New Treatment for Sore Throat

Well according to American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro, "I used to get a lot of sore throats and then one of my sisters told me that all illnesses start in the colon. I started taking a daily colon cleanser powder mixed with fresh juice every morning and it made an enormous difference," Quatro told the Daily Mail newspaper.

It is unclear how many ounces of juice, what type of juice, and grams of colon cleansing powder was required to obtain this beneficial effect.

For her outstanding contribution to pseudo-science, she was awarded the prestigious 2011 SAS.

(If you haven't figured it out already, daily colon cleanser powder does NOT help with sore throats. However, there are rare situations where colon diseases like Crohn's Disease can cause throat problems including soreness and swallowing problems.)

Source:
Whale sperm, orgasmic feet top 2011 bad science list. Reuters 12/28/11

Rapid Strep Test Positive But No Sore Throat

Occasionally, I see patients who have received throat swabs for strep that have come back positive... even if they have no signs or symptoms of pharyngitis.

In this situation, there are 2 main actions a physician may take (I am biased towards one):

1) Prescribe antibiotics until throat cultures are normal
2) Do nothing

Personally, if a patient is without throat symptoms and has no history of rheumatic fever or kidney damage, I would not have even bothered obtaining a strep test. What for???

Also, a person can be a carrier for strep without suffering any health problems. As such, even if the strep test is positive, but if the patient has no symptoms, I do not recommend treatment. (Which again begs the question of why bother getting a strep test if no treatment will be recommended regardless of the test result.)

I would go so far even to say follow-up cultures are NOT necessary after antibiotic treatment for strep throat if a patient does not have any more symptoms and exam is normal.

Which is why I find it surprising when children and adolescent patients receive multiple courses of antibiotics when they feel perfectly fine, but have received treatment just because a strep test came back positive.

Of course... that's just my opinion as I do acknowledge that there's another school of thought which supports antibiotic treatment of all strep positive cultures with follow-up cultures to ensure eradication.

Depending on the doctor you see, you will get different opinions. But it is good for patients to be aware of the varying views on this topic given how common sore throats are.

Research on Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects

Research has actually shown that sword-swallowing can cause sore throats! No kidding!

This particular research was based on 110 sword-swallowers from 16 different countries and was published in the British Medical Journal in 2006.

This research won the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine. Watch a YouTube Video of a sword-swallower in action:



ENTs regularly perform a similar procedure when we perform "Direct Esophagoscopy". Just like a sword, it is an elongated rigid metal structure, except in the shape of a tube that we place through the mouth down towards the stomach. This procedure is used to look for mucosal lesions/masses (cancer) as well as retrieve foreign objects unable to pass. Gastroenterologists perform a similar procedure, but using a long flexible scope instead of a rigid scope. Some ENTs perform "Trans-Nasal Esophagoscopy" whereby instead of placing a flexible scope in the mouth (like the GIs do it) and threading down into the stomach, the scope is placed instead through the nose! Esophageal dilatation is another procedure similar to sword swallowing, but using stiff rubber in order to open up areas of narrowing in the esophagus.

Reference:
Sword swallowing and its side effects. BMJ 2006; 333 : 1285 doi: 10.1136/bmj.39027.676690.55 (Published 21 December 2006)