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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
My mother got strep, it did not clear her body and did result in rheumatic fever and a series of painful weekly injections and months of bed rest. Self-diagnosing and self-medicating comes with some risks. People have treated themselves successfully and naturally for centuries. Many also died. Use wisdom and common sense, and remember that antibiotics are useful for serious illnesses like strep.
three weeks ago I suddenly developed the most painful sore throat i’ve ever had. swallowing was so painful, it actually made me cry. I could not even talk. this was on a saturday, and by monday the pain hadn’t lessened at all so I went to the doctor. my rapid strep test came back negative, but the doctor said based on my symptoms and the degree of pain I was experiencing it was very likely I had one of the other kinds of strep, and so he prescribed me antibiotics. I am usually quite wary of taking them unless I absolutely MUST, but I was in so much pain I was really desperate for some relief. two days later he called to confirm that I did indeed have strep – he explained that the kind of strep they test for in the rapid test is the dangerous one that can spread to your heart, kidneys, etc., but the other forms are more benign. so now I am feeling really regretful that I took antibiotics (clindamycin, 3x a day for nine days 🙁 ) and am eating a lot of miso, homemade sauerkraut, and am on the market for a good probiotic…can anyone recommend one?
Lou, I did not know that about the strains that test positive on the rapid test, so I’m glad I read your comment. I commented below- I have strep and decided to take the dreaded antibiotics AFTER a positive rapid test and having not responded to home treatment. My case very well COULD have even one of the more uncommon dangerous cases left untreated! My comments were about finding a balance between home treatment and medical intervention, but ALWAYS getting an actual medical diagnosis!
Anyway, thatnks for helping me to feel better in my choice, and I hope you’re on the mend. Check out Mommypotamus.com, she has lots of info on good natural probiotic options in addition to veggies.
I have NEVER had strep throat. Well that is until this past summer. Since I have had if FOUR times. Currently on my fourth which started yesterday (will be going to doctor today). I am not one to take medication usually I ride things out.
I however would NEVER recommend that someone ride out strep throat. First time around thought it was a common cold. That was until a week later when I still couldn’t swallow much of anything. And even water was painful. I have since had damage to my ear on the side which the strep seems to attack.
I would not recommend to anyone to ride it out. That’s just dangerous.
I had it a couple of years ago. My throat started to swell up and close and my voice sounded like Daffy Duck. I ended up in the ER. If I had been alone I might have died of asphyxiation.
This article, plus the comments that follow, really drive home to me that we need to be like other Western, first-world countries, and license homeopaths and naturopaths. They should be part of the acknowledged, “legitimate” medical community, as they are in Germany and other countries. Not knowing when the risks of antibiotics are more or less than the risks of the potential infection seems to me like taking a stab in the dark, which is incredibly scary when one’s children are involved. Furthermore, how are we to know about things like dosage and duration of treatment, and when to give up, for natural remedies like goldenseal, if we have not had training. We mothers can not be expected to be experts on EVERYTHING, especially when we have more than one or two kids.
I agree. We should also license wizards and witches too since homeopathy and naturopathy are based on magical thinking not science or evidence based medicine. You don’t need to be an expert on everything. That’s what people who spend decades in medical school and practice are for.
When my oldest granddaughter was about 5, I bought her one of those big all day suckers. She loved it and wanted it to last. She got strep throat and was on antibiotics. She got better but got sick again and again and again. I was walking into their kitchen and saw the sucker and I knew that she was reinfecting herself. I told her mother and it was thrown away…there went the source.
I’m with Roo, this post is horribly irresponsible. Rhuematic fever STILL happens in this country and causes permanent disability and death. I’ve worked in inner city hospitals and saw children with serious heart problems that started with untreated strep. Before antibiotics, people routinely died or were crippled for life from “morbid sore throat, rheumatic and scarlet fevers, no matter how natural and real their diet was and how healthy they were.
The reports of people above who “cured” their “strep” with home remedies never went to the doctor to confirm strep in the first place. Viral infections can cause the same symptoms, so it’s likely that these people would have gotten better over time in any case. It does not mean their home remedies “cured” their “strep”. A robust immune system may be able to beat out strep, but I wouldn’t want to rely on hope, when a wrong guess could seriously damage my heart.
I’m no fan of antibiotics. But for goodness sake, if you have symptoms, have a strep test and find out if it’s even strep, and then what strain before you go avoiding antibiotics! Antibiotics, used APPROPRIATELY are not the problem.
We use goldenseal and oregano capsules. We also gargle with: 8oz water as hot as you can stand, 1TB apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Some of my children prefer to sip on it rather than gargle with it.
I wish I knew more about natural remedies when I was a teenager, I’ve had antibiotics one too many times and my mom didn’t know any better. My kids have it pretty well now, none of them ever had antibiotics and they like garlic 🙂
While this article sounds great – I’d strongly recommend proceeding with caution before just going along with what they suggest. I agree that we run to antibiotics too quickly – but completely avoiding them isn’t always the answer either. Case in point: my own family history. My mom had strep throat when she was a kid, and it did not get treated. She soon developed rheumatic fever, which is a serious disease that attacks the heart, brain, joints & skin. She wasn’t able to participate in sports after that, or do anything that would strain her heart. She missed school for at least a year and had to try to keep up with the work at home.
My sister contracted rhuematic fever as a child. She was 5 years old and as healthy as we were before she got strep throat. My parents didnt take us to the doctor unless we were very ill. They felt very guilty for years after she was diagnosed. She still has medical issues with her heart from it and she is 50 now. It does happen.