Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
If you’ve ever wondered why some people get strep throat over and over and over again, sometimes even just days after a strep infection was supposedly eradicated with antibiotics, here’s the likely answer as explained by old-time MDs who practiced medicine before the modern love affair with prescription drugs got its start.
Most people are far too quick to run and get a prescription for antibiotics and never give their immune system a chance to build any resistance whatsoever. Most never consider the use of home remedies for strep throat either.
Conventional doctors today do a great job of scaring people out of their minds about the possibility of rheumatic fever/heart damage from allowing the body to deal with a strep throat infection unmedicated. However, the truth is, the risk of complications from strep throat is very small for healthy people who have no issues with their immune system. Even WebMD used to state (before pharmaceutical industry pressure forced a change in language to only mention antibiotics) that strep throat will go away on its own with or without treatment in 3-7 days.
I’ve written before about the one and only case of strep throat I ever had. It occurred when I was 15 and I am ever so grateful my MD father loved me enough to let me fight through it and win without antibiotics. The result? I’ve never ever gotten strep throat again despite repeated exposures. One exposure was in very close quarters – a college roommate had strep throat and I still didn’t contract it! What’s even more interesting is that none of my children have ever had strep either despite multiple exposures from friends and classmates.
I obviously built up a strong resistance to strep throat at a young age and have been blessed with never having to suffer with it again by allowing my body to fight through it naturally. It’s also quite possible I passed on my immunity to my children via breastfeeding, although that is obviously just an educated guess on my part.
The article I wrote on my personal strep throat story has invited both ridicule and applause over the past couple of years. Some folks have angrily emailed me saying I am crazy and putting people’s lives in danger by suggesting that forgoing meds for strep is the best way to go if one is in good health.
For others, the article triggered an “aha moment” with more than just a few deciding once and for all to stare down the strep throat demon and win!
One such inspiring story crossed my inbox recently and the strep throat victim was none other than professional singer Martin DeBourge!
Here’s what Martin had to say:
As a singer, getting strep throat every single year is not only frustrating, but vocally debilitating! So when it hit again this year, and I felt it coming on, I decided a new course of action was in order.
I spent a day researching. The one article that really rang true for me was on your website about whether antibiotics for strep are really necessary. You talked about how you “muscled through it” when you had strep throat as a teenager, and how your body may have even built an immunity against it.
That sounded great to me! But, I am well aware of the massive pain strep throat can cause. Just swallowing fluid is excruciating, let alone solid foods. So I needed a sort of “healthy second opinion”.
I called fellow friend and vocalist David Katz in New York. I knew he was an herbalist, but most importantly, he would understand my plight as a singer needing to do what’s best for my pipes. He runs a website and has an herbal product line JUST for singers, so I knew he was the right guy.
He ALSO encouraged me to steer clear of the antibiotics and gave me a few suggestions to “get through it”.
I braced myself for at least 10 days of bed ridden fever, throat swelling and sickness. Like I said, I’ve been through this numerous times before, so I knew what I was in for. I didn’t clear my singing schedule though, hoping for the best.
To my amazement, the strep “spots” started clearing within a couple days. I had my voice back in 36 hours! I was floored… and convinced.
Martin kept a daily log of his strep throat home remedies adventure outlined below. Hopefully, it will inspire more than just a few others to take the leap themselves.
Effective Strep Throat Home Remedies
Martin’s holistic strep throat treatment consisted of the following ingredients which he consumed at a rate of ½ teaspoon every 30 minutes to an hour.
- Use a mortar & pestle to mash up 3 cloves of fresh garlic (sources). If the raw garlic is too hot for you or you’re concerned about the odor potential, use homemade pickled garlic instead. Do not use commercial pickled garlic as it has no therapeutic value.
- Mix in half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper (sources).
- Mix in raw honey (manuka honey is the most potent. Be wary what brand you buy as most manuka honey is fake. Get UMF certified 15+) to taste which has healing properties of its own (sources).
