Patient's question:
Suffering from mild allergic rhinitis, mainly with a persistent sore throat and cough that won't go away, making me very uncomfortable. Sometimes, catching a cold causes pain in my throat. This condition has lasted for about 2-3 years. I'm asking if there are any Chinese herbal medicines or lozenges that can effectively treat this. I have never been treated for it before.Doctor's answer:
Hello: Eliminate various pathogenic factors, such as treating systemic diseases and sinusitis. Pay attention to nutrition, enhance physical fitness, and exercise. Avoid stimulating foods and alcohol; speech should be corrected if pronunciation is improper. Workers in dusty or irritating gas environments should wear masks. Locally, you can use solutions like compound boracic solution, furacilin, 2% boric acid solution, or 3% saline for gargling; apply 3% iodine glycerin to the throat; or suck on iodine throat tablets, mint throat tablets, or Liu Shen Wan. Oral traditional Chinese medicine that nourishes yin, generates fluids, clears heat, and moisturizes the lungs, such as scrophularia, ophiopogon, rehmannia, honeysuckle, belamcanda, and glycyrrhiza, can be decocted and taken. For hypertrophic pharyngitis, 10~30% silver nitrate can be applied to the throat or electrocoagulation can be used. Ultraviolet irradiation, cryotherapy, and laser therapy can all yield certain effects. For atrophic pharyngitis, vitamin A, B2, C, and E can be taken to promote the proliferation of mucosal epithelium.