Soothe Your Sore Throat Naturally with Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne

Posted by Cathy (Atlanta, GA) on 04/16/2009
★★★★★

I want to thank everyone who provided information about the cayenne pepper treatment for a severe sore throat. I've got an acute bacterial infection, which has spread to my eye and my throat. As I'm on antibiotics, I did not want to use any pharmaceutical cold rememdies, but my throat has literally felt as if hot coals were stacked inside it. I could not sleep, could not eat, and was having more & more trouble swallowing. I found the earth clinic site; carefully read all the "sore throat" posts, and decided to try the cayenne pepper mixed with pulpy orange juice. I put 1/8 teaspoon into a 10 ounce glass; mixed it up well, and drank the whole glass. I'm not sure what the healing properties of cayenne pepper are, but I can tell you I already feel some relief. The pulpy orange juice apparently dilutes the cayenne pepper, and I had no pain or burning while drinking it. I plan to drink some more later on today, and am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks so much.

Cayenne

Posted by Alex (Chico, CA) on 04/14/2009
★★★★★

Like Magic! I did two (light) shakes of cayenne in a cup and a half of water with either a tablespoon to two tablespoons of lemon juice or tangerine juice and a tablespoon of honey mixed in warm water. (important to mix because the cayenne will float to the top and give you extra spicy gargle if you don't mix) Gargled every 15 minutes for about a four hour period. A couple times I alternated with 1/2 Hydrogen Peroxide 1/2 water gargle or just straight water when the heat from the cayenne was too much. Put four shakes of cayenne in the chili I had for dinner. Got up in the middle of the night and gargled once with the hydrogen peroxide and water mix and took a ibuprofen because I was still having pain. When I woke up three hours later -- the lump in my throat had disappeared and I was spitting up junk. Have been feeling great ever since! I am a cayenne fan thanks to your posting!! Thanks for saving me! I got to enjoy the last day of my vacation(finally!).

Cayenne

Posted by Justin (Pittsburgh, PA/USA) on 04/11/2009
★★★★★

Crazy Pepper gargle works...at least, for now! I'm not a measuring type of guy so I'm not sure how much of each but here's how it looked to me: just took a ceramic coffee cup, about a 1/2 ounce lemon juice, 1/2 ounce water, teaspoon honey, and covered the top with crushed red pepper. I microwaved it for 30 seconds, stirred, gargled and swallowed. I was able to get down about 3 gulps before I started sweating! My stomach feels like I just ate a bunch of hot wings, but my throat feels better.

Cayenne

Posted by Krista (Merced, CA) on 04/07/2009
★★★★☆

I have to admit, I was skeptical like a lot of peoples testimonies that I read were. I have acid reflux and I get colds quite often due to a low immune system. When I get bad colds, I get really bad sore throats. Today I have had a sore throat for two days straight, and when I googled natural remedies for a sore throat, this site came up. I read some testimonies that seemed scary but most were positive so I tried it. Keep in mind, spicy foods do NOT agree with me and I have a weak tolerance for it. But I used the 2 tbsp of honey, about a 3 second squeeze of the "real lemon" juice, and 5-6 shakes of cayenne pepper and heated it for 20 seconds and gargled it three times. I tested the taste with my finger first to make sure I could handle it and it was fine, so I gargled it. The cayenne was not too hot for me, but the honey was a bit sweet for my taste. My sore throat isn't gone, but it does feel a little better. I probably didn't do it long enough due to my gag reflex I don't tolerate gargling well, so tomorrow I'm going to try 1/8 teaspoon in my broth soup and see how it does if it still hurts tomorrow. Thanks for whoever first posted this, I will definitely recommend this to whoever has a sore throat.

Cayenne

Posted by Travis (South Jordan, Utah) on 03/30/2009
★★★★★

I am manly, right? So I decided to use two tablespoons of cayenne pepper with 1/4 cup of warm water. The first gargle was ok, the second was horrible. I actually coughed it up through my nose. That was a miracle cure, because my sinuses immediately cleared out from having them blasted with pepper. My throat feels a lot better too.

Cayenne

Posted by Brittney (Vanceboro, North Carolina) on 03/17/2009
★★★★★

So I googled how to cure sore throats and I came upon this website. I read a few negative comments about the Cayenne Pepper, so at first I was somewhat scared to try it. But trying almost everything, I decided to give it a try. I used the 2tbsp of honey, 2tbsp of lemon juice, and exactly 1/4 tsp of Crushed Red Pepper, I believe Cayenne Pepper and Red Pepper are the exact same thing. I microwaved it for 15 seconds, stirred it up, and I gargled for about 15-20 seconds twice. I swallowed a generous amount, it was very spicy but I was able to handle it. It had a spicy aftertaste in my mouth and throat so I drank Kool-Aid and it took the spicyness away. And I was very happy with the results, it took a lot of the pain away, it still hurts but it's very, very mild but not as discomforting as it was before. If it helps any, instead of using lemon juice from the bottle, I used a lemon, cut it in half and squeezed out all the juice, since the lemon is much fresher than lemon juice in the bottle. But I will definetly keep using this whenever I get a sore throat and I'll spread the word of it's wonders.

Cayenne

Posted by Elano (Southern, Ca) on 07/26/2010

Be careful with crushed red pepper, it's not the same as cayenne. You will find out that red peppers are just as hot coming out as they were when you drank them in your concoction. . Cayenne does not burn your tissues during b.m.'s.

Cayenne

Posted by Blanche (New Iberia, La. Usa) on 07/27/2010

Well I don't know about California, but in Louisiana, crushed red pepper and ground cayenne pepper are one and the same. There is a lot of it grown and packaged here.