Martin also gargled with raw apple cider vinegar diluted with some water 3x per day (sources). Although Martin didn’t use it, adding small cups of bone broth to the regimen would have helped speed healing as well.
Note that some people like to gargle with colloidal silver, which also works well. However, note that this remedy will kill the good bacteria in your throat area as well as the bad, potentially contributing to more problems down the road from unbalanced mouth, throat, and sinuses flora.
Below is Martin’s daily journal logging his progress to a cure.
Using Home Remedies for Strep Throat: A Daily Journal
10/6 – Sunday afternoon – felt “something” in throat. Still sang well at rehearsal.
10/7 – Monday morning – “something” became more prominent and I began the research into what I felt was inevitably the strep bacteria attacking my throat.
10/7 – Monday early afternoon – visit to doctor for regular checkup and asking about an unrelated pulled muscle. He checked my throat (routinely) and said nothing. It didn’t matter if he had, I would have just went through the motions of accepting an antibiotic prescription, but not taking it – I had already made up my mind to do something “different”.
10/7 – Monday afternoon – found information on The Healthy Home Economist about beating strep with no meds. Followed up with a phone call to David Aaron Katz. Became convinced that I will muscle through it with home remedies. As per David’s suggestion, I started by sucking/chewing on cloves of garlic – 5 of them before the day was out!
10/7 – Monday evening – attempted to sing. Did not go well, highs were very strained.
10/8 – Tuesday morning – throat uncomfortableness, but quick mirror check didn’t seem to reveal anything overly red. Driving son to school is when I looked in rear view mirror and noticed two white spots. Strep confirmed.
10/8 – Tuesday later morning – started a cycle of garlic chewing with a mixture of raw honey & cayenne pepper every half hour (concoction detailed below). First two administers I experienced upset stomach, but became very tired and slept most afternoon.
10/8 – Tuesday afternoon – continued garlic/honey/cayenne mixture every half hour during awake times.
10/8 – Tuesday early evening. Headaches persisted, but still had an appetite. Gargled with ACV – that was a bit painful.
10/8 – Tuesday evening. Continued with mixture until I went to sleep. Noticed a third spot very far back and lower behind the tongue. May have always been there, but this is the first I noticed.
10/9 – Wednesday early morning – Awoke with a sore throat, a bit difficult to swallow. Gargled and drank 16 fl oz water with 2 tbs of ACV & Raw Honey. Checked throat under light, saw the same three spots.
10/9 – Wednesday afternoon – no stomach issues, and the sore throat lessened considerably throughout the day. Still uncomfortable, but I can definitely eat.
10/9 – Wednesday early evening – third spot undetected, second one lessening. First one still prominent, but definitely all good signs. Also, I noticed I am not all that drained and exhausted – which I attributed to the garlic intake.
10/10 – Thursday early morning – woke up with slightly less of a sore throat. Gargled and drank 16oz water with ACV & Honey. Throat under light still shows the one stubborn spot, hard to tell, but it could be a tiny bit less in size.
10/11 – Thursday afternoon – Was told by my wife that she can’t bear with my garlic breath another day… no worries, that third spot is definitely reduced in size. I decided that come morning, I will just do Apple Cider Vinegar. Besides, I had a karaoke gig this night and needed to not smell like garlic for the customers.
10/12 – Friday Morning – Spot free. Wow. Not a single spot, throat back to normal. I decided to slowly warm up the voice as I had a singing engagement to prepare for on Saturday.
10/13 – Saturday evening – voice 100%. Throat clean as a whistle. In all my years (year after year) getting strep throat, I have NEVER bounced back this quick – not to mention getting through it without antibiotics.
10/15 – UPDATE: I made a facebook post about this a few days ago, simply saying that I kicked strep to the curb without the use of antibiotics. I have over 1400 followers on my profile, so I certainly expected varying comments. One particular comment jumped out at me… “make sure you really got rid of it, it typically comes back within a couple days if you didn’t eradicate it”.
