Anyone know a good way to get rid of a sore throat or fight it off before it really starts?

Tons of liquids, tons of rest.

I think that’s your best bet to cut it off, or at least cut it short.

Gargle warm salt water.

I always keep some Airborn on hand and hit that at the first sign.

Hot tea, lemon, honey ( and perhaps a drop of rum.)

1C warm water to 1 t salt. A little salt goes a long way.

I agree with Gail. A Hot Toddy is always helpful. Or, tea with honey liquor.

I also suggest wrapping your neck up with some vick’s vapo-rub, or better yet, putting some on the bottoms of your feet and then putting on socks and getting in bed that way. My mom’s trick.

I’m a great believer in Vitamin C and B 12. Take 2500 mg 2 to 3 times a day. It really helps me. You can’t overdose on Vit C, the excess you pass thru your urine.

I’ve found that gargling with listerine helps for the early-onset sore throat.

I meant to reinforce Ben’s suggestion to rest. A few days with your feet up, under a quilt and many naps is betting than running around and taxing your immune system.

I always take double my daily vitamins, drink a lot of water and make DAMN sure I sleep properly. I haven’t had a sore throat in over a year, so I think I’m doing pretty good.

If you regularly gargle with mouth wash it will cut down the number of colds you have. (Cold hard scientific fact)

^^Citation, please. Saying that your info is “Cold hard scientific fact” don’t make it so, Joe.

On the mouthwash thing, does it matter what kind? Can it be hippie dippy natural stuff like I use?

@gail sorry how lax of me. There was a study was published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2005. It found that regulalry gargling with mouthwash cut the risk of colds and flus (self reported by 36%). If you read Japanese you will find several studies looking at this.

@emilyrose Amusingly it probably makes no difference. A Japanese study found that an antiseptic mouthwash was most effevtive while an American study found that gagling with water was more effective than with antiseptic mouthwash containing iodine.

I thought of sage at first, but these seem cool as well.

Drink lots of Orange Juice!

@Pixel; Would the acid in OJ irritate a raw or sore throat? I wonder.

@Lghtly: Sorry, my Japanese is pretty rusty. Any data after 2005 and with a success rate of more than 36%. That seems ambivalent, from what you say,

This might sound weird, but I gargle Peroxide. Don’t swallow it, just gargle, then use warm salt water. Also, if you have it, drink Lemon-Honey tea, and cough drops.

There is some conflicting info on whether zinc can help shorten the life of a cold, if taken at the onset. My experience is that it does.

IF you think that your sore throat is caused by the cold virus, try sucking on some zinc throat lozenges.