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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
I appreciate all your advice on how to possibly become immune to strep throat. When I eat out, I have to wipe the silverware down. I tend to get a strep throat with in an hour or two of eating out. I gargle with warm salt water every couple of hours when I feel a soar throat coming on and I see white spots at the back of my throat. It would be great if I could get past this and not be so prone to strep throat. Gargling with warm salt water does the trick but I keep getting strep if I’m not careful.
Don’t forget to change his toothbrush once it has cleared up. I went through the same thing with my daughter once when she repeatly got strep over and over for several weeks and it wasn’t until I changed her toothbrush after it cleared up that it stopped coming back. Some doctors will tell you that and some don’t.
How can I help my 3.5 year old who has gotten strep throat now 6 times in a row? The doctor puts him on antibiotics and he gets better, to only get it again 5 days later. I don’t know what else to do anymore. He obviously can’t do these remedies as they are too strong for a 3.5 year old and he won’t esr garlic etc and he doesn’t know how to gargle. Please advise as to what home remedies I can do. He’s suffering again with a high fever for 2 days and he constantly says his throat and belly hurt. Please help!
I would recommend that you reach out to a functional physician in your area that can advise on this situation. Conventional doctors treat the throat like it is separate from the rest of the body, but a functional doctor will look at the whole child and figure out why this recurrence of strep keeps happening.
I have suffered through Strep with out and with antibiotics many times throughout my life as a child, teenager, and adult. Just because you suffer through it on your own does not make you immune. Please if your roommate, family, friends, etc. have strep keep your distance! You just never know.
Wow! So if you allowed it to get that far how were you able to swallow much less even eat!?? My tonsils have been swolen for about 2 days now and is super painful just to swallow my own spit. It just seems a little crazy to allow something to go this far without seeing ER or Doc. Also you said you didn’t know why you did not heal…did you try any of the home remedies?? There are certain foods which boost your immune system, also had you ever taken antibodies prior in childhood or your teens? This can weekend your system as well.
I mean kicking it alone without medication sounds super heroic and all but when I tried to do that I ended up in the hospital on super antibiotics due to an abscess that developed. So yeah…
Just so you know the people coming here are probably in lots of pain and don’t wanna hear your life story before reading the remedies. Either way thanks though.
I need help..had sore throat and ear and ulcer on tongue for 31st and can’t afford time off work What can I do?
Still ppl need to be careful and even if they don’t use antibiotics should at least see a doctor…when I was 21 I never use to go to doctors thought I could fight anything in my own, I got strep throat I was busy working and going to school so I figured it would go away on its own like everything else…a month later it was still there getting worse, I woke up one morning and having trouble breathing, my throat was closing shut because of the swelling, they got me into the ER gave me steroids and told me I should have came in way before it had gotten so bad. They had to inject this stuff in my veins and give me MRI to see around my tonsils to see how big they were, then they sent me to an ears nose throats specialist and drained my tonsils with a big needle they then sent me home with liquid pain meds and a couple different antibiotics. It ended up not getting better and getting much bigger worse they told me they thought I waited too long and infection had taken hold so bad it wasn’t responding to treatment and they told me they could drain my throat weekly or it would close up and possibly kill me if I tried to just use meds to treat it or just get me into surgery, I agreed to surgery by end of second week they gave me surgery tonsillectomy. By this post I had the strep over a month and a half with it only getting worse. They said I should have came in sooner. I was 21, 104 lbs super healthy and active, before that I thought I could fight any illness without any help or meds, I have no idea why it didn’t go away on its own and why it almost killed me and when I did get meds it only got worse, but after that I always consulted with a doctor I didn’t want anything to get to that point ever again.
Hi Sarah, thank you for this awesome information. What do you think about dosage amount for children?
I would recommend reaching out to a trusted holistic physician about that.