Sore Throat Remedies

I HATE sore throats and a couple of weeks ago I had a doozy. My bride, Erin Rhew, and I bought the best that Walgreens had to offer: lozenges, throat spray, cold pills, so forth. But alas, none of them relieved the pain from the boxes of razor blades that I seem to be swallowing at regular intervals.

She took me to the doctor. Nope, not strep, just a raw ache that lasted for days and kept me up at night.

Here are some sore throat remedies that and did NOT work:

• Throat spray
• Lozenges
• Gargling with salt water
• Gargling with baking soda
• Gargling with hot water
• Decongestants
• Hot showers

What the smay?

The doctor suggested drinking hot tea and wrapping a heating pad around my throat. Pretty sure that she was thinking that if I asphyxiated on the cord she wouldn't have to listen to my whiny ass anymore.

Erin and I have an electric teapot which can fire up a steaming mug in about two minutes. Desperate one night, I tried the tea. If I drank a few sips every hour I could sleep for a little while. But the affects didn't last long and the more I did it, the worse my throat seemed to get.

By the third night of not sleeping, I had an epiphany. I'd done everything everyone said to try, why not the opposite. So at three in the morning I slipped downstairs and got a big cup of ice water. INSTANT RELIEF!!! I chewed the ice until my teeth felt like they were going to splinter, but for the first time in days I got four hours of continuous sleep.

WOOP!!!

Normally I don't post about my woes, but no one suggested ice to relieve a sore throat, so I'm posting here, hoping to help some other poor sap unable to get some good z's and some relief.

Getting the deets from Deek. 'Till later!