What the heck infected my throat?

I’ll go old school and say warm salt water gargle.

I’d stay away from that chloroseptic spray. I find it more irritating than helpful, personally.

@Seek_Kolinahr Yeah. . . when I did the chloroseptic not only did it not do much but I felt like I was literally hurting myself on purpose.

This is another odd side effect that I’ve been noticing since I’ve gotten sick. .

I haven’t technically “felt tired”. Of course I’ve slept and stuff but at first I thought I wasn’t going to get any sleep becuase I didn’t feel tired, yet thankfully I did fall asleep. But ever since I got sick I’ve felt like “I’m wired” to be awake, like I’m on caffeine except without the jitters. I just. . feel awake all the time. I would have thought being sick like this would make me feel like I don’t want to do anything and just lie in bed.

Since you’re already under a doctor’s care, and just waiting for the antibiotics to do their magic, what about some nice herbal teas? One brand, called traditional medicinals, makes something called ‘Throat Coat’. If I remember correctly (I’m fresh out, or I’d check) I think it’s got licorice root in it. Really tasty, and it takes away some of the tickle.

I can never sleep when I’m sick. It bites.

Unfortunately, without a throat culture, a microscope, and seven years of schooling, I can’t really tell you what’s growing in there.

I actually remember clearly when my throat started to feel irritated.

Over this past weekend I stayed with friends. I can’t recall exactly when (since it was a debaucherous one) but I remember clearly being outside waiting for food with them and I inhaled something that tickled my throat, and so I immediately coughed. Then I sneezed like almost ten times. My friends were like, “You all right over there?” and I said, “Yeah. . .I’m fine now. . gee that felt weird.” Not saying that was it, because someone also revealed she was sick that weekend, so it may have been her too. Not sure. Nothing developed until Tuesday afternoon. Monday I recalled feeling dry in my throat, so I just drank a lot of fluids and had some tea.

I just want to make sure you didn’t wake up with a bad sore throat and then once you took a drink of water it got better. That means it was just sore from sleeping with your mouth open, and it is very likely you just have a nornal cold. But, again the wierd thing would be that you actually had a fever, but some people get fevers easily, especially young people, I don’t know your age. I never go to the doctor after being sick for just two days, unless it feels like something is very very wrong, but that would be an emergency.

Chloreseptic to numb it. The spray will help. You can ask your doc for xylocane, which will really completely get rid of the pain, you can gargle with it (I don’t remember if you actually swallow it or not, it has been so long since I used it) but you cannot use xylocaine before bed time. Most doctors don’t prescribe it, but I was lucky enough to have an ER doc prescribe it for me one time when my throat was so sore I was spitting out my salive.

Does your throat hurt more when you swallow?

Try having popsicles. Don’t drink anything hot.

Antibiotics for something like this usually take about 72 hours to start “working.” Even when your sore throat goes away, remember to take the meds until they are finished.

Strep pretty much never has a stuffy nose. It sounds like you probably have a bad sinus infection. If the antibiotics work then you’re all set up. Colds usually have a sore throat for 2 days, then the sore throat goes away and the congestion sets in. Antibiotics do nothing for a cold, but colds rarely have a fever. Hmmm, you have a tricky illness. Do you have a cough?

For the congestion take am antihystamine decongestant. Ibuprofen should help you feel better all over, even your throat.

Let us know if you feel better in a couple days.

Oh, I just noticed you mentioned the chlorespectic bothered your throat, so subtract that from my answer, the rest stands.

Second vote for the warm salt water gargle. I had a bad throat infection of unknown origin last winter, and it was very effective (and recommended by a healthcare hotline when I called them in a panic at 3am). Now I sometimes do it when I start a cold, just in case.

You’ll probably never find out what the infection was. These things are often so short-lived that it’s pointless to try to diagnose and target them with a specific treatment, if that is even an option.

The only time I had strep throat, which my doc tested for due to redness and brutal pain (although no swollen glands, fever or other symptoms,) he said to use the standard soothing things and not OTC stuff.

Sucking on lozenges, cough drops w. honey, drinking any kind of hot tea with honey and lemon, and the salt water gargle (go easy on the salt. 1 teaspoon per 8oz.warm water). I personally never wanted anything cold but try some ice chips and see whether they help (or sherbet).

Did you ask your doc why he didn’t do a throat swab? It is usually routine and done in-house w. 15 minute results with a killer sore throat.

Since you are taking an antibiotic anyway, you should feel better within a day or two. If not, call the office. Of course, today is Friday, so maybe you want to check with the nurse before the office closes for the long week-end. (Columbus Day on Monday.) You will be up the creek until Tues. morning

The Neti Pots are not for everyone. If you have narrow Eustacean tubes, squirting the liquid in can be very painful. My sister and I discovered this the hard way.

I can’t find out from your post how long you have been on antibiotics. My kiddo’s pediatrician scolded me for not bringing him back 2–3 days after starting antibiotics when he didn’t get better. His bugs were resistant to the first antibiotics.

I would call the office today and ask for a swab and give them an update on my throat. It’s Friday, after all. That’s a pretty typical Friday request.

@Cupcake The swab won’t work today, the OP is already taking antibiotics. Plus, congestion with strep is very rare. I think the doc should have done the culture also to be sure, but now it is too late. The OP would have to go off the antibiotics for a few days to get a culture done.

