Benedryl will totally help with the sore throat. I swear by it-- I get a sore throat every winter because of the dry air and cold, and benedryl is what I swear by to reduce the redness, swelling and soreness.
Your body has Mast cells and they release histamine when you're sick. Histamine will give you itchy eyes, a runny nose and scratchy throat. Histamine also causes blotches on the skin, swelling and overall malaise. 
Taking an anti-histamine (like benedryl) controls the effects of histamine release in your body and relieves those symptoms for about 4-5 hours at a time. It's also what hospitals give to children with bee sting allergies (plus epinephrine), and I got it in the hospital for a particularly bad cold sore once. 
If you haven't taken it before, start with 1/2 a pill at a time. I get the solid pink ones which I can easily break in half (instead of the caplets).  It might make you a little drowsy, but you can fight it and stay awake-- it won't make you dizzy at all. If you take too much it can make you a little nervous, but don't worry, it's not dangerous and the effects wear off in 4-5 hours. I take one pill when I get up. one at noon, then one before bed and my sore throat is gone. When I had mono last year, I took 2 pills every 4 hours, but I had to work up to that. I couldn't even sleep if I didn't have a benedryl in me; in fact, often I woke up at night just to take another so I could sleep sore throat free again.
In fact, healthy people take one at night to sleep and breathe easier.  They make Tylenol PM now, which is just tylenol plus benedryl. (Basically the combination I've been using for years, just combined). Benedryl is not addictive so there's no worry there either.
Good luck, and feel better! Get some rest and tune out for a while. The world will wait till you get back.
~nelly~
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i love benedryl for sore throats
