How much do those mentholated honey/lemon drops actually help a sore throat?

I get nearly as much relief by sucking on hard candy. Natural mint flavored seem to work best for me.

Strep is a seriously painful throat ailment; all the drops and honey and salt water gargling will relieve (barely) symptoms, but the only remedy is an antibiotic.

Tea with real honey and real lemon juice is cheap and will help just as much,.

Any hard candy will temporarily help soothe a sore throat. None of the “medicated” candies work better than a lifesaver or a lemon drop.

I do have an antibiotic and a prescription gargle. It’s been a long time since I’ve had strep though… I forgot how much it hurts :\

Maybe the drug store will let me exchange the icky drops for yummy hard candy lol

(PS – I got that information from Consumer Reports Health. I think they are a reliable source.)

They help for as long as you are sucking on them. I go with gailcalled – tea will help just as much. dpworkin and WestRiverrat are right.

Sorry you’re sick – hope you feel better soon!

Thank you lovies :)

oh my goodness… this gargle stuff the doctor gave me is incredible… I thought it was a premixed saltwater solution, but it’s got lidocaine in it. My whole tongue is numb. Unfortunately I guess I didn’t gargle it well because my throat still hurts. Stupid gag reflex standing in the way of relief >:(

The menthol recipe as a treatment for sore throats is more than 3000 years old, and has remained largely unchanged since the time of the Egyptians. That means it works, but it also means there hasn’t been much in the way of improvement. For myself, I find zinc losenges extremely good for a sore through when I have a cold, but strep throat is a whole other level of magnitude. I’ve had strep throat a few times (and once nearly contracted Scarlet Fever), and nothing I’ve done except wait has really helped.

I’ve found that a candy such as Werther’s Hard Candies work just as well as cough drops, and certainly taste ten times better. Hard candies along those lines really coat your throat better than say, a Lifesaver or Jolly Rancher (although I still prefer such candies to cough drops).
I had strep fourteen times when I was five, so I sympathize. Keep up with your prescriptions and feel better!

The idea of the menthol in them is to numb a little and hopefully relax your irritated throat muscles which want to twitch, itch and contract. A better remedy is to buy a chloroseptic spray, it tastes guk but will calm your throat so you won’t rumble/clear the throat or cough as much.