Well……… it’s not back!
Congratulations Martin on the amazing success of your strep throat remedy! Please keep us updated on your progress, but my bet is that you won’t ever be taking antibiotics for strep throat again, and you may very well never even have it again!
Have you always wondered how to get rid of strep throat without meds? Have you ever muscled through it under your own power using one or more strep throat home remedies? If so, what remedies did you use and have you experienced immunity to strep throat since? Please chime in with the strep throat cures which worked for you below.
Want to connect with Martin? These links below will point you in the right direction:
(youtube) www.youtube.com/martindebourge
(bio) www.15hifi.com/site/martindebourge
More Information
Remedy for Sore Throat (fast acting)
How to Repair Your Gut After Antibiotics
Why Antibiotics Today Could Threaten Your Life Tomorrow
Best Natural Antibiotics and How to Use Them
Fever Blisters Home Remedy
My daughter just turned 2 and has had 3 strep infections in 6 mths. We had her tested to see of she is a carrier and it came back negative. She doesn’t complain and I don’t want to give her more antibiotics. I don’t think she will take this recipe. Any suggestions!!
Rub the concoction on her feet and then put socks on. Also peppermint tea (organic) will help as well as soothe. My daughter drank peppermint tea since she was about 5 months!
Also, if she does get to the point where she is very uncomfortable, you can try oregano oil from a health food store DILUTED in coconut or olive oil rubbed on the feet with socks to cover.
I usually don’t comment on these sorts of things but in this case, I must. My throat had been hurting since Monday night. Tuesday, I woke up with swollen glands and a sore throat. I assumed my allergies were getting the best of me, took some meds and went to work. By Tuesday evening, my muscles were achy and stiff and a fever was beginning to settle in. My throat still didn’t hurt too much, but my glands were extremely swollen and uncomfortable. I took more meds, still thinking it was a cold and went to bed. I fought the fever all night long and it finally broke around 4 am on Wednesday morning. When I got up that morning, I checked my throat for white spots because even though my throat wasn’t hurting, it was very sore because the glands were still swollen. I saw what appeared to be one large white patch. I didn’t think it was strep right off because I’d had strep when I was 14 and the pain was horrible. I was barely in pain. Thursday, I got up and went to work, but still didn’t feel quite right. Through out the day, I noticed it was getting harder to swallow certain things and decided I needed to check my throat again. I had my friend look inside with a flashlight and what had been 1 white spot the day before, had now turned into 7 small white spots. My worst fears confirmed, I started internet searching natural ways of curing strep throat. I came across a website that instructed me to mix 1 – 4 tablespoons of raw, unprocessed honey, 1/8 -1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and 4 cloves of minced garlic. I was to mix these ingredients and consume a 1/2 teaspoon every half an hour while I was awake. I took my first dose at 6:50pm on Thursday night. My throat immediately began to feel better. I missed a couple of does through the evening. By the time I went to bed at 11:00 pm, I had consumed about 5 does of the concoction I ‘d mixed. I woke up this morning and had my friend take a look at my throat. I had went from 7 white spots to 2 over night!!!! My throat was still a little sore, but I was feeling sooooo much better. At this moment, I am at my desk at work researching the health benefits of garlic and came across this website. When I saw all the comments, I knew I needed to add my own because I am such a skeptic. I know there are tons of ppl out there who might think this is too easy. But for less than 10 dollars I’ve cured my strep throat. The doctors’ visit including copay and prescriptions would’ve cost easily 60 bucks. Not to mention, the antibiotics would’ve given me a yeast infection and that would’ve required prescription as well. Trust me! This stuff works!!! Give it time and don’t give up on it. I didn’t do any gargles or anything. Just the “hot” honey. Good luck
Do you gargle this or how do you take it please respond.
