Laryngitis – More Than A Throat Problem

From Sharon Hopkins

Laryngitis is the aggravation of your vocal chords in the larynx. It also causes swelling around the voice box area, which brings out the changes in your voice. In any given day your vocal chords open and close without much hassle.

But, when you are infected with laryngitis vocal chord gets inflamed and irritated. These changes in the vocal chord weaken your voice box causing it to sound hoarse.

Laryngitis can get so severe that you may lose your voice completely. This is a temporary problem which can be treated within 7 to 14 days. This kind of a problem is very common when the temperature falls leading to irritation of your voice box.

Causes

Laryngitis problem is mainly caused by a bacteria or a virus. Once the infection leaves you it is not necessary that the throat problem would leave you too. Other very common causes is yelling, shouting, singing, talking too much and loudly, smoking, and allergies are some of the other reasons. Consuming too much alcohol also causes this problem.

Symptoms

You could notice some common signs and symptoms of the problem such as loss of voice, hoarse and weak voice, and irritation, soreness and dryness of the throat and dry cough. You may also suffer from bouts of fever due to bacterial or viral infection.

Self-care Measures

- Avoid smoking
- Avoid passive smoking
- Avoid alcohol
- Speak softly
- Do not whisper, as it causes more strain to your throat
- To bring down the fever and relieve you form any form of pain, use Aspirin, Ibuprofen or Tylenol
- Have warm liquids such as soups, tea etc,
- Take some rest

Home Remedies for Laryngitis

- You can make a solution by using 1/2 teaspoon salt in a cup of warm water. You can use this solution for gargling.

- Drinking slippery elm bark tea helps to clear your throat as it lubricates the vocal chords directly.

- Mix one teaspoon apple cider vinegar in half glass of water; take this solution every hour for seven hours. You will notice the changes instantly.

- A hot remedy - mix one fourth teaspoon of cayenne pepper with few drops of lemon in one cup of boiling water. Drink this solution sip by sip to get the best of this remedy.

- By using ginger and honey you can make the right solution to sooth the irritated throat. Peel off ginger’s skin, cut into small piece and later boil it till the water turns yellow. To sweeten the tea you can add honey. Sip this solution to provide you the necessary benefits.

- Gargling with sea salts, several times a day can provide relief to your throat.

- A concoction of fenugreek, eucalyptus, horehound and marsh mellow makes an excellent tea which can be used to gargle away your throat problem.

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.