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Sore throat during pregnancy
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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A sore throat during pregnancy can bother a woman for various reasons. The reasons may be a simple sore throat, a sore throat due to a bad microclimate (increased dryness of the air), a malfunction of the immune system and other serious diseases. More about this.
What can cause a sore throat during pregnancy?
"There are many possible causes of a sore throat in pregnancy — acid reflux, asthma, allergies, bacterial or fungal infections, pollutants or chemicals. But most sore throats are caused by viruses," says Mary L. Rosser, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women's health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. If you're pregnant, a sore throat can often be a nuisance due to postnasal drip.
Acid Reflux (Heartburn) and Sore Throat in Pregnancy
This is a condition where stomach acid does not stay in its place in the stomach and creeps up into the esophagus.
Causes of heartburn in pregnant women
Heartburn is a very common condition during pregnancy because progesterone, the main pregnancy hormone, slows down the digestive system. This, combined with the pressure on the stomach from the growing baby, increases the likelihood that stomach acid will rise up and cause a sore throat.
What are the symptoms of heartburn during pregnancy?
The most common symptoms of acid reflux are a burning sensation in the throat or upper chest. You may also feel nauseous. Burping and spitting up during pregnancy can also be a sign of acid reflux.
Diagnostics
Most often, heartburn during pregnancy is diagnosed when a woman is at rest. But if you continue to experience heartburn after pregnancy, your doctor may recommend additional testing, including an endoscopy, a test used to see the inside of your upper digestive tract.
How common is heartburn during pregnancy?
"Heartburn is an extremely common symptom during pregnancy," says Michelle Collins, an assistant professor of nurse-midwifery at Vanderbilt University. More than half of all pregnant women experience heartburn during pregnancy.
As your digestion slows down, you have less room in your stomach, so the acid makes its way up into your esophagus. This causes a sore throat due to the overly acidic environment, which includes toxic hydrochloric acid.
How can acid reflux in pregnant mothers affect the unborn baby?
Heartburn shouldn't affect your baby in any way. And don't listen to the fairy tales that your baby will be born hairy if you have heartburn. It's not true.
Asthma and sore throat in pregnancy
Asthma is a potentially serious lung disease. During an asthma attack, a woman's airways become partially blocked, limiting airflow and oxygen circulation throughout the body.
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Causes of Asthma in Pregnant Women
Asthma is usually a hereditary disease. So if your mother and aunt had asthma, you were probably born with a tendency to develop the disease. Exposure to certain viral infections and allergens in early childhood also leads to asthma.
What are the symptoms of asthma during pregnancy?
The most common signs of asthma are wheezing, shortness of breath, and a feeling of tightness in the chest. A persistent cough, which usually bothers at night or early in the morning (when a pregnant woman may feel cold), can also be a sign of asthma. Because a woman coughs or chokes during an asthma attack, she may experience a sore throat due to irritation of the mucous membrane.
Diagnosis of asthma in pregnant women
If your doctor suspects that your woman has asthma (or if she has had asthma in the past), he or she will recommend the following tests: Allergy test Spirometry (tests of upper respiratory function) Measuring the volume of exhalation in 1 second and the volume of the lungs, which is called their vital capacity. They are used to judge how passable the bronchi are Chest radiography (this method determines the degree of transparency of the lungs and their tendency to connective tissue growth)
How common is asthma during pregnancy?
About 4 to 8 percent of pregnant women have asthma.
How does a pregnant mother's asthma affect the unborn child?
Don't worry - as long as you manage your condition during pregnancy and keep it under control, the chances are good that your baby will be born healthy. But if your asthma is poorly controlled during pregnancy, your baby will likely be low birth weight and/or born too early.
"What's really, really important and responsible during pregnancy is making sure your baby is getting enough oxygen," says Rebecca Kolp, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. "If you're not getting enough oxygen, your baby won't be getting enough oxygen, so getting your asthma under control is especially important for moms. Then you can manage the sore throat that comes with asthma attacks."
Allergies During Pregnancy and Sore Throat
Whether it's a food allergy or hay fever, it's important to know how to manage it during pregnancy. What medications can you take? What are the risks to the baby? How to deal with a sore throat due to allergies during pregnancy?
What is allergy during pregnancy?
It is completely normal (and useful!) for a mother to be able to recognize the presence of a harmful foreign agent in the body in time during pregnancy. At this time, the body declares an all-out war against the "invader", which is not so bad. This is just a signal from the body that it is necessary to remove the object that irritates the body and does not allow the organs of the expectant mother and the child's body to function normally.
What are the causes of allergies in pregnant women?
Some women are genetically predisposed to allergies. Others develop allergies due to constant and frequent exposure to allergens.
What are the signs of allergies during pregnancy?
Stuffy nose, sneezing, watery eyes, itching, sore throat and scratchy throat are the main symptoms of allergies, and there is also hay fever. Other types of allergies can also cause hives - bumps, itching, swelling of the face or itching and redness of the skin of the whole body or certain areas.
Diagnosis of allergies during pregnancy
Sometimes allergies are diagnosed after symptoms appear. Or if you suspect your body is reacting abnormally to something. (For example, if you experience swelling after taking antibiotics, you are most likely allergic to those antibiotics.)
But sometimes these are vague symptoms that are difficult to diagnose, so an allergist may recommend an allergy test. Skin testing is a mirror of allergen testing. If your skin reacts with redness or itching to something, you are allergic to that substance. Testing can be done for single allergens or complex.
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How common are allergies during pregnancy?
Allergies during pregnancy are quite common. About 20 percent of women, or one in five, suffer from allergies during pregnancy.
How can a mother's allergies affect her unborn child?
If the mother has severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) that interfere with breathing during pregnancy and cause a sore throat, your baby will not suffer. But he may develop allergic reactions later - after birth.
Nausea and sore throat in pregnant women
Nausea during pregnancy can also cause frequent sore throats, as it is often accompanied by gag reflexes. Vomiting irritates the mucous membrane of the throat, which causes pain. But could this be a sign of something more serious?
What can cause nausea during pregnancy?
Early in pregnancy, a woman may experience morning sickness - nausea, and this condition is caused by new hormones that are secreted during pregnancy. Usually, nausea manifests itself at its worst between 6 and 14 weeks of gestation. Nausea, vomiting and sore throat for these reasons are also quite common in the last few weeks of pregnancy and can even be a symptom of premature labor.
Nausea can be a sign of serious conditions such as preeclampsia, hemolysis due to elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count. Nausea and sore throat in pregnant women can be due to indigestion syndrome or be a symptom of poisoning.
When should you see a doctor?
If you experience severe vomiting and the liquid does not stay inside you for more than a day, and the body is severely dehydrated, be sure to consult a doctor. Whatever the reasons for your discomfort that accompany a sore throat during pregnancy, you should not joke with these conditions. It is better to consult a doctor again and check the severity of the symptoms of a sore throat during pregnancy to prevent negative consequences.
When should you see a doctor about a sore throat during pregnancy?
If your symptoms are very severe or last more than 24 hours, see a doctor.
How to treat a sore throat during pregnancy?
Try natural remedies first, such as gargling with salt water or warm water mixed with honey and lemon, and if they don’t help, you can take paracetamol for a sore throat. For more serious symptoms that accompany a sore throat – nausea, weakness, high temperature – consult a doctor. Treatment of a sore throat during pregnancy depends primarily on the causes – the diseases that cause this pain. Let’s look at each of the diseases and its symptoms in more detail.