A sore throat is a symptom that can occur with several medical conditions, from irritation, and from overexertion. The most common cause of symptoms is a cold. Less commonly, other illnesses, smoke, dry air, or screaming cause pain in the throat.
Sore Throat Symptoms
Is your throat itchy or sore?
Does swallowing and sometimes speaking hurt?
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| Sore throat |
This is a typical sore throat. However, the symptoms can vary in severity, depending on which areas of the throat and throat are affected. Then hoarseness can be added as another symptom. In most cases, sore throats are caused by viruses, often in connection with a cold. The inflammation can also come from bacteria that settle in the throat, pharynx, tonsils or larynx. Some allergic diseases are also often accompanied by a sore throat. Loud singing, shouting and shouting strains the throat - in the long run it leads to a sore throat and hoarseness. Furthermore, dry air or dry mucous membranes, smoke, chemicals, in the case of a heartburn (reflux disease, reflux oesophagitis) the rising gastric acid, spicy food and the like can cause painful irritation in the throat. Finally, even rarer causes such as tumors come into question.
Sore throats that appear with colds usually go away on their own after a few days. Others may require protective measures (e.g. humidification of the room air, protection) or treatments. Sometimes complications are possible. For unusual, severe, or persistent sore throats, professionals should investigate the causes.
When to the doctor?
If the symptoms are unusually severe, swallowing is painful, fever occurs and/or a sore throat lasts longer than three days, a medical examination is recommended. The same applies as soon as noticeable symptoms occur, such as breathing noises or breathing difficulties.
Different inflammations with sore throat
Inflammation that causes pain in the throat can be limited to individual structures in the throat and throat area or affect several. After that, experts distinguish different forms like these:
- Inflammation of the throat (pharyngitis): Strictly speaking, the term stands for inflammation of the pharyngeal mucosa. From there, the infections or symptoms often spread. This happens slowly, i.e. fluently. Because there are no sharp boundaries between some forms, doctors like to refer to many of the sore throats as pharyngitis in general.
- Inflammation of the larynx, inflammation of the vocal cords (laryngitis): Characteristic symptoms are cough and hoarseness, causes are mostly viruses and less often bacteria. Laryngitis is often an accompanying symptom of infections of the upper respiratory tract (e.g. colds, sinusitis, bronchitis). The vocal cords sometimes become inflamed by external stimuli that last for a long time (e.g. dry air, smoking) or by overuse. Specialists know acute and chronic forms of laryngitis.
- Pharyngolaryngitis: Combination of pharynx and larynx or vocal cord inflammation.
- Tonsillitis (pharyngeal angina, tonsillitis, angina tonsillaris, tonsillopharyngitis): Doctors usually understand this to mean inflammation of the tonsils. There are several different tonsils or tonsils in the oral cavity and pharynx. Bacteria are more common than viruses. Specialists differentiate between acute, chronic, unilateral, bilateral and other forms. Sometimes the pain radiates to the ear. The tonsils in the palate redden, swell and are often covered with yellowish-white spots (specks). Sometimes lymph nodes are sensitive to pressure when they are also swollen. Bad breath, a bitter aftertaste and a changed, “lumpy” pronunciation are also typical.
- Pharyngotonsillitis: Combination of pharyngitis and tonsillitis.
Different causes of sore throat
Viruses: According to research, four out of five episodes of sore throat are due to viruses. Mostly it's the common cold virus. However, a large number of other viruses are also capable of temporarily triggering a sore throat. They include pathogens that cause the flu (influenza viruses), glandular fever, cold sores (cold sores) and AIDS, as well as many other causes. When viruses infect mucous membranes, bacteria can also colonize there more easily. This increases the risk of complications.
Bacteria: Among the bacteria, streptococci are the most common cause of infections associated with a sore throat. Less commonly, they are caused by pneumococci, staphylococci, and other species. In rare cases, sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis or their causes are responsible for a sore throat. In forms that are weak and sometimes chronic, different bacteria are often found at the same time (mixed infections). Treatment is not always with antibiotics.
childhood illnesses and sore throats
Many infectious childhood diseases can temporarily cause a sore throat (e.g. diphtheria, mumps, measles, scarlet fever). Some vaccinations exist as protection and prevention, such as against infections with Haemophilus influenzae. The epiglottis can become inflamed (epiglottitis) and swell so that breathing becomes impossible and there is a risk of suffocation. This complication used to be feared. It is still considered an emergency today. Warning signs are wheezing and shortness of breath. Sore throat and hoarseness also often appear in pseudocroup.
- Allergies: In the case of allergies to airborne allergens (e.g. pollen, animal dander, mould, house dust mites), the throat often scratches, burns or hurts.
- Dry air, dry mucous membranes: Dryness irritates the mucous membranes in the respiratory tract. They scratch and often start to hurt. The cause can be dry air, insufficient fluid intake, constant breathing through the open mouth (e.g. snoring, when you have a cold) or a lack of saliva. Sucking on candy relieves the symptoms but does not treat the cause.
- Irritants: (Tobacco) smoke, dust, chemical vapors and other substances or conditions can irritate the mucous membranes in the mouth and throat. Spicy foods and alcohol can also do this. Dry air and foreign bodies (hard bread crumbs, fish bones, etc.) are also irritating factors.
- Burning in the stomach: A reflux disease (reflux esophagitis) can lead to discomfort in the throat if gastric juices rise up through the esophagus into the throat. This is usually accompanied by other symptoms such as belching, upper abdominal pressure, bad taste in the mouth, coughing, hoarseness and a lump in the throat.
- Medications, medical therapies: Medications can cause a sore throat in a number of ways, in harmless cases through dry mouth. However, some active ingredients reduce the number of certain white blood cells. In addition to a sore throat, small ulcers in the mouth, tonsillitis, high fever with chills and a strong, general feeling of illness usually appear.
Injuries, tumors (such as throat cancer), cysts, abscesses, thyroid disorders, and some other conditions can also be accompanied by a sore throat.
Sore Throat Treatment
Of course the therapy depends on which pathogens or factors caused the sore throat. To do this, you need to know the triggers. If a sore throat occurs more often and those affected cannot associate it with colds or other causes, they should consult a specialist.
A sore throat and difficulty swallowing usually appear in connection with a cold. The sore throat subsides quickly with lozenges containing local anesthetics (e.g. benzocaine). Hard candies with herbal ingredients such as sage, thyme, Icelandic moss and/or Emser salt are also helpful. There are also several options for gargling: Antiseptic agents (e.g. chlorhexidine, cetylpyridinium chloride) penetrate deep into the throat and reduce the number of germs there. However, they also attack the natural throat flora. Appropriate sprays or gargling solutions should be used sparingly, for example when out and about. Herbal remedies such as sage, thyme, clove oil, eucalyptus and chamomile extract/tea have a gentler effect when dosed correctly. Cold wraps (e.g. quark wraps, lemon wraps, wraps with angelica ointment) on the neck are an option if the inflammation is acute and “hot”, and the throat and swallowing are painful. Warm wraps such as potato wraps are more suitable if the symptoms last longer and have already peaked. Visible foci of pus on the tonsils, severe difficulty in swallowing, fever and swollen lymph nodes usually indicate a more severe bacterial infection. Those affected should consult a specialist. He can decide if antibiotics are needed.
In the case of sore throats that come from diseases and injuries, the treatment of the underlying disease is the priority. This also applies to allergies, although symptoms can still be alleviated by avoiding the relevant allergens. Those affected should also avoid irritants if they are responsible for the pain. Dry room air can be humidified, for example, with water containers on radiators.