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Sore throat usually accompanies common cold or influenza and is characterized by an inflammation of the throat. Caused by a viral infection, it occurs often when the patient is suffering from viral fever, sinusitis, measles or even diphtheria. The main symptoms of a sore throat include irritation and pain in the throat, swelling and tenderness in the lymph glands, chills and fever accompanied by a difficulty in swallowing and talking.
It is advisable to avoid washing your hair or having cold showers and exposure to air conditioning and cold climate if you are suffering from a sore throat. Apart from this, you should also avoid cold and refrigerated foods and other foods such as cucumbers, bananas, watermelon and papaya which tend to have a cooling effect or curds and sour foods which can increase the irritation in the throat. Maintaining a healthy balanced diet with green leafy vegetables, fruits and whole grain cereals ensures that your body is in fighting spirit to combat the sore throat.
For immediate relief from the soreness, you should gargle with warm salt water. This not only kills the infection it also provides soothes the irritation in the throat. Alternately you can gargle with Aloe Vera juice three or four times a day. Gargling with a mixture of 1 tsp ajwain seeds and a pinch of salt in 1 glass of lukewarm water is also beneficial. You can prepare an effective concoction by boiling a few basil leaves in water and drinking this twice a day or even using it to gargle three to four times a day. The antiseptic properties of basil leaves help to cure the sore throat. You can also prepare honeysuckle tea by 1 cup of honeysuckle flowers to 1 quart of boiling water and allowing it to steep for 10 minutes before straining it. You can drink this three to four times a day for best results. Similarly marshmallow tea prepared by adding 1 tablespoon of the dried marshmallow root to a cup of boiling water can be consumed three to four times a day to soothe a sore throat. Drinking 1 glass lukewarm water with 1 tsp of black pepper powder and cinnamon powder is very effective in treating a sore throat that is caused by a common cold. Adding ginger, garlic and black pepper to your food is an excellent home remedy for sore throats. You should drink plenty of hot soup laced with black pepper. Chewing on garlic is also excellent in treating sore throat naturally at home.
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