Sore throat - the most common contagious viral or bacterial infection... a tickling sensation that becomes sore, frustrating and eventually severely painful. Antibiotics can cure only bacterial sore throats but for viral based infections, antibiotics are of no use. However, natural remedies for sore throat can really do wonders with viral based infections. You will get pain relief usually within an hour or two by using these natural health remedies for sore throats, but sometimes it may take a little more time.

The belleric myrobalan, commonly known as behera in Ayurvedic parlance, is a popular Indian household remedy for coughs. The pulp of its fruit is taken. This pulp is mixed with salt, long pepper and honey. This is given for allaying the problems of sore throat. Instead of this preparation, its fried fruit can also be covered with wheat flour and then roasted on a low flame.

Cardamom is also a popular sore throat cure. You can do gargles with the infusion of the cardamom to get relief from the problem of sore throat. This is very useful especially to cure the serious throat infections. Many doctors recommend Cardamom to their patients for fast recovery. The best part of all these cures is that they do not cause any side effects to the patient.

The most amazing and effective treatment is using 5 shakes of Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum frutescens) Powder in a cup of hot water (or herbal tea or saline solution or lemon juice) and gargle every 15 minutes with the spicy elixir. May swallow each time a tiny bit. Gargling with cayenne can cause a strong burning sensation of lips and tongue. Therefore is good keeping milk or yogurt in your mouth after gargling until the burning disappears.

Excellent remedies for a sore throat is gargling with thyme tea which is a powerful antiseptic, disinfectant, antibacterial, anti this and that, or using lemon juice. If you can handle neat lemon juice, so much the better, but a lemon tea or lemonade will work well. It may sting, but it works. You can always add a little honey to it, which will also help the throat.

Usually a few gargle with a warm salt water solution will generally reduce any swelling and tends to relieve the discomfort that comes with sore throats. To be effective you should gargle at least one time every hour using one teaspoon of common table salt dissolved in approximately 8 ounces of warm water. In the event that you are bothered by postnasal drip you can safely gargle more often in order to prevent and additional throat irritation.

Go Green - conquer your sore throat with green tea. This wonderful tea is a powerful antioxidant which will fight off infection by preventing the cellular reactions that cause disease. This tea will also kill the microbes that will cause a sore throat. If you heat the tea it will also add the additional comfort.