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Treatment of laryngitis at home
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025

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Patients with various forms of laryngitis prefer home treatment of the disease with improvised means. This is due not only to the high efficiency, proven methods, but also to the use of only natural components.
The most common home treatments for laryngitis include:
The following infusions are considered effective for rinsing:
- a few teaspoons of calamus root per glass of boiling water;
- composition of equal parts - calamus rhizome, chamomile, cinquefoil. 1 teaspoon of the mixture is brewed with a glass of boiling water;
- beetroot and potato juice diluted with water;
- heated milk in which peeled carrots have been boiled (for half a liter, take a small carrot).
An important condition: you should gargle often – at least five times a day.
To perform steam inhalation, take a teapot or a dish with a narrow neck. Start the procedure about ten minutes after the water has boiled. Use: soda (1/2 teaspoon per glass of water), Borjomi, decoctions of chamomile, sage, calamus root, cinquefoil. Add a few drops of eucalyptus and menthol oil to the inhalation solution.
Treatment of laryngitis with honey involves taking it internally and dissolving it in the mouth. A composition of two parts honey to one part lemon juice has proven itself well. This simple home remedy is eaten every thirty minutes, one teaspoon at a time. Aloe juice with honey is great for relieving the symptoms of laryngitis. About 200 grams of liquid honey are needed for ½ liter of aloe leaf juice. The composition is taken three times a day, 1 teaspoon at a time.
Warm beer and your favorite eggnog quickly help restore your voice. Chamomile baths or baths with sea salt have a double effect – inhalation and warming. Warming compresses with badger fat, warm vegetable oil on the chest are indicated to get rid of cough.
What to do with laryngitis?
Treatment of laryngitis requires the patient to follow simple rules - keep feet warm, avoid hypothermia and drafts. To preserve the voice, it is necessary not to talk in cold air, do not overstrain the vocal cords.
What to do with laryngitis? It is important to keep the room where the patient is clean. The room should be free of dust. Moderate temperature and humidity will undoubtedly help. You should stop smoking, drinking alcohol, and avoid spicy, hard food.
Drinking plenty of warm solutions - tea or milk with honey, herbal infusions - will help relieve irritation of the mucous membrane of the larynx. Inhalations over steam or a special device called a nebulizer are an effective remedy for laryngitis.
Dry cough can be cured by applying a mustard plaster to the neck, chest and heels. It is also effective to do foot baths with mustard before going to bed. A proven method is gargling and warming compresses on the throat.
Most often, laryngitis treatment is complex, combining physiotherapy and medications. For a speedy recovery, it is better to visit a doctor who will give the necessary recommendations for treatment.
Inhalations for laryngitis
Inhalations for laryngitis have a good therapeutic effect, softening the mucous membrane, reducing coughing and promoting sputum discharge. Ultrasound devices, nebulizers, and any container with steam are widely used. The doctor selects the medicinal substance for the procedure in each specific case, these can be:
- herbal infusions – fir leaves, eucalyptus, oregano flowers, chamomile, sage, coltsfoot;
- essential oils – fir, mint, menthol, eucalyptus;
- chlorophyllipt;
- soda solution;
- onion/garlic phytoncides.
At home, cover the patient with a towel or use a cone made of thick paper and breathe through its narrow part to avoid burning. Homemade inhalations are recommended to be repeated three to eight times a day, which is very difficult in the case of illness of small children. Treatment of laryngitis in children is conveniently carried out with a nebulizer, which turns the liquid into small droplets that easily penetrate the respiratory system.
Inhalation therapy has its own contraindications:
- high temperature;
- predisposition to nosebleeds;
- presence of cardiovascular diseases;
- lack of air, respiratory dysfunction.
Do not rely on inhalations alone to treat laryngitis. The disease often develops against the background of infections in the body, so the symptoms only go away after the underlying cause is eliminated.
Inhaler for laryngitis
The simplest and most accessible option is a steam inhaler for laryngitis, its main drawback is that it is difficult to control the temperature of the released steam. Doctors recommend choosing an ultrasonic inhaler or nebulizer, especially when it comes to treating children.
Oil inhalations for laryngitis
The use of oils in the treatment of laryngitis ensures the creation of a thin protective film in the respiratory system, protecting the mucous membrane from the absorption of harmful substances. Lemon, fir, juniper oils, as well as herbal compositions with St. John's wort or propolis oils have a bactericidal, soothing, wound-healing effect.