Did you make the mix and put it in hot water or did you just eat the mix like that?
You take it in an 8 oz glass of water, 2 teaspoons of ACV. 2 teaspoons of honey.
I fought strep off when I first moved from home. I had no insurance to see the dr. I of course didn’t have internet at the time (remember dial up?) because I of course didn’t have a computer just yet either. And I used a lot of pain meds and tylenol sore throat with honey. It lasted for over 2 weeks before it finally started getting better. But, I still get strep throat. Just pushing through it didn’t make my immune system any better. To be honest I’ve always had a problem with strep throat and having it for months on end. Even on antibiotics. The antibiotics would help keep the pain away but as soon as they were over the pain would come back. Recently I have a 3 year old that had his first every strep back at the beginning of the year. His tonsils never shrank back down in size and he still has strep.. sometimes with pain and sometimes with none. I’m at a loss because I notice that he struggles to talk around his tonsils a lot 🙁 But I don’t see me being able to get an already picky 3 year old to chew on garlic 🙁 🙁 🙁
Look into getting his tonsils take out. A friend of mine had a few kids with continuous strep throat, and as soon as they all had their tonsils taken out, they never got strep again, and felt better all around!
My girlfriend had her tonsils taken out 9 years ago and she has had strep throat for 2 days now i also thought if you had your tonsils removed you couldnt get strep throat.
I had my tonsils taking out and still get strep
I tried this for my throat pain, which I had for about 4 days and after 2 days of taking the “concoction” and ACV gargle it healed and my throat is back to normal. Thank you very much for sharing this article and good luck.
My youngest 3 kids have never been on antibiotics. Never had vaxes either, but I’m positive we’ve dealt with strep. Mixed fresh garlic in soups they’re about to eat, gave elderberry, and various other things and oils, and we’re alive and healthy. No scarlet fever. My oldest daughter did get strep about 5 years ago, and even after garlic, honey and the works, we took her to the hospital as she couldn’t swallow. They said she had one spot, and they drained it, said it held as much as a hens egg. So, we just tried again next time. She’s been fine since! Thank you for spreading the good news that docs aren’t always the answer!
Let me see if I missed something here. Your daughter got strep pharyngitis which you opted not too treat and eventually had to go to the hospital for one “spot” that had to be drained? Are you saying she had a peritonsilar abscess that required draining? As in “can lead to airway compromise and respiratory distress” peritonsilar abscess? That’s bad, but at least it didn’t end up as a retropharyngeal abscess or maybe even mediastinitis. There is a reason we still treat strep and it’s not rheumatic fever (very rare with US strains of Strep pyogenes).
I tried fighting through strep once before, I have a healthy immune system. However, I fought it for a month and I turned into scarlet fever. I’m going to try antibiotics this time
I’ve been fighting a sore throat and earaches now for 14 months. No perscription has been offerred by my doctor. All tests negative except for Thyroiditits ( elevated thyroid values and pos ultrasound) which has now dropped back to normal range but pain still exists.
I have used , garlic, honey, silver, oil of organo , lympdiral , quassi, salt, juniperus , tea tree oil, and castor oil packs , immune boosters , Medi C-vitamin C 4000mg , lysine …. and 14 months later I still have sore throat and earaches… I wonde which wonderforumla will work.. Ive even gone to Rieki ….
my spleen is also now being affected and i’m not being offerred anti biotics …. So I guess the belief of ,, ‘that which does not kill me will make me stronger” but somehow I think I’m losing this battle …… God these ears are itchy and sore …its insanity !!!!
Sounds like it isn´t Strep at all, but maybe a form of the Epstein Bar Virus? (This effects the spleen.) I had something similar happen last fall. After working late on stuff for about a week, I got a very sore red throat, burning tongue, tiredness, felt feverish but the fever was very low grade. Because of the physical symptoms of infection, my doctor put me on antivirals, since a test for bacteria came back negative.
