Symptoms and Treatment For Sore Throats

Getting a sore throat during the autumn or winter is common. They can normally be treated with over-the-counter medicines, and they get better within around a week.

What are the symptoms of a sore throat?

If you’re developing a sore throat, then the first thing you might feel is pain when you swallow. This can then lead to a cough and swollen glands in your neck.

A sore throat might make it difficult to eat and drink because of the pain when you swallow and that’s why you should treat a sore throat as soon as you feel any symptoms coming. Visit your pharmacy and get some paracetamol or Ibuprofen to relieve the pain and the inflammation.

If you don’t want to take paracetamol or Ibuprofen, then you can use a throat spray or you can suck lozenges. The ingredients in a throat spray or lozenges may contain an anaesthetic, an antiseptic, and an anti-inflammatory. None of these treatments require a prescription.

How do you get a sore throat?

Sore throats are usually caused by a virus and often come together with a cold or flu. You can get a sore throat caused by Laryngitis.

Laryngitis occurs when the vocal cords or your voice box gets swollen and irritated. It can come on suddenly and last about 2 or 3 weeks.

The symptoms of laryngitis are.

• Losing your voice or having a hose or croaky voice
• A cough and having to clear your throat a lot
• A sore throat

You may also get a slight temperature and find that you are off your food. You will get better as long as you drink plenty of fluids, gargle with warm salted water and try not to speak. Smoking and too much caffeine are irritants and will make your throat worse.

Tonsillitis is another condition that can make your throat sore. If you have tonsils, they can become swollen and red.

The symptoms of tonsilitis are:

• Pain on swallowing
• Sore throat
• Cough
• Possible earache
• Temperature
• Headache

You may also feel lumps on your neck which are swollen glands. Tonsilitis will last 3 or 4 days but it will go away if you treat it at home by taking an over-the-counter medicine for the pain and gargle with warm salted water. Drink plenty of liquids, you’ll find that cool drinks soothe your throat more than cold or hot drinks.

A less common cause of a sore throat is Glandular Fever which you will get only once in your lifetime. The symptoms can last for weeks, and you may feel very tired.

If your sore throat is more painful than normal, you have a high temperature and swelling of the glands in your neck then it is best to visit your GP who will give you a blood test to confirm that’s what you have.

Like all viral throat infections, your doctor won’t treat you with antibiotics because they don’t work with a viral infection.

The only time you will be given antibiotics to treat a throat complaint is if you have strep throat which is caused by bacteria. A strep A infection will cause flu-like symptoms along with a sore throat, pain, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting.

If you develop a cough or a tickly throat visit us a VSM Pharmacy as soon as you get your first symptoms so that painkillers and anti-inflammatories can start to work quickly.