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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
Great post! I second other readers’ recommendation for oregano oil. Twelve years ago I had recurrent strep — 4 times in 5 months, treated with Erythromycin each time. Strep seemed to take over my life that Winter. At the first twinge of strep coming on a 5th time I gargled and swallowed 3-4 drops of oregano oil in 1/8 cup of juice. I could feel it burn as it coated my throat. It completely aborted the infection, and I haven’t had even the slightest hint of strep in the last decade! It’s truly amazing.
My daughter got sick with Strep just 2 weeks ago. She complained to me about a hurt mouth (she is 3) and we looked and sure enough we saw the white spots… I had actually just gotten done researching Strep a little bit-sadly I didn’t know to come here:(
Anyway, the “concoction” I made was a spoonful of coconut oil with one drop each of: Melelucea/Tea Tree, Lemon, and Thieves essential oils. I fed it to my daughter and the next morning the spots were gone… she did still have congestion and runny nose; a slight fever (99) but that was it.
I did find-if anyone else is interested in this-that she took the concoction better with the coconut oil melted first-but not hot-and then the essential oil drops added. You can melt it easily by putting into a glass and sitting the bottom in hot water for a min or so… Then you just have to add the oils and your child (or you) can just drink it…
Oh and by the way, I only did this because of her age. I was told young kids don’t do as well with Oregano Oil-which is what I would have used-but that the Tea Tree etc… were a lot milder but still had the same effect. I also used Young Living oils-I feel its really important to use a good quality oil especially if taking it internally…
If your daughter had congestion/runny nose, she did NOT have strep in the first place. She had a cold with a viral sore throat.
Jenni I always have a cold and congestion a day before I get strep.
Jenni is Right. Strep does not cause runny nose. Runny nose is a viral infection.
Wow, I wish I had known this 15 yrs ago! While i have had strep a few times as an adult, my now 16 yr old daughter began getting it when she was just an infant. At 2 yrs she was diagnosed as a “carrier” and had her tonsils & adenoids removed. This did nothing to slow down the frequency of her strep infections. Needless to say, she was on antibiotics a LOT! I recall that she missed 20+ days of preK due to strep. While I’ve always leaned slightly towards a homeopathic lifestyle, I was nervous to experiment very much with my children. I was also warned of the problems she could face as an adult if her strep infections weren’t treated immediately. As a matter of fact, my brother in law was diagnosed with a kidney disease that his doctors attributed to untreated strep as a child.
Now at 16, she doesn’t get it as often, maybe 1-2 times in that past 4-5 yrs. I’m not sure I could get her to chew garlic or gargle with ACV. Do you have any other suggestions to help her muscle through her next episode?
Thanks!
We use Premier Research Garlicidin and Nucleotides for sore throats and viruses. They also have an oregano oil that can be used also if needed and is very effective for anything upper respiratory. A couple of other products that boost the immune system is Standard Process Immuneplex and Congaplex. So far has worked really well and is easy to take.
Any suggestions for an 18 month old with a cough? I’m having a hard time just getting her to drink water at this time.
Homemade popsicles? You could probably get fancy and freeze all sorts of stuff into them! Elderberry syrup would not only be perfect, but would make them tasty, too!
She probably needs Vitamin D3. Bluebonnet brand has both a liquid one, and a chewable one that tastes like candy. If she refuses the chewables, when she falls asleep well enough, crack open her lips and just drop several drops into her mouth. It’ll absorb subligually. 🙂
I also make ginger lemonade:
freshly squeezed lemon juice
freshly microplaned (very finely grated) ginger
raw honey
Mix all of them to taste preference. My children ask for it, even when they aren’t sick, but specifically if they are. Try to use all organic ingredients, if possible.
