I’ve got a little one in nursery which means a winter of colds colds colds. I’ve had a monster cold, sore throat, cough sore ear over Xmas and new yr. that went a couple of weeks ago and I got out on my bike for an hour and came back in freezing and woke up with a swollen neck and throut with a fever etc for good measure. Went to docs, antibios, couple of days later felt like I was getting better, by the following sat (1 week) I felt good. Been working from home and had the odd day off when I was proper rough.

Back in work last Monday I felt good. By the end of the day my throat was bad again and I’ve had a week of swollen neck, sore throat, swollen throat, sore ear etc. It’s like there’s something tying my tongue to the roof or side of my mouth and my tongues painful and all swollen as well.

Went to the doc again, missus sent me, he says viral sore throat, it’ll get better. Your immune systems doing the right thing and fighting it. All good, gargle with aspirin.

Thing is, I can’t sleep as my throats painful, can hardly speak, and eating is extremely difficult. Been surviving on milkshake, hot Ribena and taking an hour to eat a kids portion of something sloppy.

I guess I gotta go back to the docs. Any ideas?

Soup or stew? I always eat ice-cream when I have a sore throat. Cool soothing sweetness.

Scrambled eggs – loads of nutrients and protein keeps hunger at bay. Poached works too.

Chicken soup.

All of the above.

As above, ice cream for me.

Also soup and I found some pear and ginger squash in Sainsburys that is pretty good for a drink.

Anything ‘wet’ is better, can’t think of anything worse than eating a ryvita with a sore throat.

Couldn’t get scrambled egg down tonight. Finished all the ice cream already! Need to get some soup without bits in it. Thing is I can’t eat it hot and cold or tepid lumpy soup…… you know…

You know that you can get local anaesthetic sprays from the pharmacist, don’t you?

Obviously they’re not the ultra strong ones used in hospitals but they seem to do the job for me. Caution with hot foods after using etc.

Also, it says that drinking turmeric in milk is good for getting rid of a sore throat. I am so desperate I did try it. It made me sick.

Used to get something similar a few years back. Very unpleasant. Best I ever managed was gargling with salt water to clear the phlegm then a load of that antiseptic spray stuff which had a numbing effect then try and get a slimfast shake down. That was pretty much the only thing I could eat that had some content to it

Keep sipping at whole milk and you’ll not be too bad in the long run. That and soups, either hit them with a stick blender or a seive before you eat them. If you need fancier stuff the body building nutrition bods sell milk with extra protein and vits, and Boots still sell Complan for rebuilding after illness. Oh and Guinness is good for you.

it sounds counter intuitive but crisps (saltier the better). Best thing ever for a sore throat.

I had a proper infection in my cheek.
Alongside the antibiotics, the gp prescribed a mouthwash with mild anaesthetic properties…’benzydamine’ I think.

Still had to scoff tonnes of ice cream tho!

Apparently marshmallows are great when you have a sore throat .

See thread on tooth ache

I drink honey, lemon, and ginger in hot water in lieu of lemsips for a sore throat, and in terms of eating when ill I tend to go for “as much as possible”

Ice cream. As recommended by numerous GPs when I’ve had tonsillitis, laryngitis and pharyngitis in my misspent youth.

Having adopted a “prevention is better than cure” approach, I no longer get throat infections, but progress on the Chub Club campaign is painfully slow…

Cut a bagel in half, sliced mild cheddar on both sides, wallop in the microwave for about 40 seconds (until the cheese melts).

Best thing ever when I’ve got a sore throat, nice and warm, the bagel goes soft, and the cheese grease helps it all slide down.

Pair with a dollop of BBQ sauce.

Edited to add – Whisk(e)y

Homemade smoothies with milk, yoghurt, berries (frozen), banana, nut butter, ice cubes, ice cream plus anything you want to throw in it that you like+ is squishable using a stick blender…Nice and cold + should give you some decent calories too. Feel better soon.

Thanks folks. Had sore throats in the past but this has been a really bad one. Got to docs today. He thinks bacterial and the last lot of antibios worked for a while then came back so prescribed some clarithromycin or similar which should kick it.

Waiting for prescription bought more ice cream, squirty cheese, rice pudding, luxury yoghurt, custard and tins of tomato soup. I watched the original trainspotting again last week and my shopping today looked a bit like the shopping bag Renton empties out on the bed when he’s going cold turkey…

Bought some of those milkshakes with protein stuff etc in them later on but it seems like the antibios are kicking in already and I managed to eat a tub of prawn cocktail and a slice of bread and butter tonight. Happy days.

Hopefully things are going in the right direction. Cheers for the replies and useful suggestions.

I did get some salt and vinegar crisps down last week and a really small amount of really salty chippy chips which did make it feel better. I guess it’s the salt thing, just like gargling with salt water (which makes you spew if you get it wrong!)

Whisky. Lots of. Kills all known germs.

I seem to say this a lot on here but APPLE CIDER VINEGAR. About 3 quid from the supermarket or a nicer one from the health food shop for about a fiver.

Just bought Waitrose apple cider vinegar. What do I do with it?

Bit cagey after this weekends drinking turmeric in milk episode……

Sounds like you have pharyngitus which is just like bad tonsilitus. Throat feels like its closed up and as raw as a raw thing, nothing to cure it but you can ease the symptoms. I get it once a year and for two days it puts me in bed with the sweats and takes about a week to clear up.

IANAD