allowed bacteria to flourish. That was 12 years ago and I haven’t had strep since.
I would also encourage parents to always ask for a throat culture. My middle child has had multiple episodes of a viral tonsillitis that I would have sworn was strep throat had we not done the quick strep test AND the 48 hour throat culture. Negative strep test and nothing grew on the cultures. But my child had enlarged tonsils with white puss spots, sore throats and fever. On the second occasion I saw a different Dr. who tried to pressure me into giving my child antibiotics “just in case” it was strep even though the quick swab was negative. I asked her to write the prescription for me and do the 48 hour culture. I told her if the culture came back positive I’d fill the prescription. And of course it was negative.
I also came across a study on Pubmed that said most episodes of tonsillitis in children under age two are viral, not bacterial. So be aware of that as well. Every sore throats is not strep.
Another great preventative for strep throat is Arabinogalactin. It is a supplement from the larch tree. My son took it every morning and never got strep again after having it many times each year.
While certain things have been eliminated with respect to Strep, others have not! You don’t mention Pandas disease and you really should! Pandas disease is an autoimmune disease caused by the strep virus. The antibodies attack the brain and settle in the brain and cause sudden onset, anxiety, OCD, rages, etc… Please don’t make it seem as if traditional antibiotics should not be used, because they most certainly should be, but an alternative is a nice option for some parents, particularly panda parents whose kids have to be on antibiotics for sometimes years.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that colloidal silver isn’t safe or effective for treating any disease or condition.
It can cause argyria, a blue/grey coloration of your skin. However, it does help some conditions if used topically. If taken by mouth the bad outweighs the negative in my opinion. Silver has no known function or benefits in the body when taken by mouth.
Silver is not a nutritionally essential mineral or a useful dietary supplement.
I am all for natural remedies, I have a very poor immune system and am allergic to several widely used antibiotics. I go to the doctor only when I can’t get well on my own in a few days, or if it’s related to my health issues. I have fibromyalgia, chronic pain, and several othe serious health concerns. I do use kratom every day for pain and it does help. I trust my rheumatologist fully. He is open to natural medicine, but he also will say if something isn’t useful. If I lived in a state with legal pot, I would be using it as it seriously does help with some of my health conditions, and he would be prescribing it. He tells me that the positive things that people claim silver has done for them is a placebo effect.
I know you may reply that this iinformation is wrong, or some other response that supports your use of silver, and that’s ok. But I personally would not take it. The bad outweighs the good.
My 9 year old son was sent home on Friday with a fever and sore throat. Monday came and he still had the fever. Ranging for 101-102. I figured its time to call the doctors, being he can only miss 3 days without a note anyway. I suspected strep after seeing the white patches on his tonsils. Today the doctors confirmed my suspicions. I did a lot of research, we are not people who like to be treated by big pharma, but I did understand that there were a few major worries with natural treatment. I started him on a 1tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp cayenne and a little garlic powder, which he took a 1/2 tsp every hour or so. Along with vitamin C overload. Approx. 10000 per day. ( I gave him 2000, 5x per day). Within a few hours of this treatment, his fever was gone, his tonsils were half the size and the white patches have almost disappeared. Today is Tuesday, going to continue this treatment for at least a few more days. Then back to the doctors to get the ok to return to school and maybe a lesson for the doc???? Still completely amazed at how fast he got results.
I have 8 years baby boy. When my boy faces this problem I usually follow this technique: Take some slices of ginger and chew them with a little salt. If you think that your baby can’t chew raw ginger, then mix some sliced ginger extract with hot tea.