I had strep a number of times as a teenager in France. Didn’t get antibiotics. Had it a few more times in my 20’s. Probably got antibiotics then. Hadn’t had it in at least 15 years until this spring, when I had it in Feb (after my partner got it), then in Mar. Antibiotics both times. My doc said my throat didn’t look particularly red either time and the second time, it didn’t even hurt, but hey the swab test doesn’t lie. Unless you’re a carrier for strep, which apparently I am, having tested positive twice since then when I’m healthy. Sore throat was likely due to something else. This fall I got an excruciating sore throat that lasted well over a week. I was on painkillers for 5 days straight. Didn’t bother going to the doc though, as I knew I’d test positive either way and didn’t want to take antibiotics anyway. It went away on its own, eventually. My partner got strep right after that. Neither kid has ever had strep. I fear that Sarah is making too many generalizations based on her experiences: you can see that mine is similar in places (first exposure not treated, kids never had it despite their parents having it) and totally different in others, but I wouldn’t generalize it out by any means. Important also to note the potential for strep-based complications even with the use of antibiotics: a friend is now suffering horribly with psoriasis and another friend’s sister was on life support twice this winter for strep-related heart failure (wasn’t rheumatic fever tho). It’s not something to be trifled with, but it is something to think carefully about. And if you’re repeatedly diagnosed with strep, see if you’re a carrier.
I had strep and staph at the same time when I was about 5. I must not have been given antibiotics as, at nearly 54, I’ve never had either again since. It surprised me to hear that anyone would have a “yearly case.” Aweful!
so it was never confirmed that he ACTUALLY had strep throat. AS a health care provider I see tons of sore throats daily and most are not strep which means then don’t need antibiotics and will go away with-out (as will strep.) white spots do not confirm strep. kudos to him for sticking it out with the natural remedies. not convinced that this will help him become less likely to get it next year but time will tell.
Hi Barb, I think you have touched on an important point. As with the potential over diagnosis of ‘flu’ that is oftentimes just an illness with flu-like symptoms, I suspect similarly that what is often diagnosed as strep throat is not. The good thing about natural remedies is that regardless of the cause of the sore throat – viral or bacterial – they will likely provide good effect and relief without adverse effects and allow for full and optimal natural recovery for an illness that is self-limiting in the vast majority of cases. When a doctor gives antibiotics on the suspicion of strep throat without lab confirmation (as I saw happen often in my years as a pharmacist), clearly they will only be effective against actual strep (or other bacterial) infection. I would say to everyone, before using antibiotics, please insist that a lab result confirms strep throat first. And maybe not even then. Use the natural remedies described here and in the comments, allow your body to rest and by the time the result is back you’ll probably be well on your way to recovery anyway!
I totally agree Charlotte about waiting for confirmation. I really do not understand why doctors will prescribe an antibiotic before the lab results confirm the diagnosis. I really try to avoid antibiotics after several bad experiences with my oldest son, who became very ill from them. When my daughter was suspected to have a urinary tract infection, her doctor prescribe her antibiotics and told me they would call me with the lab results to confirm in two days, but to go ahead and give her the antibiotics. I waited and they NEVER called. So finally I called them, and guess what? She had NO infection. So the antibiotics were completely unnecessary.
Gargling with Oil of Oregano was a huge thing here. If you have never tried swishing this in your mouth or gargling with it, try a bit in your mouth first to get used to it. No added water; believe me, you will have enough saliva.
Awesome! I am learning every day how to take care if things naturally. I have struggled with strep in the past a lot, one year I had it once a month for 7 months. Thank God I haven’t had it in a few years but if we ever get it again I will be powering through and also trying the hydrogen peroxide. My husband and I just recently had sore throats so the next time that pops up we will gargle some.
My son has what looks like impentigo on his face. Have been treating it with aloe and grapefruit seed extract, with not great results. Was just going to go put honey amd garlic on it when I saw this post…hope it kills it.
My son has a rash on his face too but its does not look like impetigo because there are no puss bubbles. I have used coconut oil applied in the morning and at bedtime and it is healing right up!