But then my legs started to ache much more, I felt like fainting or falling, off and on, and kept loosing my voice for 1 month more, until I could not continue to work. (I am a teacher and have to talk every hour I´m at work.)
The doctor at my work said I had nothing at all, but that the symptoms were being caused by the anti viral medication (even though everyone else at work were coming down with the same symptons I had, one by one, but with higher fevers – only for a few days, then after staying home, they got better.)
I stopped the antivirals per our work doctor`s instructions , and did feel much better. The pain and fainting apparently were being caused by the antivirals, but the burning tongue, tiredness, and sore, red throat and loss of voice continued. I stayed in bed one full week over Christmas, then went with my family to a very cold climate and was outside in the extreme cold- I live in a place with a very mild climate.) The symptoms finally went away! totally. Maybe the rest did it, or the bug didn´t like the cold!
But a week ago I had to stay up all night to finish a project, and now I have a burning tongue and sore throat with tiredness again. The worst thing is that my children and their friends who have been visiting our house, now have tiredness and sore throat, as well.
When I get lots of rest, the symtoms improve and when I gargle with Iodine, the burning and sore throat almost go away until the next time I get only a little sleep. Then the cycle repeats. My biggest problem is that my husband and I are night owls and can´t adjust our schedules to help get full 8 hours of sleep to help me stay well! And now I have to get my kids well, as well, since they have tons of school work at this time.
Honey and green tea, antioxidents and vinegar have not worked with this thing, but the iodine gargle and rest seem to improve symptoms.
Even though I had serious ear infections and throat problems as a kid, our doctor didn´t believe in antibiotics, so I never took antibiotics for any of these infections, or for anything. Still, as an adult, I got Scarlet Fever, even though another doctor told me (without a test) that I had a virus. But, as a kid, 4 people in my family had rheumatic fever (people in our family believed in fighting infections out when sick, instead of taking medicine, I guess) with my father and sister ending up with heart conditions because of it, so some strains of Strep can be a very serious business in these types of families.
More recently my 2 kids got weird behavioral and physical / neurological reactions during a diagnosed Step infection (the PANDAS Syndrome), with their weird symptoms returning and persisting after their treatment ended (strong phobic fear reactions and muscular tics). They had to be put back on prophylatic antibiotics, and kept on them for many months to totally keep these symptoms away. Fortunately, our current doctor saw the connection between my kids´ sudden bizarre behavioral symptoms and the Strep infection – maybe because she knew of all the cases of Rheumatic Fever and Scarlet Fever in our extended family. The prophylatic antibiotics worked 100% for my kids. They have been 100% their normal selves ever since.
There have also been recent medical studies showing an association with cases of adult Schizophrenia (in families with high susceptibility to Strep). The idea is that some strains of Strep have receptors on their cell walls that physically resemble neurological receptors in the bodies of people in these families, so the people´s own immune systems attack the person´s own neurological receptors, either in the brain (as with future victims of Schizophrenia or OCD -Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) or in the muscles (as with Rheumatic Fever) and damage their own bodies while fighting the Strep Infection. Antibiotics kill the Strep bacteria and reduce the bodies´ own production of these particular antibodies against the Strep, so less damage is done by their own immune systems to their own body tissue.
This only applies to specific families, who tend to have Rheumatic Fever, allergies, asma, vitiligo, cancer and other autoimmune system disorders. Our family has a history of all of these, and we did not take any antibiotics as children, ever (with the exception of my sister, who was put on prophylatic antibiotics after having Rheumatic Fever.)
So make sure your family doesn´t have a genetic susceptibility to certain strains of Strep, or you could be asking for big trouble or giving it to your children in the future.
Ian your answer to why your ears itch and throat is sore is in your post, Thyroiditis. I have had these same symptoms and I know how frustrating it can be. Just thinking about the itchy ears makes me quiver. You can cure thyroiditis naturally your body is in distress obviously, but check out STTM website, (stop the thyroid madness). This website helped me out a lot. Hope that helps!
