sore throat help that's actually appealing

Folks, I have a chest cold. And the coughing is making my throat sore, but I am loath to use the usual sort of drops because they either have sugar in them, or honey, both of which trigger candida issues for me, or aspartame, which can trigger a migraine. What I stumbled on is this:

Refrigerate a suger-free apple sauce cup. Take several capsules of slippery elm and open them, then stir the powder into the apple sauce. The slippery elm is a time-honored soothing herb for throat and the whole GI tract (singers use lozenges made from it), and the cool apple sauce is tasty and soothing. Use a spoonful after each coughing fit (or whenever the throat starts stinging), and let it glide down your throat. Yummy and nice!

(going to doctor today -- this has gone on long enough. I'll probably have to get over my resistance to inhalers...)

chest cold update and aphids query

Doc gave me a nebulizer treatment in the office, an albuterol inhaler, and a prescription for a better chest congestion clearer outer that the pharmacy will have in tomorrow. The pharmacy guy felt so bad they didn't have it today, he gave me a $25 gift card for the CVS store. I'm taking one more day home as I'm a bit feverish and achy and coughing rather noisily, especially when I have to talk.

But the treatment and albuterol are already helping, so I'm hopeful this will clear up in the next few days.

On another note, anyone know a good way to get rid of aphids on rose bushes? Preferably not too chemically?