Sore throat treatment

It is known that antibacterial treatment of sore throat of viral and even bacterial etiology is of little or no effectiveness. In most patients, the symptoms of the disease disappear in 7-10 days, regardless of whether they were prescribed antibiotics or not.

Since sore throats most often do not lead to the development of serious complications and resolve spontaneously, antibiotics should be prescribed on an individual basis in each specific case and, if possible, avoided.

Treatment of sore throat is mainly local and consists of eliminating irritating food, prescribing inhalations and spraying warm alkaline and antibacterial solutions. For example, warm-moist inhalations of a 1:5000 furacilin solution for 10 minutes 3-4 times a day, etc.

Today, there are a huge number of drugs for the local treatment of inflammatory diseases of the pharynx. The use of a number of drugs is limited by their high aplergenicity and irritating effect. These include drugs containing iodine derivatives, propolis, sulfonamides. Drugs containing plant antiseptics are usually highly effective and harmless, but their use is not indicated for patients suffering from pollinosis, and the number of people with this disease in some geographic areas is up to 20% of the general population.

Of particular interest are combination drugs, such as 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol and amylmetacresol in combination with various dietary supplements (eucalyptus oil, tartaric acid, anise oil, peppermint oil, etc.). They are capable of not only relieving discomfort in the throat, but also have a pronounced antibacterial and, what is very important, antifungal effect, since a fungal infection (in particular, candidiasis) often aggravates the course of the disease with long-term, even local, antibacterial therapy.

In cases of severe sore throat, treatment with systemic analgesics (NSAIDs) is often ineffective and is used only as antipyretics. In these cases, combination drugs containing local anesthetics are used again. In particular, more than satisfactory results have been obtained in the treatment of acute pharyngitis using a new drug containing the above-mentioned amylmetacresol and 2,4-dichlorobenzylethanol, as well as 10 mg of lidocaine hydrochloride.

Due to the tendency of all the diseases described above to become chronic, treatment of the acute process must be carried out extremely carefully and under the supervision of a specialist.

Basic drugs for local treatment of the nose, pharynx and larynx

Name	Compound
Angi Sept Doctor Theiss	Menthol, anethole, dichlorobenzyl alcohol, peppermint oil
Bicarmint	Sodium tetraborate, sodium bicarbonate, menthol, peppermint oil
Bioparox	Fusafungine
Hexalysis	Biclotymol, lysozyme, enoxolone
Hexaspray	Biclotymol
Hexoral	Hexetidine
Doctor Mom	Extracts of licorice, ginger, emblica officinalis; menthol
Drill sore throat	Chlorhexidine, tetracaine
Isofra	Framycetin, methyl parahydroxybenzoate, sodium chloride, citric acid
Ingalipt	Streptocide, sodium norsulfazole, thymol, eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil
Iox	Polyvidone-iodine, allantoin, propylene glycol
Cameton	Chlorobutanol, camphor, menthol, eucalyptus oil
Counter-Rapid	Cetylperidinium, lidocaine, menthol
Laripront	Dequalinium chloride, lysozyme
Neo-angin	Menthol, 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol, p-pentyl-M-cresol
Octenisept	Octenisept
Pro-Ambassador	Propolis, glycerin, ethyl alcohol
Romazulan	Chamomile extract and oil
Rotokan	Extracts of chamomile, calendula, yarrow
Sebidin	Chlorhexidine, ascorbic acid
Septolete	Benzalkonium chloride, menthol, peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils, thymol
Stopangin	Hexidine, essential oils, methyl salicylate
Strepsils	2,4-dichlorobenzylethanol, amylmetacresol, oils, ascorbic acid, honey, menthol
Strepsils Plus	Amylmetacresol, dichlorobenzyl alcohol
Strepsils plus spray	Lidocaine hydrochloride
Tantum Verde	Benzydamine
Falimint	Acetylam and nonitropropoxybenzene
Faringosept	Ambazon
Furacilin	Nitrofurazone
Eucalimin	Extracts of eucalyptus leaves or shoots
Eludril	Chlorhexidine, chlorobutanol, docusate, chloroform

Treatment for sore throat caused by acute pharyngitis

Since pharyngitis is most often caused by viruses (adenoviruses, rhinoviruses, etc.), systemic administration of antibiotics is ineffective and not indicated in the first days of the disease. When the first symptoms of a sore throat appear, local therapy of pharyngitis is the most optimal and safe: tablets or lozenges containing broad-spectrum chemical antiseptics. As a local treatment for pharyngitis, preference is given to combination drugs containing not one, but two complementary antiseptics (dichlorobenzylethanol and amylmetacresol). For example: lozenges Suprima-LOR, Strepsils or Adzhisept, Faringosept, etc. These drugs are active against a wide range of gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms and have an antifungal effect.