Do you have amalgam fillings in your teeth? If you do, I recommend finding a dentist (this will take some research) in your area who is knowledgeable about removing silver amalgams (there is a special process for safe removal) & then have them removed! They contain mercury & could be poisoning your system.
have you considered taking Iodoral or Lugol’s iodine, you would need large doses 12.5mg to 50mg and follow Dr Brownstein’s supplements protocol to help absorbing the iodine (selenium, Vit C, B2, B3, etc). It may help
Ian, you can take all of the herbs and minerals and supplements in the world but unless your body can biologically assimilate them they are of no use. It is time for you to eat ONLY organic food which will have beneficial microbes. Take a probiotic with a minimum of 10 billion count daily. It may also be goof for you to take some colostrum pills to get you body’s immunity up to educate it on the addition of these microbes. It will take a few months of doing this but your body will regulate itself.
Yep. I had it and it turned into rheumatic fever (is that the same as Scarlett?) I couldn’t work for a year! There’s a damn good reason the doctors push those antibiotics. I generally never take them – but if I even suspect strep, you’d better believe I’m getting the biggest baddest prescription they’ll give me.
my throat culture clearly says i have a strep thorat. i have had it three times since jan. its v painful and i cannot even swallow water! dr says its allergies! i have no symptoms of teary eyes, sneezing, runny nose or congestion. its just a bright red throat, low grade fever under 100, body aches and weakness. i develop it overnight and the pain goes away after three days of anitibiotics.
i am tired of it. in the last two weeks, i have had it twice! apparently i was not taking the right antibiotics and am taking klaricid now. how to prevent this, and i am scared of the complications.
I sure would try starting a non-antibiotic treatment the next time if I were you. Sounds like you have had it so much that it’s become resistant to the antibiotic or antibiotics (it’s a whole relational family of antibiotics thing). I would worry more about the complications of so many antibiotics (some you are already having by the sounds) than complications from helping your body take care of itself the way it was designed to as long as your paying attention and listening to your body you should catch any developing “complication” before it’s bad. At least that’s been my experience.
I have allergies and once my rhinitis went full on pharyngitis (sorry for any misspelings, i’m brazilian). I could barely eat, and in the end i had to take anti-biotics, antihistamine and some other stuff in injections, because I couldn’t swallow anything. Now, once I feel the allergies kicking in, I go straight to antihistamine. For me, the symptoms aren’t allways the same. Sometimes I get very tired out of the blue, or have a ichy throat, sometimes I have running nose. You should go see a otorhinolaringologist once it starts and ask about a more continuous medicine.
You can get strep once its gone by not making sure everything youve infected is thrown away or washed. Especially things like toothpaste and your toothbrush.. Strep can survive on its own for quite some time.
Nice to see someone slam the doctors for what they are. You are right. They are usually good for one thing. Scaring people and promoting drugs. Well thats two things. But they go hand in hand.
I decided years ago that ive had enough of them. I stopped taking my kids to them and devoted my life to understanding illness. Over time it has inadvertantly taught me that doctors are not our friends. They are liars and thieves. Self proclaimed royalty. Puppets of the pill makers. Pimps on vacation.
And just imagine all those with cancer that they taught would die. But instead got cured by baking soda and other unconventional means. Our bodies are remarkable. But doctors like to say our parts are defective. Talk about a slap in GODs face. I say push those bastards over a cliff and take care of ourselves. There’s your free health insurance.
Was this gentleman even diagnosed with strep? Sounds like he just decided he had it based on symptoms. Glad he had a good outcome without antibiotics, but I’m sure glad for them when I need them.
The best cure for strep throat is prevention – eat lots of berries – raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc. (or make a berry smoothie). I read this in a school nurse article years ago when I was a school nurse. I found it really works!