Daily Fit Tip: Sore throat? Try gargling hot salt water

I rarely get sick, but when I do it seems I get a double dose of whatever cold is making the rounds. This year it was the sore throat phenomenon. Everyone around me seemed to come down with one form or another of sore throat. You know how it is--you wake up one morning, throat feels a little scratchy, the channel between your throat and ear feels inflamed, and you just know it's not going to go away unless you do something about it. This very scenario befell me last week.

I've never been one to rely on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to ease my symptoms. Now that I'm pregnant I probably couldn't take anything even if I wanted to and wouldn't--it's just not in my nature. Thus I attempted to resolve my throat woes with an age-old remedy prescribed by my mother that seems to actually work: gargling with hot salt water.

This method of sore throat curing seems to work best when certain criteria are met:

1. You catch the sore throat in its early stages.

2. Your glands are not swollen. If your glands are swollen or your throat looks really scary, get thee to a doctor immediately. This sort of remedy is NOT going to cure you of strep throat.

3. With regard to the salt to water ratio, you should add as much salt as you can tolerate, over-saturating the mixture if possible. This means even after mixing there should be salt in the bottom of the glass.

According to the Salt Institute (yes, such a thing exists, and it's a ".org") the appropriate amount is 1/2 teaspoon per 8 ounces of water. In my experience this has not worked, but it may do the trick for you. Frankly, success is all about experimentation.

4. The water should be as hot as you can handle it. I normally boil the water, then mix in the salt, then allow the mixture to cool to a hot but tolerable temperature.

EXTREME CAUTION: DO NOT EXPERIMENT WITH THIS PORTION OF THE REMEDY--you could SEVERELY BURN your mouth and throat. If you have a thermometer, use one. If not, use your finger to determine how hot the remedy is before gargling with it. the water should be at least steaming in order to be effective, but should never be consumed while boiling.

5. The remedy should not be swallowed. Not that you'll want to, as it tastes worse than almost anything you could imagine, but the salt water could make you queasy or gassy or who knows what else.

This remedy has worked for me time and time again, when there was no major infection such as strep to consider. By all means, if this remedy (or your over-the-counter option) does not work within a day or so, you should most likely consult a doctor.

If the hot salt water remedy doesn't seem like the one for you, other non-OTC options for curing a sore throat can be found here. I've not had call to try any of these, but the options are interesting to consider.