Anti-inflammatory treatment of sore throat with non-steroidal drugs (aspirin, paracetamol, analgin, orthofen, etc.) and plenty of fluids (preferably tea and chicken broth) at home is the main treatment for the first week. When the sore throat disappears and the temperature returns to normal, treatment should be continued for up to two weeks, since the minimum cycle of the inflammatory process is two weeks. If treatment is ineffective, an otolaryngologist consultation is necessary.

The exacerbation of chronic dry pharyngitis (subatrophic, atrophic), or granular (when there are granules of lymphoid tissue against the background of dry atrophic mucosa), lateral pharyngitis (when vertical ridges of lymphoid tissue are expressed against the background of dry atrophic mucosa on the sides of the pharynx), as well as the exacerbation of chronic pharyngitis of smokers occur similarly to acute pharyngitis. The exacerbation of the latter occurs especially aggressively, since nicotine, as a neuroparalytic poison, sharply reduces the protective properties of the mucous membrane of the pharynx. Therefore, abstaining from smoking, during an exacerbation of chronic pharyngitis of a smoker, significantly alleviates the disease and accelerates recovery. Aspirin or paracetamol can relieve the condition. If the throat condition does not improve within two days, a consultation with an ENT specialist is necessary.

Treating a Sore Throat Caused by a Dry Throat

Sore throats with increased dryness of the throat disappear or decrease when wetting the throat, for example, with repeated swallowing of saliva or after breakfast, and appear again the next morning. Periodically, dryness of the mucous membrane of the pharynx leads to its injury and subsequent inflammation in the form of acute pharyngitis, especially in the autumn-winter period. It is clear that all kinds of ways to moisturize the mucous membrane of the throat and protect it from drying out will temporarily relieve or alleviate such pain, preventing the development of acute pharyngitis. First of all, this is frequent drinking of water during the day and hot drinks before bed, instillation of a physiological solution (0.9%) or saline solution (1 teaspoon of table salt per glass of boiled water) into the nose before bed, which best moisturize the mucous membrane of the pharynx. It is also possible to instill vegetable oil into the nose with a pipette, which protects the mucous membrane of the throat from drying out for three hours. Vegetable oil (sunflower, olive, corn, peanut, apricot) is selected based on the absence of a burning sensation in the nose or nasal congestion. From folk remedies, various hot food seasonings and pickles (except garlic, lemon and sea buckthorn oil), as well as onions, hot peppers, propolis and honey moisturize well and protect the mucous membrane of the throat from drying out.

Of the medications, Fluifort (selectively relieves dryness of the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract) and Aquagent-colloidal silver 20 mg/l with a thickener turned out to be especially successful. Aquagent maintains a protective film with silver on the mucous membrane of the nose and throat for hours (all night), which additionally protects the surface of the mucous membrane from drying out. Humidifying the air in the bedroom in various ways also provides great help, especially in the autumn-winter period.

For more effective, permanent elimination of dry throat, it is necessary to eliminate the cause of it. Most often, drying of the mucous membrane in the throat occurs when breathing through the mouth, especially at night when a person sleeps, which is accompanied by a decrease in the activity of the body's protective properties to moisturize the mucous membrane of the throat. Mouth breathing, in turn, often leads to snoring, which increases the trauma of the mucous membrane of the pharynx and additionally provokes the appearance of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the pharynx with painful sensations when swallowing. Most often, difficulty breathing through the nose leads to mouth breathing, and in these cases, all effective methods for restoring nasal breathing are permissible, except for vasoconstrictors, which are dangerous to use for more than 2-3 days.

In more complicated cases (nose diseases or deformations), treatment of sore throat is carried out with the help of an otolaryngologist. However, even in the absence of difficulties with nasal breathing, the development of dry throat with drying of its mucous membrane is quite possible. This is typical for the southern type of nasal aerodynamics, when there is increased patency of the lower nasal passage, and mouth breathing, at the same time, additionally enhances the effect of drying of the throat and provokes snoring at night. Therefore, all methods of medicinal protection of the nasal mucous membrane, with the southern type of nasal aerodynamics, are quite acceptable and useful. With pronounced violations of nasal aerodynamics, medicinal protection becomes insufficient and then the help of an otolaryngologist is required, who is proficient in the reconstruction of the southern type of nasal aerodynamics into the northern one, which perfectly protects the mucous membrane of the throat from drying out and cooling, and also guarantees the elimination of snoring at night. This is due to the fact that the northern type of nasal aerodynamics creates maximum comfort for the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, since when outside it is minus 15-20 degrees, air warmed to plus 25 degrees enters the throat and the northern type of nose secretes 500 ml of liquid to humidify the inhaled air. As already noted, a fairly common consequence of neglected "dry" throat is acute inflammation of the mucous membrane of the pharynx in the form of acute pharyngitis.