Heal Sore Throat, Chapped Lips!:

Really BAD sore throat/cold:

In winter I see guys with tear filled red eyes, red, running noses, very hoarse voices, coughs that are more like barks, that they can't stop... and I feel so sorry for them; because I used to be like that every winter. In fact it would be so bad that I would be in bed for about 3 months nearly every year! As soon as a cold would start and my nose got stuffy, I would start breathing through my mouth. I didn't know any better, I thought I HAD to.

I forget the exact thing that made me realize that there MUST be a way to always breath through the nose. I must've known that the nasal system provides filtering for germ-carrying particles and preheats the air before it hits the larynx and trachea. Maybe that was enough. Whatever it was, I decided to test the idea of breathing through my nose no matter how difficult.  I was determined.

I found that after a few difficult (forced, long) breaths, my nasal passages opened up! Now and then I would have to really concentrate to force enough air through my nose, and maybe snort (with a tissue over it) to clear dried or thick mucus but it soon became automatic.

And that was the end of my years of the misery of disabling sore throat! If you ever get this problem, I hope this works as well for you as it did for me. One other idea that seems to lessen a cold: when mucus comes into your mouth it seems to help to take the trouble to spit it out rather than swallowing it.

Other things that seem to help include drinking orange juice, keeping the upper body warm, gargling with antiseptic mouth rinse, using a sore throat spray containing dilute (less than 14,000 ppm or 1.4%) phenol, and using a menthol containing chest rub.

Chapped, broken, bleeding lips?

That's what I used to have. I tried to keep them moist and pliable, not realizing that the coat of saliva I applied by licking them, dried almost instantly (in cold weather) and shrank and was very strong and was ripping the skin on my lips as it shrank.

Once I realized this (and the fact that dry lips can handle cold just fine) I found ways to keep my lips extremely dry. For example, if I spit, I wipe them with a dry absorbent material. Even a cloth glove will do. In a pinch you can even use an exposed part of your arm. The key is to not leave your lips even slightly moist for even a second. It works for me. I never have chapped lips now.

3rd Ed.
KH101 2011-2012