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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
What if it’s a child who showed no symptoms except bad death and a major change in attitude (other wise known as PANDAS). Supposibly this kind could have major long term effects if not treated?
I had strep a few months ago and read your article. Thought I’d power through and use your remedies. It went away which it will do in 3-7 days with or without treatment. Well, I now have it again. Gonna power through it because I can’t afford the doctor right now not because I believe powering through it will help me not get it again. Obviously I probably will.
To Loni Lichfield, regarding pregnancy and the ACV, garlic, etc: All the ingredients given here (ACV, garlic, cayenne pepper, raw honey) are fine for use during pregnancy. You may want to include some or all of these things in your daily diet to help support your body from getting sick in the first place.
When we are pregnant, our immune systems are somewhat suppressed to prevent the body from attacking the foetus as a foreign body. Therefore we are more susceptible to becoming ill. Taking raw honey and eating plenty of garlic and the other ingredients mentioned here are helpful in supporting your immune system. None of the foods mentioned here are dangerous during pregnancy at all. There are certain medicinal roots/herbs that should be avoided, but garlic and honey and cider vinegar are all great. Adding in some ginger can also help with any nausea. HOWEVER! If you are not feeling much better within a couple days, go see your doctor! As the immune system is down, these remedies may not work as well as usual, and may not be as effective. There are several types of antibiotics that are safe for use during pregnancy, your MD will know what to give you, if necessary. Good luck!
*FYI, Honey should NEVER be given to infants under 1 year old, it can cause Botulism poisoning which can be deadly to infants. Botulism cannot be heated/cooked/frozen to destroy it, it is not viral or bacterial. Honey is NOT safe for infants under one year old, their immune systems are not developed enough to fight off botulism, even if breastfed*
I’m going to try this on my chickens! Actually I already started giving them a combination of honey, vinegar and chili pepper but now I’m going to add garlic and see what transpires.
I did the apple cider vinager and garlic regimen over 25 years ago after getting bad strep each year…. It works….haven’t had it in over 25 years even when my kids have had it. My kids are now 16 and 19 and the next time they get sick, I will make sure they fight the bacteria off and develop immunities for life too!
Hi!I currently have contracted strep throat but I haven’t experienced excruciating pain like the majority of people on here…it was only like that for a day.I do have tons of white spots in the back of my throat not just 3 or 4 and a high fever.I really need to be in school on Monday so I was wondering about how long is someone contagious?
Hi I am currently fighting strep throat now this is a painful sickness. I have not ate or drunk anything everything hurts. The doctor gave me this big old pills to swallow why and my throat is flamed and hurting. I had to go back today to get a shot. the pain was just unbearable.I was miserable I still have pain just waiting on meds to kick in. I bought the garlic, cayenne, cinnamon but I hurt to bad to use them. I hope all get better soon. This is a hard sickness to deal with.
I 100% agree with Tchatlain about the UTI’s/bladder issues, nothing helps with the pain & discomfort like 8 ounces of warm water and a 1/4 cup baking soda, especially for the UTI’s!!
I have an older lady friend who puts a bit of baking soda in warm water and drinks it, then waits a few minutes before she consumes the garlic/honey/cayenne mixture. She says it helps to reduce/eliminate her stomach discomfort from the concoction (which she swears by and also uses when she feels a bladder/uti infection that she is prone to.
Hi! I just want to know how many total cloves of garlic in a day you can take for tonsillitis,what’s the therapeutic number of cloves. I have staphylococcus aureus,abscess in my tonsils for 2months now despite 3antibiotics,now I’m trying the garlic and ACV,hope it will helps thanks
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD recommends consuming a whole HEAD of garlic a day for therapeutic purposes (not just a clove!). Place the crushed garlic clove in a drizzle of olive oil and let sit for 30 minutes, then strain and eat. Do this as often as necessary to consume an entire head per day until infection resolves (it should be only a day or two!). Beware, you will probably need to sleep in the guest room as the garlic will be coming out of your pores for a bit.