I have had a strep throat for 3 days and every time I swallow it hurts. I can not eat or drink because it hurts so badly. Should I drink green tea or chamomile? Or should I drink something cold?
By nay nay from New York City, Bronx
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I'd go with what feels best to you. I think warm would relax it. I wouldn't go with hot though, I think that would just irritate your throat. A cool gel pack or a warm bed buddy on your throat may help too. Good luck and feel better!
Have you had this diagnosed by a doctor? Otherwise I guess I would do whichever feels the best to you.
Are you on an antibiotic? If not, you need to get to a doctor. You're considered contagious until you have been on an antibiotic for 24 hours if it reallly is strep; and anyone you come in contact with could get sick from you (or take it home with them). Once on an antibiotic, you should start feeling better within a day or so.
Meanwhile, go with whatever feels better; just be sure to drink adequate fluid.
I'm just getting over strep. Yuck. I'm sorry you're going through this. I saw appreciable improvement after 3 days on antibiotics (which is what the doctor told me to expect). I found it easiest to sleep in the recliner, rather than the bed. I had been taking naproxen sodium (generic Aleve) for the fever and discomfort, but the doc suggested I change to Ibuprofen. She said it seems to work faster. Nothing helped the pain very much. If I knew I was going to have to take another pill, or if I knew I was going to try to eat, I used some throat spray to try and help, but really it only helped for a very short time. I didn't each much of anything for those three days. Some good friends told me that they sip warm liquids (tea) when they go through something like this, but that hurt too much for me. I sipped on cool liquids. It still hurt, but not as bad.
If you've been on antibiotics for three days, I'm hoping you'll turn the corner soon. Try both warm and cool, and see what works best for you. I got it on my honeymoon, too, and back then I sucked on popsicles. Hang in there!
I had a sore throat and went to the doc. They took a swab of my throat and said I had a strep throat. Only why to correct it is a prescription for an antibiotic. So, make an appointment with your doc do determine if that is what you indeed have.
Strep throat can go to your heart if not treated. Please go.
Strep Throat can kill an adult, so let's hope by now you have already gone. As for the drink, keep in mind that most soft drinks contain ascorbic acid and don't help in soothing the irritated skin in your esophagus. Tea of any kind is best. If you are wanting something cold, make iced tea or drink water. Good luck and next time, please go sooner and don't wait for us. We love to help but some things are just too important to wait.
If you have strep then you need to go to the doctor and get an antibiotic. Please go soon. Everyone you are around is being exposed to it. Where I work the kids and adults can not come back until we have been on an antibiotic for 24 hours.
My daughter kept getting throat infections and going to the doctor was costing a fortune so the next time she gargled with Listerine a couple times a day along with home remedies and it went away on it's own. Hope you feel better!
I am going to second and third the suggestions about going to the doctor. There is a big difference in an ordinary viral sore throat and strep throat. I'm not sure how you know it is strep if you haven't been to the doctor but if it really is then streptococcus is a bacterial infection that can affect your heart (rheumatic fever ), kidneys, joints, and brain and you need to be on antibiotics as soon as possible. I am an RN in the ER and I can assure you that it is a dangerous bacteria and nothing to play around with. No amount of tea and home remedies is going to cure it. Plus you can spread it to others you come in contact with,
If it is viral then it is usually self limiting and goes away in a few days and anything that makes it feel better is fine. Any soothing liquids are fine or you can use some of the over the counter lozenges like cepacol or chloroseptic which will numb you throat for a few hours. All of those remedies are to make you feel better they cure nothing, so go get a Strep test at your doctor's office before trying to treat yourself.
Strep is nothing to mess with, I often start getting a sore throat because my sinuses are draining. I take an antihistamine of some sort, a cold pill that will dry me up. Almost always that takes care of it immediately. Just don't mess with is if it doesn't go away!
If you don't know that it's strep, I'd gargle with hot heavily salted water every couple of hours, tea is ok, the main benefit is the heat. Take a flashlight and check the back of your throat. If you see white spots on the back of your throat you may have strep, and as many others have said, you need prescription medicine, tell them you need generic if there's a cost factor...generics will be much cheaper, but you need to get it taken care of before it gets worse. With a regular bad sore throat, heat can bring the infection down.
If you have strep throat you need an antibiotic. Strep can cause long term problems called glomerular nephritis if left untreated. It is kidney disease and can occur from an untreated Strep infection OR from an infection you didn't even know you had. My husband has it, very serious So please go to the doctor!
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My throat has been sore for days. I cannot swallow without a very sharp pain occurring in the throat. I've been researching strep and I think I may have it. On the sites I have seen, warm tea and honey was recommended. Does it really work? If so, how much tea and how much honey should you add? Please help. It hurts really badly!
Thanks a bundle,
Rachel
Strep can be a nasty infection and is contagious. To find out whether or not you have strep throat, get a throat culture at your doctor or health department. It needs to be treated with antibiotics. Here's a link with information about it and other things it might be.
http://www.medicinenet.com/strep_throat/article.htm
About the tea and honey, just brew a cup of tea and put in a tablespoon or so of honey.
Susan from ThriftyFun (03/07/2005)
By ThriftyFun
Something else that is good for the throat is licorice tea, it coats your throat nicely.
You can use bagged tea, but it will not be as strong as using the root. If you have access to a place that sells herbs in bulk you can buy chopped up licorice root. Add two tablespoons of loose root to boiling water, cover and steep for at least 15 minutes. Strain and enjoy.
I hope this helps.
