Sore throat remedies for pregnant women
My wife has been struggling with a cold that has left her feeling miserable. She rarely gets sick, however the immune system of pregnant women is not quite as strong during the gestational period. Another downside to colds during pregnancy is the limitation on medicines and remedies that she may take without potentially affecting the baby. We’re already both big on a relatively natural approach to things and not over medicating, and her throat was particularly sore this morning, so I wanted to find some other way to help her out.
I always gargled warm salt water when I was a kid, but never new the logic behind it. I just thought my mother liked to torture me, and I would in turn pass that along to my wife. I began searching around for a little more definition of why gargling salt water supposedly helps sore throats and discovered that gargling saltwater:
“will increase the blood supply to the area by washing away mucus and dilating capillaries, thereby enabling better circulation of infection-fighting antibodies.”
In the process I found a few twists on this perennial homeopathic remedy, including the addition of a half teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Others suggested the addition of some lemon, presumably to reduce mucous at the site.
I figured I’d subject my wife to the same torture that I endured as a child and ended up going with a combination of the salt, pepper and lemon in a warm, 10 oz glass of water. She cursed me between gargles because it tasted so bad, but over the course of the morning began to realize an improvement in her scratchy throat.
It’s not an instantaneous fix and should be continued for a couple of days, but so far the results seem better than incidental. Looks like this may be one of the parenting tools I borrow from my parents arsenal to use for my child.
Tags: cayenne_pepper, colds_during_pregnancy, gestational_period, homeopathic_remedy, pregnant_women, salt_pepperRelated Stories
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2 opinions for Sore throat remedies for pregnant women
Sore throat remedies for pregnant women, part deux
Sep 25, 2007 at 10:45 pm
[…] as how my original concoction of salt, pepper and lemon made my wife want to puke, we decided to revisit homeopathic cures for her scratchy, irritated […]
Bad Dad
Sep 27, 2007 at 10:23 am
I grew up with the warm water and salt remedy.
But for some weird reason in recent years, my mother keeps suggesting whiskey (don’t swallow) with honey or lemon. She’s not at all a drinker (no beer, wine, nothing), so I find it funny that she keeps bringing this one up to me - as recently as this summer to fight off a cold.
I certainly can’t go to the office smelling of whiskey gargle. Would make thinks interesting, but seems like a career limiting move.
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