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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
If left untreated with a severe case it could lead to kidney issues as an adult. My grandfathers kidney disease was linked to his having scarlet fever as a child and resulted in his death at the young age of 56. Antibiotics are needed for these types of infections and the right class/ type of antibiotic. I’m all for natural cures (and many times know they work better than the chemical cures) but remember antibiotics such as penicillin came from natures processes. it’s about moderation.
My five year old had strep last year. We chose antibiotics for him. But did keep everybody else in the house healthy by swallowing one teaspoon of extra virgin coconut oil three times a day. No one else got it not even his sister who regularly shares his drinks and toys. B
Yes, I have a friend who ended up needing a kidney transplant after she let strep go too long and it went systemic. Antibiotic overload is not healthy, but if you only take them when they’re truly necessary, they are a blessing. I consider strep a situation when they are necessary.
I enjoyed this read, thanks for sharing 🙂
This scares me…my 3 year old had scarlet fever & it was terrifying..took being treated 2x…it can affect the heart & is the leading cause why children have to get heart valve replacement. Strep is nothing to play around with IMO. Not to mention it can hurt the kidneys as well…I like natural, but sometimes it’s just tok risky.
One problem with this is that it is tough to keep a 6th grader out of school for 3-7 days to recover naturally.
Awesome. Thank you!
Just was I was looking for! Thank you! I think I may have strep and never want to take antibiotics again as I know what it does to gut flora so I’ll be doing this concoction now! 🙂
I love this Dr. Christopher Strep Throat Remedy that Martin used! I have had success with it as well. It’s great to see someone else write about it!
I love the idea of fighting things naturally first, but I’m not opposed to the appropriate use of antibiotics. You see, I’m sitting here now on a regimen of antibiotics for a strep diagnosis, after trying for days to treat it naturally. I garbled with raw ACV, I take fire cider, drank lots of warm lemon water with raw local honey, took grapefruit seed extract and raw garlic…but after days of the pain waking me all night, I threw in the towel. I’m a stay-at-home momma of three- a very spirited toddler, and two school-aged children who participate in many extracurricular activities, not to mention myself being a school rep, a youth catechist for our faith formation program, a volunteer for our community theater program, a writer for various blogs, a pastoral council member, owner of a new puppy currently undergoing housetraining, and wife to a fantastic fellow who often works late in order for me to stay home with our children. I don’t have the means to lay in bed for a week, and I was becoming so disoriented and sick from the illness, the pain, and sleep deprivation. I don’t have it in me to cancel all activities- a Christmas play my children have been rehearsing for months to perform, a choir concert my daughter has been looking forward to, our holiday program at church….you get the idea. sometimes, it is what it is…
I do occasionally get strep, not because of my relying on antibiotics, but because I grew up in south Texas but now live in NE New York- different strains and less incidence, so I never got it as a child. No exposure. But bacterial resistance isn’t a one time battle as it is with viruses, you need a lot of exposure, and even them it’s no guarantee, as you could just happen to be over tired, stressed out, slacking on your diet a bit…any number of these things could put you in the position when exposed to bacteria you’ve come in contact before and could lead to infection. Many of us may even not ever know that we’ve been exposed and DO fight it off without ever knowing, so resistance isn’t that simple.
Point being that one should, in my opinion, always try to treat themselves naturally, but don’t feel guilty if you’re turning to conventional medications in an appropriate and responsible way. Just load back up on probiotics during and after treatment (I’m currently starting a couple new batches of fermented veggies, and will do several batches of crock-pot yogurt).
Also, from Martin’s story, it sounds like he self-diagnosed strep based on white spots. That’s not a confirmed diagnosis, and I’ve had viral sore throats that have had spots and hurt badly but were confirmed non-strep related, as well as having had confirmed strep without spots. You can still see a doctor and get a more appropriate diagnosis while opting to treat yourself as you see for, but never self-diagnose. Many people confuse strep, tonsillitis, and other viral throat infections, and they’re not one and the same. I know that scarlet fever and rheumatic fever, as well as other bacterial complications ARE uncommon, but they’re not impossible, especially if your run down body isn’t fighting the illness on its own. When you self-diagnose, it does make it more difficult when you need medical intervention and you’ve progressed to the point of serious illness. Find a doctor that you trust and that will respect your decision to treat at home. That isn’t as hard as you think; while I’m in fully agreement that the Rx industry heavily influences many doctors, it isn’t the same for them all. I live in a smaller town and have just such a doc AND pediatrician for my children, as well as knowing a doctor who works in the ER in our area hospital who also has his own holistic care clinic…and he’s a MD! It’s not impossible, and it’s isn’t all or nothing, so be wise in finding that middle ground.
God bless!
Thanks for the informative reply Sarah. I like how it didn’t just make blanket statements but was sincere with practical details. Yes, the circumstances happening around us do have to help determine what steps we should take. For example, I like fixing my car when something goes wrong, but if I don’t have the time it is better to take it to a mechanic than to just do nothing (which could leave me up the road without a car! 😉 )! And being a stay at home mother is more important to your children than whether or not to take antibiotics (though it is a balance because it can effect how long we are around for them). There are many more important questions in life than in the medical industry…such as why did God create us and and who are we living for?