Oil inhalations with peach, rose, eucalyptus, and menthol oils are effective for laryngitis. Hot inhalations are performed over a pot of boiling water for five to eight minutes. Cold inhalations are prescribed for patients with insomnia, vascular disorders, and increased excitability. To perform the procedure, add a few drops of oil to a bottle of water, and the patient takes several breaths, holding the vessel to his nose.
Basic rules for inhalations:
- a few drops of oil are enough for the container;
- During the therapy process, you should not be distracted by extraneous matters;
- It is not recommended to eat, smoke, or talk for an hour after the procedure;
- After inhalation you need to rest.
Inhalations for laryngitis with a nebulizer
A convenient and effective remedy for laryngitis is inhalation with a nebulizer, the principle of which is based on an ultra-fine dispersion of the medicinal substance.
Treatment of laryngitis with a nebulizer
Modern treatment of laryngitis with a nebulizer makes therapy comfortable and easy to perform, since the device does everything itself. The patient only needs to load the medication prescribed by the doctor.
Inhalations with soda for laryngitis
Alkaline inhalations, which are carried out for no more than eight minutes, help to alleviate the course of laryngitis. For inhalation with soda for laryngitis, take ½ teaspoon of baking soda per glass of warm water. You can use mineral water - Borjomi, Narzan, Essentuki. The procedure at home is carried out using a saucepan/teapot with steam or using a special inhaler.
This therapy is well tolerated by patients and produces a quick effect. Sputum discharge is observed even immediately after the session. Clinical trials confirm that treatment of laryngitis with alkaline solutions is effective if other expectorant agents do not help.
Alkaline compounds reduce swelling of the mucous membrane by increasing the osmotic pressure in the respiratory organs. The procedures activate the cough reflex if it has been suppressed for some reason.
Soda inhalations, carried out twice a day, increase sputum secretion by 5-7 times. Patients with dry cough already from the first sessions note relief of respiratory function, disappearance of shortness of breath.
Compress for laryngitis
A local warming effect is provided by a compress for laryngitis, which causes the expansion of blood vessels and activates blood circulation. Such a simple manipulation quickly relieves the painful symptoms of laryngitis and restores the voice.
The compress is applied to the throat/chest area. To prepare the dressing, you will need a bandage or gauze soaked in alcohol, vodka, oil solutions or other medicinal products. The damp cloth is applied to the skin, wrapped in oilcloth and insulated with a scarf, shawl, etc. on top. The size of the oilcloth should be selected a couple of centimeters wider than the gauze layer, and the outer insulation in the form of a scarf even wider.
Treatment of laryngitis with a warming compress is carried out from four to eight hours with a two-hour interval. After removing the bandage, do not rush to go outside and do not forget to put on clothes up to the throat. If irritation appears at the site of the compress, treat the skin area with cream or Vaseline at night.
In a compress applied to the chest, heated vegetable oil or animal fats (badger, visceral) are used. Such dressings are left on overnight.
A contraindication to treatment with a compress would be the presence of fever.
Mustard plasters for laryngitis
Mustard plasters have a local reflex action, warming the skin, irritating the nerve endings by releasing essential oil. In the area where the mustard plaster is applied, blood circulation and metabolic processes increase. The same processes occur in the organs that communicate with the skin through nerves.
Mustard plasters are the first aid for laryngitis, reducing pain in the larynx, resolving inflammation, and relieving an attack of dry cough. The mustard plaster should be placed on the front of the neck for 10-20 minutes. You can also put them on the heels, sternum, to stop the "barking" cough as quickly as possible.
After the therapy, wipe the skin with a dry cloth, lubricate it with cream, vegetable oil and lie down under the blanket. It is strictly forbidden to go out into a draft.
The only contraindication to treatment with mustard plasters will be temperature. When applying mustard plasters, one should avoid the heart area, mammary glands and affected areas of the skin (moles, scratches, etc.). Treatment of laryngitis with mustard plasters in children is permissible from the age of three for a short period, after consultation with a pediatrician.
Syrup for laryngitis
A dry, "barking" cough is the main painful condition in laryngitis. To eliminate the unpleasant syndrome, cough medicines in the form of syrup are used.
Glycodin is a laryngitis syrup that will appeal to both adults and children. The medicine gently acts on the cough center, protecting the mucous membrane, regulating the secretory function of the epithelium. Glycodin therapy is prescribed for acute or chronic laryngitis accompanied by a dry cough.
