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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
Hi Sarah. I came across your website after desperately searching for a way to stop giving my 3 year old antibiotics. This is her third time getting strep within 3 months! My NP told me she gave me the strongest a antibiotic in its class, and now again.. she tested positive!!???? I once swabbed her and got a negative so I know she’s not a carrier. I would like to try to “beat it” naturally but there’s no way my 3 year old will go near garlic or gargle with ACV. Are there any child friendly remedies? Again, I’m keeping a very close eye on her. Right now she’s happy with a mild fever but as soon as her fevers spikes or she gets that “sick look” I’ll probably cave and just give her antibiotics..
Thanks so much for your post! I’m really trying to reduce my use of antibiotics.
Do you recommend throwing away your toothbrush after first signs and then again after it clears up to reduce contaminating yourself again? Or does it not really matter?
I don’t think you need to throw away your toothbrush, but sterilizing it with hydrogen peroxide would be a very good idea.
The day before yesterday I had a really bad fever. And my entire body was aching. While I had a severe headache. I took ibprofren throughout the entire day. Then yesterday when I woke up my fever went away. Does that mean i am no longer contagious? Also I have all the symptoms but I am coughing and have mucus build up. With a sinus infection. I didn’t go to the doctors yet because I’m hoping that I don’t have strep throat. Although odds are I do. I figured that I only have a sinus infection because my body isn’t aching anymore. I took ibprofen. Fever medicine. I drank tea. Gargled with salt water. All this helped. Until now. I woke up and my throat was back to hurting and my throat and neck is sore. I know I can get through this on my own because I am very stubborn. But my main concern is if I am contagious because I am living in a dorm room with my roommate and I don’t want to pass this onto het
Thank you so much!
Thank you. How many days should I be doing it? So I do it right this time. I don’t have any health issues and do feel strong enough to go again. I may have stopped it too quickly since the white spots went away so quick and I felt maybe the garlic concoction was starting to get hard to eat because of my stomach. I was also taking a serum with echinacea in it. Not sure if that’s good or bad but it seemed to help. I do work in a daycare and one of the children did have strep and I was around her after I started getting better.
You know how they say finish the round of antibiotics even after you get better? Same thing with natural antibiotics … what I do is to keep going for 2-3 days after symptoms subside to be sure you nail it completely.
Hi Sarah
I have dealt with strep throat year after year. After getting it for a third time within a year I decided to try your methods. I actually couldn’t believe it worked. I was amazed. It’s been 8 days since It started and it healed pretty quickly. Today i woke up with the same tickle in my throat and that achy feeling when it started. I’m worried it is coming back or I didn’t completely fight it off. Any thoughts on this and what I should do?
It’s up to you. If you have any autoimmunity issues, I would suggest going to the doctor and just going on meds. However, if you feel that you are healthy and strong, try the remedy again as perhaps you stopped it too quickly after getting relief the last time.
I am unable to take any antibiotics .. this has been the case for over 3 years now. When I got strep 3 years ago I found your information and was able to kick it, it took over a week but I didn’t get it again .. until 2 days ago. I am back on your regimen and have added oil of oregano in coconut oil, gargled 3 times a day to the treatment. The pain is significantly reduced today and continuing to improve in the swelling too. When I had the reaction over 3 years ago to the last antibiotic I could take .. and then got strep, I was very scared but being able to treat it naturally has eased all my worries and I think its great to not have the side effects from the treatment. Thank you for sharing your journey and treatment plan.
I am 10 right now and have strep throat for the first time ever. The first day of the diagnose was bad enough, now i have doubled how I used to feel after taking medicine. I don’t know what is wrong, but I have now tried some of these tips and am now getting better. I still don’t feel okay and am laying down. Do you know any way other than these tips how I can get rid of strep throat, because when i swallow it feels like I am swallowing mini marbles. If you know any other usefull tips plese reply and say.
When I had strep throat at 15, I drank lots of liquid foods (milkshakes) which wasn’t the best choice because of all that sugar. But it really soothed my throat. Maybe you could try some nice cold smoothies and see if that give you some relief!
I’m literally on the last days of healing my strep with herbs and supplements. On Saturday, the tickle and fever started and by Sunday I knew it was strep. My glands were like golf balls and throat was on fire. I should also say that I’m three weeks postpartum and breastfeeding and I *really* didn’t want to introduce antibiotics to my baby and mess with her gut flora this early in the game so I consulted my midwife and an herbalist friend. She suggested an aggressive treatment with goldenseal tincture (dosing every two hours, even through the night), colloidal silver, elderberry, zinc, and vitamin C (I also did bone broth, garlic, etc). Monday I went to the doctor to confirm the diagnosis (it was confirmed). I tried to discuss the possibility of continuing with the herbs for another day or two to see if there is improvement, and if not, moving forward with antibiotics. The doc basically ignored my idea and told me “you’re starting the antibiotics if the test is positive.” I should say at this point that I am squarely in the middle when it comes to western medicine and “complementary/alternative “ therapies. I don’t vilify western medicine other than to acknowledge that the system is broken in many ways (that’s why I’ve had two home births). Anyway, I continued with the herbs, the fever was low grade by Monday night and gone by Tuesday morning. My throat continued to become less painful. Today is Thursday and my glands are almost back to normal, no pain in my throat. I was very vigilant about this treatment and had there been no sign of improvement the day after visiting the doctor I would have started the antibiotics. I am so thrilled that this worked for me. And hopefully I’ve given my baby some good antibodies through this process! I’d be cautious to treat children as the complications from strep can be more severe for them. And frankly I’m not sure how they would take goldenseal (it’s absolutely horrendous tasting). I had chronic UTIs throughout my life so I have been on way too many antibiotics (Now I use D Mannose for UTIs and get them far less frequently). There ARE alternatives if you consult trained pros. Happy healing!
Don’t forget to get a new toothbrush after you get over strep!