@JLeslie My point is that he could be resistant to the antibiotics. It’s up to the doctor whether to do a swab, but he can ask.

@Cupcake The OP only just started the antibiotics he has to give them another day. But, I understand your point. Did your doctor test the kids before just giving them antibiotics? I am assuming he didn’t. If a child is extremely sick and a doctor wants to medicate even without cultures done, the doctor should still do the culture, even if he starts antibiotics before the results come in. You had to make a second trip because he wasn’t thorough to begin with I am guessing. This happens all too often.

I still think the OP might have a viral infection. Hard to know with the details he provided.

It sounds like you have a virus. There are a lot of viruses out there that are similar to a cold, and can give you a fever and aches and pains and a sore throat.

And it doesn’t make sense why you are on antibiotics, since viruses don’t care about antibiotics or not. So be patient and give your self a full seven days to get well.

Could it possibly be thrush?. Mom developed it a few years ago while she was on antibiotics. What you describe sounds very similar to her symptoms.

Thrush usually occurs after a course of antibiotics and it usually coats the mouth and tongue in white, not red. Every time I get a cold now, I seem to develop a throat infection on top of it. You can have a cold virus AND get a bacterial infection @zenvelo .

@cazzie I know that, but the OP is asking what is giving him all those symptoms and it sounds like a rhinovirus to me. He very well might have something else going on which the Doctor is treating with antibiotics, but he cannot expect the virus to also be cleared up right away.

Treating with antibiotics after being sick for two days is hasty. The fever is a curve ball, because most people over the age of 12 don’t get a fever with a rhinovirus, I don’t know how old the OP is. But, it sounds like the fever had gone away. If it was a bacterial infection it either would have cleared within a week or not and he could get antibiotics then. If it was a rhinovirus he would have been better in a week no need for antibiotics. We will never know now, unless God forbid this antibiotic doesn’t work and he is still sick after a weeks time. Not likely, but it could happen.

Mono also has bad sore throat, but the congestion suggests rhinovirus or bacterial sinus infection.

Oh, unless he Is much better by tomorrow, then it most likely was a bacterial infection, because a rhinovirus takes a week, and he said it all started Tuesday.

I’m 23, for the record.

Quick general recap – Tuesday afternoon was when it all hit me at once. I remember having a dry throat on Monday but I didn’t really think much of it. I just drank a lot and cleared my throat a lot. No pain or anything, just a vague itchy/dryness.

Right now I’m feeling better, thankfully. Throat is still red but not as painful as before. I’ve been taking the antiobiotics twice a day since Thursday. This morning it was painful but then I did this home remedy my mother suggested, and I suggest anyone else this too becuase it WORKED like a miracle.

Gargling with ginger or salt water hardly helps me. So I figured I’d try this weird combo of a ¼ cup of honey and ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar. I took a tablespoon of it. HOLY MOLY the taste kicks in and makes you want to shout obscenities. But by golly, it helped soothe the pain. I didn’t feel it again until now as I’m typing this, but even now it’s just a slight noticeably pain – it doesn’t feel like I’m swallowing pins and needles anymore.

It’s hard to tell whether the antibiotics kicked in right when I decided that mixture. I think it did becuase the recipe tells you to take 1 tablespoon every 4 hours, pretty much when the effect goes away. I only did it once. The entire day the pain had reduced.

So things are starting to look good now (crossing fingers). But that was quite the damn sore throat I had throughout the week. Jeez.

Now though I’ve developed a cough. I’ve a history of asthma and things like this tend to trigger it, although by now at this age it’s nowhere as critical as it was when I was, say, 9 years old.

Oh and for some reason I’M EFFING HUNGRY ALL THE TIME. I eat a full meal and then no more than an hour later I get really hungry again. Must just be my body demanding energy to take down this infection?

Your doctor probably used the Centor criteria for deciding if to test for strep throat (but treated you anyway…). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centor_criteria Based on your description, if you didn’t have a fever at the time of the doctor’s visit, you would have scored 1 point for lack of cough, because you didn’t have tonsillar exudates (white spots on your tonsils), no fever (my assumption), no tender lymph nodes. With a score of 1, you probably didn’t need antibiotics at all, and considering how the whole process has unfolded, with the development of mucous and cough (very much inconsistent with strep throat), I strongly suspect a viral illness, which isn’t responsive to antibiotics anyway.

Just for fun you can run your own calculation. This is best for ruling out strep throat, rather than ruling it in.

http://www.mdcalc.com/modified-centor-score-for-strep-pharyngitis/

Apple cider vinegar is a good move for sore throats but also for colds and flu. Just because the pain is relieved, don’t stop. Keep it up. It will continue to help you fight this. For the most benefit, use organic raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar with the mother in it (yes, that’s what it’s called). If the taste is too strong, you can dilute it, but do continue to take it. If you add honey to the mix, use raw, unfiltered honey rather than your average grocery store variety of honey. Hope you feel better soon!

My grams always said honey, lemon and whisky.

But some cider vinegar will do it, too. Haha.

I’ve been better since this past Saturday. Whatever it was seemed to have mostly gone. I still had/have a dry cough but today that started subsiding. I haven’t coughed at all today.

Well, that was weird . . .is all I can say