The dosage for adult patients is 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of the product three times a day. The drug is prescribed to children depending on their age:
- one to three years – 1/4 tsp/3 times a day;
- four to six years – 1/4 teaspoon/4 times a day;
- seven to twelve years old – 1/2 teaspoon 3 times a day.
Glycodin is not recommended for patients with sensitivity to its components. The drug can depress the nervous system, so the drug is prescribed and monitored by a doctor.
Laryngitis can be successfully treated with homemade syrups. For example, remove the top of the black radish, remove part of the core and put a couple of spoons of honey in it. The secreted juice, diluted with water, is used to treat coughs every three to four hours (use 1 tablespoon).
What to gargle with for laryngitis?
In the question of “what to gargle with for laryngitis?”, improvised means – salt, soda, iodine, as well as medications – chlorophyllipt, furacilin – will come in handy.
Gargling for laryngitis
Gargling for laryngitis will help relieve pain during inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx, as well as relieve swelling and destroy pathogenic microorganisms. This can be done with medications purchased at a pharmacy, or you can turn to traditional medicine.
The most effective method is a mixture of equal amounts of St. John's wort, eucalyptus, calendula and chamomile per liter of water. No less effective composition for rinsing is considered a decoction of black elder flowers, coltsfoot leaves, golden mustache, mixed in a glass of boiling water (1 teaspoon of each). Infusions are kept for about three hours, and rinsing is carried out every hour.
Laryngitis is treated with apple cider vinegar. To do this, dilute 3 tablespoons of vinegar in a liter of water and add 2 tablespoons of honey. It is recommended to gargle at least four times a day.
It is good to gargle with beetroot, lemon, carrot juice, sea buckthorn oil, propolis tincture, marshmallow or strong tea. Using old, candied honey when gargling can cause drying of the mucous membrane.
The main condition for rinsing with laryngitis is that the water should be warm, not hot!
How to restore your voice after laryngitis?
The speech process is controlled by the ligaments, which form sounds by means of vibration and movement. With laryngitis, the ligaments become inflamed, the voice becomes hoarse, weak or disappears altogether. Silence or whispering helps to cope with the problem.
How to restore your voice after laryngitis? First, you should observe speech restrictions - do not shout, do not overstrain recently inflamed ligaments. Second, gargling will help restore speech. A decoction of chamomile and eucalyptus (brew 1 tbsp of dry mixture in a glass of boiling water, leave for about 40 minutes, cool and strain) or potato juice will do for this purpose. Third, patients are shown hot drinks at night. Heated beer or wine have a good therapeutic effect. Fourth, you can cope with dry mucous membranes by using oil drops (sea buckthorn, fir, eucalyptus).
Is it possible to walk with laryngitis?
After carrying out medical manipulations, applying warming compresses or mustard plasters, it is not recommended to walk with laryngitis. It is better to use a warm blanket and complete rest, especially you should refrain from walking in cold, damp weather.
Nutrition for laryngitis
A healthy diet for laryngitis, excluding the consumption of salty, spicy, sour, excessively hot or cold foods, promotes rapid recovery.
To ensure maximum rest for the inflamed mucous membrane of the larynx, liquid, mashed foods are recommended as a diet - soups, jelly, milk porridge, tea with honey. Treatment of laryngitis excludes drinking carbonated drinks, alcohol, consumption of seeds and nuts (any hard, traumatic food). It is necessary to avoid taking spices - onions, garlic, pepper, horseradish.
Vegetable oils will help in the fight against inflammation and irritation of the larynx, which can be instilled a few drops into the nose or lubricated in the throat. Fresh fruits, vegetables, juices will be of great benefit in the treatment of laryngitis, but they should be eaten in the form of puree.
Drinking for laryngitis
Drinks for laryngitis should be warm (not hot) and quite plentiful. All remedies should be taken in small sips. Borjomi, milk and sage will help cope with the disease.
Herbal tea with honey, raspberries, plantain juice with honey bring relief. To restore your voice, drink an infusion every hour: boil 1/2 cup of anise seeds in a glass of water (200 ml), add a spoon of cognac and two spoons of honey to the solution. An effective treatment method is milk with carrots boiled in it (for 1/2 liter take a small carrot). Take the mixture three times a day, several teaspoons at a time. Carrot or beetroot juice with honey has proven itself well.