The pain in the throat is a symptom that absolutely every person encountered. Most people, even if the throat hurts badly, do not rush to the doctor (especially if there is no temperature), and prefers to engage in self-medication. In this case, often popular methods or recommendations of friends.
But few people think about the fact that there are many different diseases in which there may be a sore throat. And, despite the similarity of manifestations, these pathologies are treated differently. Therefore, if you have a very sore throat, first you need to understand what this unpleasant symptom is related to.
Causes of sore throat
The pain in the throat can be associated with factors of an infectious and non-infectious nature. If the throat hurts badly when swallowing, burning sensation, sensation in the throat, then with infectious diseases such complaints may not be the only ones. As a rule, one or more other signs of infection are also noted:
- cough;
- enlarged lymph nodes;
- plaque on the tongue and tonsils;
- headache;
- coryza;
- increased body temperature;
- increased sweating;
- general weakness.
The most common cause of the appearance of pain in the throat is a viral infection. In this case, the inflammation and the increase in the severity of the symptoms develops gradually. In most cases, there is dry cough, runny nose, hoarseness of voice. Such viral diseases can provoke a sore throat:
- flu;
- ARVI;
- mononucleosis;
- measles ;
- chicken pox and others.
Having discovered that the throat is sore, it is painful to swallow, the body temperature is significantly increased, it can be assumed that the inflammation is caused by a bacterial infection. Inflammation begins suddenly, in an acute form. The most common throat is streptococci, but it can also be sticks of diphtheria, staphylococcus, mycoplasma, gonococci, etc.
Non-infectious causes of pain in the throat include:
- long stay in a room with low humidity;
- overstrain of the throat muscles;
- allergic reactions;
- contamination of air with dust, gases, chemicals;
- gastroesophageal reflux;
- swelling in the throat.
Severely sore throat - than to treat?
With sore throat, it is best to contact a specialist who will conduct an examination, prescribe the necessary studies, put an accurate diagnosis and give recommendations for treatment. However, regardless of the cause of sore throat, there are a number of recommendations that can help accelerate the recovery process:
- Try to talk less (if possible, in the first days of illness it is better to keep silent at all).
- Drink more warm (but not hot) liquid.
- Avoid eating solid, sharp foods.
- Do not smoke.
- Often ventilate the room in which you are, moisten the air.
- In case of infection, try to keep bed rest.
In order to moisten the mucous membrane of the throat, reduce pain, swelling and inflammation, regardless of the form of the disease, it is recommended to rinse. Let's consider, than it is possible to gargle a throat if it strongly hurts:
- Soda solution (1 teaspoon baking soda for a glass of warm water);
- soda-salt solution (one teaspoon of soda, sea or table salt to a glass of warm water);
- infusions of herbs - calendula, chamomile, eucalyptus, sage , etc.
The latter are prepared as follows:
- Pour a teaspoon of dried grass with a glass of boiling water.
- Leave to infuse under the lid for 20 - 30 minutes.
- Strain through a strainer.
Rinse should be done every 1.5 to 2 hours.