Cayenne

Posted by Rob (South Jordan, Utah) on 03/13/2009
★★★★★

I had a severe sore throat that Started Monday night. I took the maximum amount of advil over two days thinking it would go away, however, it kept getting worse. I was concerned that it had turned into strep. I started to gargle 1/8 of a teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper every 15 minutes for the first couple of hours about 5PM. I then gargled about every half hour until I went to bed. Last night was the first night in several nights that I didn't wake up because of pain. When I woke up this morning, I still had a slight amount of pain but it has continued to improve through today. By noon the pain was so minimal, I didn't notice it unless I stopped to think about it. Thanks for listing this online!

Cayenne

Posted by Marilyn (Arroyo Grande, CA) on 03/07/2009
★★★★★

I had such a sore throat and was so miserable so in desperation tried the 2 tbsp honey and 2 tbsp lemon juice with a fair amount of cayenne pepper sprinkled in and microwaved 20 seconds and after drinking the first one I feel so much better that I am a cayenne pepper believer.

Cayenne

Posted by Shelley (Sacramento, CA USA) on 03/03/2009
★☆☆☆☆

NAY....*sigh* I'm disappointed...after using the suggested (1/8 tsp.in water) cayenne pepper remedy, 4-5 times over 24 hrs. leaving my throat feeling like I'd put...umm..well, cayanne papper on it...I've had to come up with ways to stop the burning...ice, ice cream, OTC pain reliever. No relief at all... After researching the pain reducing properties of cayenne...it was rather perversely comical as I winced in burning pain during and after gargling. After all, my throat was raw and I was putting pepper on it!

Cayenne

Posted by Erin (Dallas, TX) on 03/01/2009
★★★★★

I have been sick with a virus [been to the doctor] - - just a virus. After a little over a week all but the lingering sore throat have passed. Nothing was working, so tonight I found this site, read the cayenne pepper remedies and thought it couldn't make it worse. I followed the recommendation to mix it with orange juice. I mixed 1/8 tsp with 8 oz of orange juice and drank it slowly. Within 15 minutes my throat felt better than it has in days. Thank you! I will actually get some sleep now. :-)

Cayenne

Posted by Jackie (Toronto, Ontario) on 02/26/2009
★★★★★

Well, it's coming up to midnight. Can't sleep, of course. Incredible pain on the left side of my throat.Swollen glands.Tongue having trouble pushing even liquids down. What do you do when you can't sleep? Well, surf the net, of course! Found this lovely site. Am trying the Cayenne pepper with honey and warm water suggestion. Am only 3/4 down but there already is some improvement. i may sleep tonight! By the way, how is it that everybody has apple cider vinegar on hand? I only have malt and balsamic in my cupboard!I suppose that won't do? Since I'm up I could go to the 24 hour quikkie mart!

Cayenne

Posted by Lori (Alvin, TX) on 03/05/2009 3 posts
★★★★★

You won't find the apple cider vinegar with Mother's in it at the quickie mart. I had to get it in the organic section of the grocery store.

As far as the cayenne pepper remedy, my husband was diagnosed with strep throat right before Christmas and before filling the very expensive prescription for antibiotics, I suggested that he try this remedy. It worked! He felt relief the first day and was completely well by the 4th day. My throat started getting sore and I just sprinkled cayenne on everything I ate for a couple of days until it went away. I highly recommend this natual remedy.

Cayenne

Posted by Cassie (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) on 02/23/2009
★★★★★

I gurgled cayenne pepper in warm water just one time for a recently developed sore throat. It feels completely better, and also cleared out my sinuses a bit which were a little clogged. I think I may have diverted what could have been a much worse cold.

Cayenne

Posted by Travis (Concord, MI/United States) on 02/16/2009
★★★★★

I gargled the cayanne pepper for about ten seconds and the pain from my soar throat is gone im gonna keep doing it until its completely gone.

Cayenne

Posted by Nicole (Manitowoc, Wi) on 02/13/2009

I was ready to take my 12 yr old daughter to the doctor for a horrible sore throat. She and I decided that we would try a few of the remedies that are listed on this site. First experiment was hot water, cayenne pepper and ACV. Tasted yucky to her, not so bad to me. Gargled, spat, rumbled about how aweful it tasted, then giggles about how it burned...mostly from me! :) We tried this a few times, and decided that it worked well at making her nose runny...I tried to tell her not to put it in her nose (kidding of course) but perhaps we didn't wait long enough for it to effect the sore throat. Experiment #2- warm pickle juice and cayenne...she thought it tasted great, no way that I was going to try this one! Gargled, spat, slowly swallowed, and out of fun, now wants to know which experiment she can try next! The experiments are fun so far, and making us both smile! We are going to stick with alternating these two through tomorrow with the hopes that it works for her like it did for the rest of you! Oddly enough, my daughter is hoping that she gets to try other suggestions tomorrow night...I am hoping that we a combination of the fun experiments keeps her spirits up and the doctor away. Oh, and in the few minutes that it took to whip up this email, she just stated that she thinks that it feels better already!

Cayenne

Posted by Alicia (Tokyo, Japan) on 02/12/2009
★★★★☆

I am a radio dj, singer and I MC for weddings. I have had a killer sore throat, and my voice is really husky, close to laryngitis now! This weekend, starting tomorrow, I have a 2 hour radio talk show, then right after that, I head straight to my wedding job.

I actually have 3 weddings this weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Great job and great schedule yes! But with my voice the way it is, I am so afraid I have to cancel all gigs! That would cost me over 2000 dollars of income! I saw this site and started with the cayenne and vinegar gargle, and have been drinking it constantly for about 2 hours. So far, my voice is getting better! Hopefully it will restore completely!!! I cant cancel the jobs so this is my only hope!