My little girl has strep throat. You might never have guessed it, though, to look at her. She’s energetic, happy, has an appetite… in short, she doesn’t look sick. Except that her throat hurts on and off because her tonsils are massive.
swollen tonsils
She was sent home from school about 10 days ago with a fever. I put her to bed, pumped her with fluids and natural remedies (echinicea, gelsenium in case it was the flu, aconite for viral infections), and watched her carefully for the telltale strep rash, yellow bumps on the back of her tongue, or pustules on her tonsils. Her fever broke the next day, so I figured it must have been a passing viral infection.
Guess not.
Her throat was still bothering her a week or so later, so I brought her into the pediatrician’s office. Sure enough, the strep bacteria showed up immediately on the in-office culture. Dang.
Did you know that they have strep tests that return results in 3 minutes now? When I was a kid, my sister and I were strep “carriers” and had it 5-8 times/year. Since my father was a doctor, he would bring the culture swabs home from the hospital and swab our tonsils himself, then drop the thing off directly at the lab — bypassing the pediatrician altogether. The worst part was that he wasn’t a good shot and swabbing would take multiple attempts. It sucks gagging when your throat already hurts, let me tell you.
The thing with strep is that if you leave it alone your body might fight if off by itself, or it might become a chronic infection, or it might migrate to your heart in the form of rheumatic heart fever, scarlet fever, or kidney problems. Some of these can leave you with a permanently weakened heart.
I remember when I was in 4th grade and one of the other student’s mothers was our playground aide. She died suddenly that year, at age 36, because of a weakened heart from a childhood bout with strep that turned into rheumatic heart fever. She left two young sons. Very sad.
So my baby girl is on heavy duty antibiotics. She loves the taste, but they are ripping her insides up and giving her diarreah, poor child. As soon as we finish the course I’ll pump her full of probiotics to help repair the carnage that’s going on.
My infectious disease specialist cousin-in-law suggests that we treat the whole family with antibiotics. The thought is so distasteful to me that I’m going to wait and see if anyone else turns up with any symptoms first. I’ve disinfected the bathrooms, faucets, lightswitches, and doorknobs, and washed all the linens in hot water. Maybe we can avoid this fate. I suspect that being on so many antibiotics during my lifetime helped me end up with multiple sclerosis. That’s one of my theories, anyway.
The incubation period for strep is about 3 days, and sickies are most contagious when the symptoms are most acute, which was about two weeks ago now, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that we came through it ok.
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wow i’ve had strep throat like ten or fifteen times and my tonsilis have NEVER been like that! well im 13 and well ya buh bye
that is a lot of time i think i have it to but i think this is the first time iv had it and i im the same age of u the web site that i was on said that it happens to mosty kids and teens !!!!!!
I understand what you and your daughter are going thur, I was a carrier also when I was young and I kept giving it to my self in fifth grade, and now that I am adult now I seem to get strep once a year. I also have very LARGE tonsilis, and every time a doctor looks at them, they always say WOW! Well, I hope your daughter feels better, and she is not only when it comes to over sized tonsilis.
my name is tabitha im 13 and i got strep i have no tonsils they where takin out when i was 9 and this is the 5 time ive hade strep in like 5 years and i was wondering if there was something rong with me?
No, sweety nothing is wrong with you. Germs. I get strep a lot and I’m pretty sure nothing is wrong with me.
I think this article is very poorly written. You’re sarcasm is not funny. My Mother is a doctor…I had strep bad one time in the winter….stuck out in the country my parents could not get out to get my anti-biotic. My Mother was giving me shots of whiskey and warmed syrup to numb my throat at night. Within a week of not having anti-biotic treatment I was in the hospital vomiting for 2 weeks bcuz the poison from the strep went down to my stomach and well….Today I’m on heart medication. Had I’d of gotten the antibiotic in time…well….Julie
Wow, Julie, I don’t think this post is poorly written at all! I think Elizabeth’s “sarcasm” as you put it is more a “man, if only I had known earlier” moment.
And she’s VERY clear in the post about how dangerous untreated strep can be. It can pass on its own, or it can cause lasting damage. I think she made is ABUNDANTLY clear that the risk of lasting damage is not worth going untreated.
I’m very sorry that you have a heart condition as a result of childhood strep. I think Elizabeth’s post does a pretty good job of informing us that if we let strep go untreated with our own children, we are putting our kids at risk of ending up with a similar situation as you are in.
Wow, I have swollen tonsils mine aren’t that big. Just worried that my girls might get what I have. I’ve been running a fever the past 4 days. Haven’t gone to the doctor. I’m a little scared I might have to. I get strep real easy do I’m praying that I didn’t pass that gene to my kids!