(03/07/2005)
By Stella
Gargle with very warm salt water several times a day. Make sure you get to a doctor, it can be very serious.
(03/07/2005)
By jennydo
If there's the slightest thought that it is strep, then get thee to a doctor and have it cultured. Strep is nothing to play around with. If not treated in time it can damage various body organs. I had an acquaintance who had strep and didn't treat it and it harmed his kidneys. He has had two kidney transplants since then. This could have been avoided if it had been treated more quickly. If finances are a concern, then find a free medical clinic for people with low income. And take all 10 days of the antibiotic even if you feel better in 3 to be sure you've killed the infection.
(03/07/2005)
By Linda Hug
The ladies who suggested tea are right. Also, you can get medicinal throat lozenges. I would certainly see my doctor, because strep throat can be very dangerous.
By Alleen
I can tell you from experience that anything warm soothes the throat. I have had strep many times all in the last 7 years, and it is different every time with the exception of the sore throat. The first time I had it, I thought I had the flu. I had never had strep or the flu, but I felt worse than I ever had before, had fever, very achy, and then came the sore throat. I also was nauseated and vomited. I tried a lot of sore throat OTC medications and Tylenol sore throat is the best. It sort of numbs it. You must get an antibiotic to rid yourself of it. I do not have health insurance, but this is one thing that I fly to the doctor for! Good luck. (03/08/2005)
By Amanda Cope
Please get to the doctor. You must take antibiotics for the full course. I have also heard that untreated strep (or not finishing antibiotics) can cause kidney (and heart) damage. The doctor will do a culture to determine. (03/08/2005)
By Kelly
Yes, get to the doctor and get antibiotics. However, antibiotics will also kill the "good" germs in your stomach and bring your total immune system down a notch, so make sure you get plenty of nourishing fluids into our body at the same time. Take zinc and vitamin C, eat yogurt and as much chicken soup as you can handle (homemade is best, way less sodium), stay away from caffeine and junk foods. You will boost your immune system while the drugs do their job, and you will recover faster. (03/09/2005)
By Shari
You can cut a piece of fresh garlic clove the size of a large vitamin (remove skin first) and take one three times a day like an antibiotic. It has antibiotic and antiseptic properties.
My son is brave and chews it before he swallows it, but it seems to cut the time he feels throat pain in half.
Two other natural antibiotics that don't kill good bacteria are found in health food stores: concentrated grapefuit seed extract and SilverBiotic (colloidal silver) Both work great!! (03/11/2005)
By Fran Marie
I, personally, think you ought to go to the doctor to see if it's strep throat or not. If he doesn't give you something for it. I have a pal who strongly believes in the medicinal purposes of organic apple cider vinegar. For sore throat pain, she gargles several times a day or as often as needed with the organic apple cider vinegar. (03/14/2005)
By badwater
If you do indeed have strep throat you must take an antibiotic prescribed by your physician. It will not go away on it's own and can lead to more illnesses. If it is just a sore throat, perhaps due to sinus drainage or allergies, then a cup of tea with a teaspoon of honey should soothe your throat. (04/24/2007)
By Ann
Use white vinegar and an eyedropper. Lay flat on your back and have a friend shine a flashlight into your throat. They should apply the vinegar to all inflamed and infected regions. Keep applying one drop at a time until the scratchiness is gone. What the vinegar is doing is killing the bacteria. It may burn slightly, but that just means it is actively working. (10/04/2007)
By Thomas
The reason strep throat is contagious is because GAS bacteria live in your throat and nose making it easy for them to spread to other uninfected people around you. The bacteria travel through small droplets of water, which are released out when you sneeze or cough. As the droplets are sneezed out, they carry the infectious bacteria and land on any surface they find. If you touch any surface which has the bacterial droplets on them and then touch your nose or mouth with your contaminated hands, the infection then starts spreading in you. Similarly, if you share a glass or plate with the infected person or shake their hand, there is a high chance that you may become infected as well. It is best to wash your hands following casual contacts. As mentioned earlier, the bacteria GAS is responsible for causing strep throat, but the Streptococcus class of bacteria also causes impetigo, an infection which causes red sores all over the body, rheumatic fever in addition to some more. The bacteria start growing in the throat or skin which leads to pus formation and non-inflammatory continuation of previous infection. Impetigo is contagious while rheumatic fever is not contagious however, strep throat can come before it, which certainly is contagious. At some times, if you touch skin sores caused by GAS, like impetigo, you can become infected easily. It is again recommended that you wash your hands. Sometimes you can become infected from food that contains the GAS bacteria. Although it does not happen often, strep throat is foodborne as well. In the past, outbreaks of strep throat used to happen quite commonly due to contamination and consumption of raw milk. But now foodborne strep throat is rare so if many people complain of strep throat after eating food together in a venue, it can indicate contaminated food. When it comes to strep throat, the bacteria starts infecting by colonizing in the throat. The bacteria adheres to the dermal epithelial cells which is due to a specific bacterial surface ligand binding with receptors in the throat. The strong adherence is one of the reasons strep throat cannot be simply washed away so easily. In fact, salivary fluid and mucus passing down the throat cannot scrape the bacteria strongly adhered to the skin of the throat so they continue damaging the tissues in the throat. Previous infections are also crucial as any exposure leads to weakening of the dermal barriers so when strep throat happens again, the bacteria are able to adhere to the host cells quite easily. Studies have also shown that at certain sites, the other bacteria are in competition with the infectious cells for adherence to the host cells.
Reference: bit.ly/
