I have had a sore throat since September 22. I am on day 8 of a 10 day course of amoxicillin. No improvement. What could be going on? I have seen 2 doctors, FWIW.
Whole story: started with one sided sore throat on Friday, Sept 21. Got progressively worse over the weekend. No fever. Swollen neck gland on same side, minor ear pain as well. By Monday morning, throat was incredibly painful when swallowing, and felt swollen to the point I was having trouble breathing and swallowing. Went to ER as it was too early for urgent care and could not swallow even water. ER did full work up including neck x rays and rapid strep test. Gave me oral steroids and 800mg Ibuprofen as well as a lidocaine syrup for pain. Rapid strep test was negative. X ray showed swelling of neck tissues near epiglottis...They called on duty ENT who said send me to his office to be seen later that day. I saw the ENT, who looked at my epiglottis and vocal cords and said they looked totally normal. He poked around my tonsil, got some pus out, and diagnosed tonsillitis. Prescribed 10 day course of amoxicillin.
I started the antibiotics and the pain improved considerably for the first 2 days, then came back worse than before, but now located in the back of the throat and moved to the other side. It's now been 12 days with this pain. I have no other symptoms except some thickened post nasal drip occasionally, but I have that all the time due to sinus issues. It never causes pain like this. I have been taking 600mg ibuprofen round the clock just to be able to tolerate the pain and be able to eat. Last night, I had what looked like canker sores in the back of my throat (1) and on the tip of my uvula (1). The pain is now compounded by the sharp kind of pain you get from canker sores.
If this isn't strep (and it appears whatever it is, the antibiotics aren't doing anything to treat it), what else could it be? I did go to Disneyland 2 days before the sore throat started. Could it be viral, even with how long it is lasting? Everything I've read about viral sore throats indicate a 4-7 day time span of symptoms. No one else in the house is sick, and again, I've had no other symptoms except maybe some minor fatigue. Very minor.
Should I go back to the doctor? Should I request a throat culture? Or should I just wait it out longer? I am due to finish my antibiotics tomorrow.
Whole story: started with one sided sore throat on Friday, Sept 21. Got progressively worse over the weekend. No fever. Swollen neck gland on same side, minor ear pain as well. By Monday morning, throat was incredibly painful when swallowing, and felt swollen to the point I was having trouble breathing and swallowing. Went to ER as it was too early for urgent care and could not swallow even water. ER did full work up including neck x rays and rapid strep test. Gave me oral steroids and 800mg Ibuprofen as well as a lidocaine syrup for pain. Rapid strep test was negative. X ray showed swelling of neck tissues near epiglottis...They called on duty ENT who said send me to his office to be seen later that day. I saw the ENT, who looked at my epiglottis and vocal cords and said they looked totally normal. He poked around my tonsil, got some pus out, and diagnosed tonsillitis. Prescribed 10 day course of amoxicillin.
I started the antibiotics and the pain improved considerably for the first 2 days, then came back worse than before, but now located in the back of the throat and moved to the other side. It's now been 12 days with this pain. I have no other symptoms except some thickened post nasal drip occasionally, but I have that all the time due to sinus issues. It never causes pain like this. I have been taking 600mg ibuprofen round the clock just to be able to tolerate the pain and be able to eat. Last night, I had what looked like canker sores in the back of my throat (1) and on the tip of my uvula (1). The pain is now compounded by the sharp kind of pain you get from canker sores.
If this isn't strep (and it appears whatever it is, the antibiotics aren't doing anything to treat it), what else could it be? I did go to Disneyland 2 days before the sore throat started. Could it be viral, even with how long it is lasting? Everything I've read about viral sore throats indicate a 4-7 day time span of symptoms. No one else in the house is sick, and again, I've had no other symptoms except maybe some minor fatigue. Very minor.
Should I go back to the doctor? Should I request a throat culture? Or should I just wait it out longer? I am due to finish my antibiotics tomorrow.
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