12/12/2025
While I'd prefer you'd stay home while actively infectious, for established patients I can recommend herbs if you're feeling sick.
Here's a great infographic breaking down the different types of sore throat and dietary therapy you can use at home.
Sore throat coming on FAST? 🤒 TCM has a simple way to tell which direction to go.
There are two patterns for acute sore throats: Heat-type sore throats and cold-type sore throats
🔥 Heat-Type Sore Throat (Wind-Heat): Often caused by heat pathogens entering the body such as heat exposure (when we go from cold weather to heated indoors), dry environments, stress and heat in the liver, lack of sleep or fluids, viral infections.
👉 hits suddenly
👉 throat feels inflamed or hot or burning and sharp pains with difficulty to swallow
👉 you feel thirsty with a mild fever or warm body
👉 you have a yellow or greasy tongue
You want to clear the heat, cool the body, reduce inflammation, and replenish moisture. Here are a few examples:
🌸 8 dried chrysanthemum buds + 1 teaspoon of dried honeysuckle + 5 goji berries + honey to taste in 1 cup of hot water
🌸 1 teaspoon or dried honeysuckle + 1 fresh mint leaf (crushed) + honey to taste in 1 cup of hot water
🌸 2 dried snow pear slices + 2 slices of licorice root + rock sugar in 1 cup of hot water
🌸 pork bones + slice of winter melon + figs + carrots in a soup
❄️ Cold-Type Sore Throat (Wind-Cold): Often cause by exposure to wind and cold, chilled air con, underdressing. The cold blocks our early defense systems (aka defensive qi) and we get:
👉 early in a cold and also hits suddenly
👉 throat is scratchy or itchy and feels tight
👉 you are feeling chilled or cold
👉 you have body aches, stiff neck, or shoulders
👉 you have clear watery mucus and want to avoid wind
You want to dispel the pathogens, open the pores, sweat it out with warm + pungent + aromatic ingredients:
🌸 5 slices of fresh ginger + 5 pieces of green onion whites (crushed) + rock sugar optional in 1 cup of water
🌸 3 chicken drumsticks + 3 slices of fresh ginger + + 5 garlic cloves + 5 green onion whites + 1 teaspoon of black or white peppercorn + 5 red dates in a soup
🌸 3 slices fresh ginger + 1 cinnamon stick + honey to taste in 1 cup of hot water
Get well soon and you can find all the recipes at https://thechinesesouplady.com/