Back, You Beastly Sore Throat!

I sat at the doctor's office, swinging my legs off the edge of the patient table, waiting for any sort of diagnosis. I always hate going to the prompt care centers. Some people there were wearing masks. Looked silly, but not a bad idea, considering almost everyone there had some sort of disease just waiting to jump down my throat.

"Well," the doctor said, "looks like you don't have strep. Just a virus."

Normally that's good news, right? But to me, it meant there is nothing I can do to fix this! I already had three agonizing nights of the worst sore throat of my life, and it wasn't getting better. We were quarantined in our house (thankfully with many new toys), and our days consisted of...pretty much nothing.

The prescription for a sore throat when you're pregnant: Tylenol, which does nothing, gargling, a vaporizer, hot beverages with honey/lemon, and maybe some throat lozenges. Oh and rest and good nutrition and all that stuff -- but really, to a certain extent you just have to ride it out.

Fortunately, somebody had recently sent me what looked like a lifetime supply of cough drops.

I am a sucker for free stuff. If there's any chance I'll use it, I'll usually take up an offer for a product review. A few weeks ago, Pine Brothers contacted me and asked if I'd review their Softish Throat Drops. Sure, I said! Why not? All I had to do was get sick.

Ugh. Enter worst sore throat of my life.

To be honest, I'm kind of indifferent to cough drops. I'll suck on a couple to keep my mouth moist, but after a while they tend to get too sugary -  and I get that nasty sticky feeling on my teeth.

To my pleasure, not with these!!!

They are not as sweet as most other throat lozenges. The flavors are subtle. And why are they deemed "softish?" Because no other words describe their texture. They're like a cross between gummy bears and hard candy, if that makes sense at all. It makes them not feel as sticky as hard cough drops.

To my surprise, I really really liked them. They helped a lot in between all the other remedies. Very soothing - and I didn't get sick of them.

I got two flavors: Natural Honey and Wild Cherry. Both are pretty good.

Marc said he didn't love them at first because they weren't sweet enough for him. But when I had them out on the counter, I caught him popping a couple.

"Are you getting a sore throat?" I asked.

He looked at me sheepishly. "Nah," he said. "I just like the softish."

So there you go.

I'll also mention the little plastic cylinder containers are quite handy for purse travel.

You may or may not be able to find them at the pharmacy - so if you're really intrigued, you can just order them online. Or offer to do a product review and get a lifetime supply like I did (although I've gone through them way faster than I thought I would)!

Anyway, if you're wondering, I'm feeling much better now. The sore throat/laryngitis provided an adventure in parenting since I could hardly talk, I dreaded answering the phone in my death voice, and I was also guilty of lip-syncing at church. Good times. Glad we're moving on.