Why is this strep throat so freaking hard to get rid of?!? (kind of long, sorry)?I'm a poor part-time Retail worker, have no insurance and can't call out very much because I work for a store where I am one of the main workers. Back in March I had strep throat. I went to a CVS MinuteClinic, saw the nurse practitioner. He checked a lot of stuff, swabbed my throat and did a rapid strep test. Positive for strep. He gave me 10 days of antibiotics (Penicillin VK 500mg, taken twice per day). I actually ended up with 15 as I counted the meds later on at home. I took all of them for the 15 day period (pharmacists must have added in a little more to help out, since I had no insurance). My sores were still there even after the meds were gone.
Just a few days ago, I tested positive for strep again. Now I'm on 500mg of Cephalexin for 10 days, twice a day. This time it has differed from the last. The last time I had fever, chills, and a horribly sore throat. This time I've had my sore throat, white patches everywhere on my tonsils and throat muscles, near-convulsive chills in previous days (no longer getting chills like that now), high fevers, and also the symptoms of a cold on top of that. Sneezing, coughing, burning sinuses, watery eyes (caused by the patches on my throat seemingly 'pulsing' and making my eyes water and turn very red each time), etc. For the past 3 days, I've had just about no voice...my vocal cords must have junk all in them.
Is it true that there are two types of strep throat? Viral and bacterial? I'm not sure what to do now. I'm up writing this at 4:26. I'm off from work for the next two days, thankfully. Taking DayQuil (every 4 hours) and the Cephalexin. If I sit upright, I barely cough. If I lay down, I can't stop coughing. So I basically can't sleep at all. I've spent the better part of 2-3 hours coughing almost straight through, while laying down. Nothing comes up. My throat muscles just keep contracting or something, literally every few seconds. It's the sores on them itching/hurting and making the muscle contract. I pressed on a white patch that looked like a pus-pocket earlier with a q-tip (it's off to the side in the part of my throat further to the front). Where it normally wouldn't gag me due to the location further up...I felt like I was gonna puke after I pressed on it. I have white spots on my tonsils themselves, white spots on either side of my throat and it seems that they go a bit deeper into the deeper edge of my throat.
So what should I do now? Obviously I'm still taking my current meds. The white sores have become more defined since I've taken the meds, too. I don't know whether to ask the guy I saw to call me in an extended prescription for Cephalexin that I'm taking now...Penicillin VK that I took before, or what. I just don't know how to get rid of this, and apparently the rapid strep test doesn't tell them what 'kind' of strep throat it is.
Suggestions? No "home remedies" please. Every idiot that says "it's just a cold" will be reported (I've seen people post that in other people's questions). It's NOT a cold/allergy/whatever. It's a bit more serious than that. Please do not answer if you do not have sound medical knowledge to answer with a competent response. Thanks.
Edit: I've also looked at pictures of tonsilitis...it doesn't look like that, so it has to be strep only. While my strep is 'recurring'...this is only the second time since years and years.
jeffknoesbest.
yes there are 2 types of sore throats , bacterial and viral ,
and looks to me like you have a viral ,
but than again who knows.
With the viral infection , you must get antibiotics to get rid of them from a doctors.
Martinmm
my daughter went to the doctor for the same .she keeps insisting her tonsils be removed.any way Dr.prescribed penicillin and 400mg motrin[Ibuprofen]
?
First of all you should not be taking Dayquil and an antibiotic. Take only the antibiotic and if you need something for the cough use Robitussin DM. You are counteracting the antibiotic. And can overdose. Chloraseptic spray or throat lozenges would work too.
There are many different types of strep. They really cannot be diagnosed without a culture being taken and grown in a lab. Then they determine what it is and what medicines it is susceptible to for treatment.
It is hard to say for sure what you are experiencing other than an extremely low immune system at this time. You need to start making sure you are eating healthy and getting plenty of rest. Soda and smoking, as well as alcohol, can severely reduce your immune system as well as many other things. So get the rest you need and when you are over this I recommend you get on an age appropriate multivitamin.
