How to Cure a Sore Throat

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 174, 16 October 1886, Page 6 (Supplement)

How to Cure a Sore Throat

Locally, steam inhalations are important— a jug ot hot water with a towel wrapped round the top of it to form a cone for the mouth and nostrils is a simple and ready means of obtaining this. Ten drops of /carbolic acid added to the pint of hot water, venders it an antiseptic inhalation. Hot fomentations may be applied to the throat externally. A chlorate ot polish lozenge may be sacked occasionally, or half a te.ispoonful of borax honey may be allowed to di-polve slowly in the mouth, and then be swallowed. Gargles are very beuencial when they can be used. A tea, of alum in a tumblerful of water makes an e\cellent gargle. An agreeah c gaigle is made of a taaspoonful ot chloiate of potash, dissolved in a tumble if ul 01 Avaler with a tabie^joonful of honey added. Of comve, j,a!gle.s are not intended to be swallowed. In exiles whore there stems a teiuKncv to ■suffocation, andwheiethesymptom^a. every urgent, a doctor should be called m without delay. Ulcerarion ol the throat is ri common t esu lt ot either acute or chronic infian.mat.ion. There aie several kindo of ulcei? of the throat some innocent and i?li<_ht and others extremely dangeions. In diphtheria, starlet ie\er, &o'., the throat symptoms are well marked. But ulceration ot the throat may sometimes Rave no maiked symptoms, and so the patient may be unaware of it. Uenerally, however, there is some uneasiness, especially in swallowing. The voice, too. suffers, and is often much altei'ed. The health in these cases is often very feeble. The breath is offensive. Treatment' should be similar to thai described above, and great care should be £iven to the general health. Good food and every other measure for keeping up the heal h should be attended to. If simple remedies 'Jo not speedily effect a cure, then a doctor should be consulted, for many ulcerationa ot the throat are only amenable to medical treatment. Chronic diseases of the throat arc produced by certain morbid conditions becoming stationary, or at least liable to recur under very slight provocation. In some there exists a sense of uneasiness md soreness, and on examination the throat looks led and inflamed, and has a -oughened appearance. Excessive smoking, drin lung, or straining of the voice are causes which may produce this result. Sometimes the uvula becomes elongated, and then it acts as an irritant, and becomes a -great source of discomfort. A surgeon can afford ready relief by snipping off tue avula. As a rule, in these conditions, there s a lot of sticky secretion about the throat. Hie tonsils may be chronically enlarged. Then the slightest cold .causes them to increase still further in size. The best cure for this is the surgeon's knife. The sooner part of the tonsils are excised the better for the child's health and comfort. < If long neglected, 'the senses of smell and hearing may .become somewhat impaired. sA •form of malady- called "Clergyman's sore throat,''' is supposed.. to result from, excessive use of the voice. It resulted rather from /improper- -use < of 'the voice, which is overstrained., or.. o employed in unnatural bones*- If.ta* person, employs only, natural tones, he < may *do so almost indefinitely , without any bada'esults. But if Jie shouts, ,ov intonfes,, /6r 4 speaks, in an affected.,. or . toaahner, irritable , fatigue , of ( ,the * , throat ,is> sure to ensue. ,A predisposition bo sorethroat may be overcome, by freely sponging' the/ neck- with, cold water ©very morning, and ; takipg eare;.not to talk/orjrawn immediately on' leaving a heated atmosphere for the cold night air.