Garlic actually has 28 compounds for fighting infection, antibiotics have only 1. This is true fact taken from a holistic world wide live webcam seminar that I listened to last summer. Also I totally agree with the raw, unpasteurized honey (1 T) with cayenne pepper (sprinkle to 1/4 tsp max and 1 clove raw crushed garlic. Mix it all up and eat 1/4 tsp every 1/2 hr. Yes you will smell like garlic but who cares! Also opening goldenseal capsules and gargling with this mixture, don’t rinse mouth and leave on throat all night. My kids swear by this and it works, they even mix it themselves, so you know that works! Same with probiotics, this is from Udo of Udo’s Choice worldwide fame. He opens a capsule of probiotics puts in his mouth and does not rinse leaving on all night. Very good for getting your flora right. Collidial has been a staple in our home for years and years and no it does not make you grey!! You would have to take soooo much of it for this to happen. We leave this for times when we are feeling ill and then 1 tsp 3X per day. Swear by the Raw apple cider vinegar, must contain the Mother or forget it, the Mother is the heart and soul of it and why it works. I use Braggs, drink it all day long with this formula, 1T in a litre of filtered water. Corrects your Ph to alkaline which is where you want your alkaline. Or a few drops in each glass. You won’t believe how amazing you feel drinking this!! Good luck everyone. My kids are 21 and 23 now and have been completely raised holistically. They have both only been on antibiotics once when they were toddlers. A good diet, low sugar, lots of good filtered water, exercise and treating preventatively when coming down with something almost always squashed it in the beginning. I believe that antibiotics do have a place in our society, however do your very best with natural solutions first. ps I LOVED THIS ARTICLE
Last winter I came down with a nasty case of strep – all of my resistance to antibiotics went out the door and I was ready for literally anything to help. I started to feel better right after taking the antibiotics, but after I finished my round of medicine, my infection returned about a week later. I went on a second, more aggressive round of antibiotics; thought I had kicked it for sure, but a few weeks later, this zombie strep came back again!!!
I intuited if tea tree oil might help out, and looked on the internet to confirm that it could. I used a Q-tip doused in tea tree oil and straight up swabbed the spots on my tonsils where the infection was raw and red. It provided immediate relief (numbing and less painful) and within a few days my infection went away for good. The taste was intense but I didn’t care too much by that point.
Fast forward a year and a half to last Sunday, when I woke up with a sudden terrible throat infection that left me in bed, unable to eat or even focus enough to listen to a conversation. This time I reached for the tea tree oil first thing – making sure to avoid swallowing it – but dabbing it on my infected tonsils. I’ve done that a few times a day now and, after a rough day Sunday, I am back (two days later!!) to being able to function, do work and eat and drink comfortably.
I hear people about the dangers of untreated strep but…antibiotics were much less effective than this natural remedy for me, and they wiped out my flora to the point where I also got a terrible yeast infection afterwards! I evangelize about tea tree oil to everyone I can. Sometimes you need a round of antibiotics, and sometimes natural remedies are the most effective.
It is not a remedy but I’ve found that eating cooked pasta, plain without anything on it other than olive oil, is one of the easiest things to eat with strep. Soups and liquids hurt me more as I think they seep into any pus sores that are in the throat. And like my thick saliva, soups can be too thick to go down quickly, whereas pasta in olive oil just slips right down! I added some chopped up wafer thin ham just for a treat! Also green tea with some manuka honey stirred in, nothing beats manuka honey for the healing process of any disease or illness, and is quite soothing if you can get some liquids down into you.
Last year I had strep throat but at that time I used antibiotics. But for the next time I will save this information and will use these remedies for treatment.
My 19 month old has strep throat and I cant get him to drink anything this morning. He has a slight fever but not serious yet. I am positive he has it because my 14 year old just got over strep. Should I keep trying to offer him ACV (diluted of course) and bone broth or just go ahead and take him to urgent care? My five year old also got it but I treated it naturally with her and it was gone in a matter of days. However, I am very sceptical of trying with him since he is so young (and there is no way for me to bribe him into taking spoonfuls of minced raw garlic, cayenne and honey like my 5yo lol).
Hi Ansley, since I not your healthcare practitioner and can’t really give medical advice over the internet, I would suggest monitoring your child carefully and if you have any doubts, please take him to see your regular healthcare practitioner. xoxo Emily
One winter about 6 years ago I chucked quarts of fresh lemon juice and a lot of fresh ginger all day long. It got rid of my strep within a day.
Also, wear a scarf all day to keep your neck warm.
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