S@gi
Read Carefully and Do it , If condition is Sever then Start Antibiotic other wise do the 2nd option.
1.Go to Pharmacy and Get the Antibiotic Name
Augmentan 500 mg OR
Klaracid 750 mg
Take Twice a Day for 7 Days for worst situation / 5days normally
2. Also do the Gargils with Hot water and Salt.
Take Steam of Hot Water Twice a Day after steam sit inside the room without FAN till you temeprature got normal
Jennifer V
Strep is not a virus, only a bacteria.
A sore throat can be caused by many things, including various viruses, fungus and bacteria. But since you had a culture done, and it was positive, you definitely have the *bacterial strep infection*. Typically, pennicillin is the drug of choice for this. However, Zythromax and Clindamycin are also used for people with amoxicillin allergies. Augmentin is Amoxicillin with an added ingredient to help make it more effective for penicillin resistant germs. Sometimes to effectively get rid of an infection, you will need to take two antibiotics at the same time to completely wipe it out. When your doc does the culture, they can test the strep to see which antibiotic will be most effective for it.
If you have had no improvement after taking this new antibiotic for 48 hours, you need to go back to your doc to get something else. You should see a reduction in the white spots as well as reduced fever and chills.
Because the bacteria is a very tenacious one, it is very easy to reinfect yourself. You could have picked it up from where you put your toothbrush. Even if you changed your tooth brush, you still put the new one right where the old one went. (It's human nature to put stuff where it goes) You can prevent re-infection by doing a thorough cleaning.
Careful with the NyQuil and Day Quil as they both contain acetominaphin (Tylenol) which can harm your liver if too much is ingested. I find Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) to be a more effective pain reliever. Chloraseptic spray is also good, as is gargling with very salty warm water.
Instructor
You will likely need your tonsils removed anyway. Sometimes they become an obsticle for the antibiotics so they get rid of them. Don't worry, you won't miss them.
luvamutt49
When you take antibiotics, is important to space them out very close to even intervals. You do this because if you wait too long between dosages, the bacteria start growing back and more than likely all will not be killed out with your round of antibiotics. Also, it is very important to take all of the antibiotics. If you stop too soon, especially once you feel better, you will have killed out the weaker bacteria, while the stronger ones keep plugging on. It is very important to get the stronger, hardier ones because if you do not, they will begin to multiply. You will end up with the stronger bacteria as opposed to the weaker ones that died early on. Strep throat is caused my a gram positive bacteria that responds well to penicillin. If you have a history of strep throat there is a good chance of being put on more than one round of antibiotics.
It also helps to kill the bacteria if you gargle about 4x day with a 50/50 dilution of hydrogen peroxide or a solution of warm salt water. These solutions physically denature the bacteria. They are also soothing.
It is extremely important to keep any flare up of strep throat under control. If not treated, it can lead to acute glomeralanephritis (problably misspelled) and rheumatic fever.
Pus pockets are common with Strep Throat. Strep, short for Streptococcus, is a type of bacteria. It is never a virus.
You problaby have several things going on at the same time.
A good thing to take for coughing is Robatussin that only has the expectorant in it. It breaks up the yuk in the cheast and helps clear out the problem.
There is no problem with taking Dayquil with the antibiotics. With the cough medicine, do not get the DM. The DM has the expectorant watered down. The doctor does need a culture to validate the diagnosis. The bacteria does not have to be grown. The test can be done within a few hours of taking the culuture. Thankfully, those days of waiting for this result are past.
Give your answer to this question below! Tonsillitis explained | Better Health Channel
Links to information about tonsillitis , including tonsillectomy.
Orignal From: Why is this strep throat so freaking hard to get rid of?!? (kind of long, sorry)?
No comments:
Post a Comment