Throat pain

curby

So I have this tremendous throat pain from having a cold or whatever it is I have, and I don't know how much longer I can handle it. It's fucking with my sleep and everything. I can barely talk.

Is there any way to get rid of it like, FAST?

Chen

I don't know about fast, but honey tea helps to soothe the throat or if you don't have honey, salt mixed with lukewarm water helps to disinfect the throat but won't have an immediate effect.

Deathwing

Get rid of, no. Soothe or anesthetize, yes.

Really the best thing is medicine - menthol throat drops to cool/numb, tylenol to reduce swelling and some of the pain. Are you sure it's a cold? Even if you are, I would still consider talking to a doc and seeing if they might be able to write you a prescription to get something stronger for the pain.

Aside from that....Drink tons of fluids, get a cool-mist humidifier, gargle with salt water, etc. Try to stay away from crunchy foods or anything that might be scratchy on the way down.

ihmmy

If it's that bad, I'd contemplate seeing a doctor
what generally makes my throat feel the best is lemon ginger tea with honey... just simmer some water with lemon and ginger slices, and when you put it into a cup add some honey. Does wonders for me. But my sore throats aren't as bad as what you've described... that sounds like it's beyond the ordinary cold to me

Szechuanosaurus

curby wrote: »

Is there any way to get rid of it like, FAST?

Strong pain killers. Oddly effective at getting rid of pain, FAST.

In fact, soluble asprin. Disolve a couple in a small glass amount of water and gargle for 30 seconds then swallow. Chase this down with a Merocain throat sweet, which contains a local anesthetic (try to swallow the saliva while sucking it otherwise just your tounge and gums will go numb).

But if you don't have those, any painkillers will help. Stuff that contains asprin seems to be best, such as Lemsip. Mmm, lemsip.

And yes, fluids, lots of fluids. For any type of cold, drink drink drink (not booze, just water).

MagicPrime

Also, Chloraseptic sprays can help numb the throat

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud

My biology teacher recommends honey flavored whiskey, because it is smooth and has enough alcohol to burn off most of the strep colonies owning your esophageal tissue.

Szechuanosaurus

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud wrote: »

My biology teacher recommends honey flavored whiskey, because it is smooth and has enough alcohol to burn off most of the strep colonies owning your esophageal tissue.

By honey flavored whisky does she mean whisky with honey in it or, like, Dalwhinnie which has a faint hint of heather honey due to the area it's distilled in?

My wife recently got a throat cold and because she's pregnant she couldn't do the usual MASSIVE DRUG OVERDOSE. She found warm milk and honey was rather soothing, though. Honey has antiseptic and antibacterial properties anyway and supposedly warming milk releases natural opiates contained within. But really, it's just very tasty and soothing.


Edit: I don't know why I'm assuming your biology teacher is female.

curby

A whole bunch of pain killers took the edge off... Man this sore throat is brutal lol
I might end up going to see a doctor
How long does the typical throat infection last?

Deathwing

Depends what's causing it. Probably a virus of some kind, unless it's strep throat or whatnot. Also, have you ever had mono? I know when I had it, I had a horrendously painful sore throat for a while.

If it's hurting as bad as it sounds like, you really do need to see a doctor, if only because they might be able to give you some more specific help than just piling on general painkillers.

Fireflash

Do you still have your tonsils? If so you might have an infection, which would require antibiotics.

Pheezer

You can have a throat infection without tonsils.

Without actually touching your lymph nodes to see if they're swollen I can't actually say for sure but there's a really good chance you've got an infection that won't get better until you get antibiotics. Those sorts of infections frequently come with cold or flu like symptoms.

Thanatos

Pheezer wrote: »

You can have a throat infection without tonsils.

Without actually touching your lymph nodes to see if they're swollen I can't actually say for sure but there's a really good chance you've got an infection that won't get better until you get antibiotics. Those sorts of infections frequently come with cold or flu like symptoms.

Your body will clear up the vast majority of infections without antibiotics; antibiotics just help quite a bit.

What everyone else has said: hot drinks, honey, gargling with lukewarm saltwater (specifically, one teaspoon of salt dissolved in 8 oz. of water).

The gargling with saltwater thing can actually be done every 10 minutes or so, if it's bad; no harm from it, and it'll help with postnasal drip (as will decongestants).

curby

I've been drinking a lot of herbal honey + lime tea, and taking niquil as well as echinasea and advil. As far as I can tell, only the advil is working. I'm gonna try the salt water thing too every 10 min or so. I still have all my tonsils I think...

Pheezer

Thanatos wrote: »

Pheezer wrote: »

You can have a throat infection without tonsils.

Without actually touching your lymph nodes to see if they're swollen I can't actually say for sure but there's a really good chance you've got an infection that won't get better until you get antibiotics. Those sorts of infections frequently come with cold or flu like symptoms.

Your body will clear up the vast majority of infections without antibiotics; antibiotics just help quite a bit.

What everyone else has said: hot drinks, honey, gargling with lukewarm saltwater (specifically, one teaspoon of salt dissolved in 8 oz. of water).

The gargling with saltwater thing can actually be done every 10 minutes or so, if it's bad; no harm from it, and it'll help with postnasal drip (as will decongestants).

If you can't swallow from the pain and it's a difference between no pain in 24 hours vs. no pain in 2 weeks guess which one is worth it

It's possible that socialized health care has skewed my perspective but I mean, come on

Thanatos

Pheezer wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

Pheezer wrote: »

You can have a throat infection without tonsils.

Without actually touching your lymph nodes to see if they're swollen I can't actually say for sure but there's a really good chance you've got an infection that won't get better until you get antibiotics. Those sorts of infections frequently come with cold or flu like symptoms.

Your body will clear up the vast majority of infections without antibiotics; antibiotics just help quite a bit.

What everyone else has said: hot drinks, honey, gargling with lukewarm saltwater (specifically, one teaspoon of salt dissolved in 8 oz. of water).

The gargling with saltwater thing can actually be done every 10 minutes or so, if it's bad; no harm from it, and it'll help with postnasal drip (as will decongestants).

If you can't swallow from the pain and it's a difference between no pain in 24 hours vs. no pain in 2 weeks guess which one is worth it

It's possible that socialized health care has skewed my perspective but I mean, come on

If it's viral, it won't matter, and overuse of antibiotics is causing a shitload of problems.

Krikee

The Cepacol brand name throat lozenges are very good at numbing the throat. The active ingredient is benzocaine so yeah... it works.

Pheezer

Krikee wrote: »

The Cepacol brand name throat lozenges are very good at numbing the throat. The active ingredient is benzocaine so yeah... it works.

Benzocaine lozenges are completely awesome. This I will definitely vouch for.

Trowizilla

Have you taken a look at your tonsils? If not, grab a mirror and a flashlight. If you've got white patches on them (like, if they look a bit like a moldy strawberry), you've probably got strep and should get to the doctor.

I say "probably" because the last time this happened to me, it turned out I had mono and was severely dehydrated. Either way, a doctor is a good idea.