Natural Cures for Throat Problems
Sore throat is the night mare of professional singers. Taking only hot water to drink, singers avoid cold beverages and Ice – creams. Their precautions are laudable; because sore throat is a painful, frustrating condition; invariably when your throat is sore, the house is full of guests with whom you can not converse. Silence, then is golden!
Throat is the gateway to the body’s innards. It consists of Pharynx and larynx. The pharynx acts as a passage way for food from the mouth to the oesophagus and as an air passage from the nasal cavity and mouth to the larynx. It also acts as a resonating chamber for the sounds produced in the larynx. Larynx is responsible for production of vocal sounds. It also serves as an air passage, conveying air from pharynx to the lungs. It is situated in front of the neck, above the trachea. Tonsils are a pair of glands situated on each side of the throat i.e. right and left. Adenoids is the collection of lymphatic tissue at the rear of the nose.
Common throat diseases are sore throat (pharyngitis) and tonsillitis.
Phyaryngitis (sore throat) It is the painful inflammation of pharynx commonly due to bacterial or viral infection. It may or may not be associated with “Tonsillitis”. Mainly it is a viral – infection. Just 10% of cases may be due to bacterial or fungal infection or ingestion of chemicals and pollutants.
In viral infections, the throat may be painful but may not look red. There may be a modest swelling of glands. The viruses that cause this kind of sore throat Epstein – Barr virus (may cause fever and glandular fever tonsillitis). The Epstein – Barr virus may cause glandular fever which can be diagnosed by the presence of large number of monocytes in the blood.
Bacterial sore throats are more severe with swollen glands, reddish throat, high fever, muscle and joint pains.
