I recently had the worst sore throat ever!! Halls and Ricola became my best buddies, especially at night. However, those lozenges a.k.a sore throat candy have more sugar in them than I would like, but without any other alternative at the time, I kept on using them to just get some relief. Eventually, I realized my cold just wasn’t going away – in fact, it transitioned into bronchitis – at a visit to my naturopath, she gave me some colloidal silver (nature’s antibiotic) and suggested slippery elm lozenges for my sore throat. What a relief!
(Click here to see my note on sugar-free labeling)
I bought a bottle of this brand and enjoyed allowing them to sooth my throat, deep breath, ahhhhhh. After enduring coughing spells for over 3 weeks and an almost unbearably dry throat – thanks to the combination of remedies and lots of prayer – after 5 days, I was feeling like my old self again.
I really love these lozenges, because they are not sweet and their small size allows it to just sit on the back of my throat as it slowly does its work. It doesn’t have a candy taste to it, and has a slight chalky texture which I don’t mind, but you might. 🙂 I now use it on occasion for those mornings I get up and my throat is dry from the humidity levels.
About Slippery Elm
What is it? In short, Slippery elm is considered a demulcent herb which means:
“Demulcents are herbs that contain noticeable amounts of a carbohydrate (a polysaccharide, actually) called mucilage that moistens, cools heat, lessens inflammation and often stimulates local immune response… they are able to systemically moisten the whole body, some people call this the indirect demulcent effect. This means they can provide much needed moisture to places like the lungs where the physical matter of the herb will not touch during ingestion or digestion.” Excerpt from The Medicine Woman’s Roots.
These constituents make it great for coughs, cold and bronchitis. I’ve only used the lozenges so far, but it seems like a great addition to my home herbal first aid kit.
Where to Buy
- I bought mine on Amazon but you may be able to find in pharmacies.
- Purchase other forms (powder, bark, pastilles) of slippery elm here.
- Here’s a video on how to use the powdered form.
More Cold Remedies
Looking for some more natural cold remedies? Check out my other posts on homemade herbal remedies.
A Note About Sugar Free:
I thought it important to point out that the Halls and Ricola cough drops packaging says “sugar-free” but it’s not sweetener free because they use sugar substitutes. While the product doesn’t have sugar as we know it, the Halls brand has sucralose and Ricola uses aspartame, both forms of sugar are considered by many to be more harmful than just plain sugar itself. On the Halls packaging it also states that the sucralose, if consumed in large amounts, can have a laxative effect, I can confirm this to be true in my case. Hence, my need to find another alternative. Maybe a new or more honest labeling ought to state a product as “sweetener-free”. Here’s a nice blog post on sugar-free labeling.
Disclaimer: It should go without saying but since I must, let me clarify that this information is not meant to treat, cure, diagnose or prevent any illness or encourage you to pursue any particular course of treatment. This is simply the recipe I use for my family. I strongly urge anyone, as I do myself, to do their own research on any herbs and supplements before taking or giving it to your family. It’s almost always best to do so under the care and supervision of a medical or other licensed practitioner. There, I said it. 🙂
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