I feel like venting today!!!

[saraht]

Lisa,
So sorry you are feeling ill. My almost 4 year old will be starting school this year and I am terrified about getting sick because I know children get sick so often from schools. I feel your pain. When I imagined myself with children, I never imagined having to fear catching something that she caught from school, but now this is my life. Always careful, and worrying about sickness. No one else understand other than us on here. You can try to explain it to people till you are blue in the face, but they don't and won't get it until they have dealt with it first hand.

I hope your test comes back negative. I agree with the others, there are some nasty viruses going around now that take longer than usually to get over.

[beth22]

When I was a kid I had those white spots on my throat too and so did my daughter when she was little. Nothing showed up in her culture. I don't know about what they did for me. Too long ago. I do remember that it lasted a long time though. The doctor did not know what to make of it, but it finally went away. I hope you get some answers tomorrow.

There are other bacteria that can lodge in the throat. If you need an antibiotic, then you will just have to take it. In 2014 I had to take Levaquin of all things and the doctor gave me vanco to take along with it. That was a mistake. I wish that I had not taken the vanco because it really messed me up. I had to do FMT enemas at home afterwards. As luck would have it, I got whooping cough about 4 months later and had to take doxycycline, which was not the right drug for that, but my Gi symptoms got better when I was on it. When the tests for the whooping cough came back positive, I was given a Z-pak and that did give me some GI distress on the last day. However, the good news is that I did not relapse from those meds. I took 10 days of doxy and then 5 days of Z-pak.

If you do need an antibiotic, ask about the PenVk and doxy. They usually do a sensitivity with a culture and it should tell if either of those would work on the bacteria, if it is in fact, a bacteria. Good luck and let us know what happens.

[Bobbie]

Lisa, any news about the culture?

[Lisa33]

I appreciate all of your experiences so much. You all have given me a ton of good advice. I still don't have an answer on the culture. I just called and they still don't have the results. Ugh! I have called them twice since being there on Thursday, so they know my dilemma and said they will call me as soon as they get them in. They do get results on Sundays as well. She said hopefully by late today though. I can't stand how long everything takes, and when you are sick, it's almost never a possibility to get into your actual PCP the day of, and in my case, it is now the weekend. I always wind up going to urgent care, because I don't want to wait for answers. I had called the urgent care that did the culture last night to explain that I was running a fever that was going over 101, and that I felt worse. The doctor or NP on staff advised that I should start the zpak, but ultimately, it was up to me if I wanted to wait for the culture or not. Of course, you never get a definitive answer. I also asked if PenVK or doxy would be a better option with my c-diff history, but she believed that zpak was the best treatment for a throat infection out of the three, and went on to tell me that she has never experienced any patients getting c diff from zpak. But, this is an urgent care and who knows how many patients she has actually treated that had c diff, so I don't know if I should trust her judgment or not.

Beth and Bobbie - your experiences give me hope that it is possible that you can take an antibiotic without a c diff relapse. You have both dealt with this dilemma multiple times. So, I'm continuing to suffer through this until I get the results, and at the same time hoping that I'm not making things worse by waiting.

Again, I appreciate all of you. I know you all understand how real the fear of antibiotics is.
Lisa

[Bobbie]

Started a new thread in Chat re taking antibiotics again.

The waiting is Hell. Let us know. Thinking of you.

[beth22]

Waiting is the worst. Lisa - I meant to say in the post above that I was given antibiotics for those white patches in my throat and they did absolutely no good, not for the fever or the patches. That is when the doctor figured out it was viral. It took a few weeks, or even close to a month, but it went away. When you get the results, ask if they ran a sensitivity and if they did, which antibiotics work for the bacteria.

[Lisa33]

Thanks so much for sharing, Beth. I was convinced that white patches and fever were more than likely bacterial. But this gives me some hope that it could still be viral. This waiting is indeed the worst. I feel so terrible. I just keep popping advils as it does help with the throat pain and gland pain and the fever. Thank God my husband is off on Monday because he can be with my daughter. He has had my daughter pretty much since Thursday night and being Mr. Mom. I don't want her near me, God forbid she gets whatever this is.

Thanks again,
Lisa

[beth22]

My daughter had those white patches on her tonsils when she was small. I remember seeing them and the doctor gave her antibiotics too, but I think she had an ear infection as well. The antibiotics helped her ear, but the throat looked nasty for a while too and the patches didn't go away with the antibiotic. I'm not really sure what causes them, although bacteria certainly is the main reason most likely, although not always as in our cases. Hope you get the results tomorrow.

[Lisa33]

I finally got my throat culture results back, and they were negative to my surprise. I felt relieved about that. The doctor at the urgent care wanted me to come in for a blood workup though. I am still not getting better and running a fever. The fever was a little better today...It stayed low grade around 100. But, my throat is hurting bad. So, I went in and they took blood to check my white blood cell count to make sure their isn't an infection going on elsewhere. She is also checking for Epstein Barr Virus, Mono, and some other virus that I didn't recognize the name. I was negative for the flu. She said that I have an abscess thing (I think that's what she called it) down my throat, along with the white pockets on my tonsils. That explains the throat pain. She said that the abscess thing is common with some viruses. I actually was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus in my late teens. She said that it is possible that I had a flare up of that, which can lead to mono. She checked to see if my spleen was enlarged, as that can be indicative of mono, and it wasn't. So, I am back to the waiting game again. I am still praying that my blood count comes back normal and that this is indeed some terrible viral infection going on. Whatever this is, it is really kicking my butt.

Thank you again for all of your support and easing my fears on needing an antibiotic. I'm not out of the woods yet, but a negative throat culture is a good sign I think. I can't believe I am hoping I have mono. LOL Crazy! Advil and I have become best friends. Thank God it doesn't bother my stomach because I have been popping them non-stop since Thursday.

Lisa

[beth22]

My daughter gargles with diluted peroxide when she gets a bad sore throat and swears it helps her. I have done it. You have to read on the peroxide bottle how much to dilute it. There are instructions for gargling, but I was told by a doctor that viruses don't like peroxide. It might be something you could try.

[Bobbie]

Good news about the culture.

Viruses can be weird. My older son had mono as a senior in high school - almost didn't graduate. Same symptoms you have. He was in bed for almost a month and lost 20 pounds.

Fingers crossed for "just a little virus,"

[notheidi]

Hey Lisa! Sorry to hear you are so sick! That sounds absolutely awful!

Looking like so far maybe you won't need an antibiotic? That would be fantastic! In any case, if you do need one, you can add me to the list of people who took antibiotics successfully after c diff and did not get a recurrence from the antibiotics. [Yes, I had a recurrence in July, but it was NOT temporally associated with antibiotics...much, much later, at least a year since any antibiotics!]

Feel better soon.

[getwellsoon]

My son also had mono at 25. His throat was so bad he had to take steroids. It took quite a few weeks for him to get over it. Hope you feel better soon.

[tessa63]

Hi Lisa

The good thing is that this all sounds viral and doctors will always double check everything just in case. My son who eventually had his tonsils out had several viruses with white patches and severe sore throats (never needed antibiotics). I know its more throat pain for you but hand foot and mouth virus causes sores in mouth too. The awful part of this is the anxiety you had to go through with the stress of possibly needing an antibiotic. This is a terrible curse we all will have now. The only good thing to come of it is that we will be much more prudent when it comes to taking unnecessary meds. I really hope you start to feel better soon and Im sure it was a nasty virus that you will recover from.

[Lisa33]

I finally think things are starting to improve today. I went from 230am until now with no Advil. My temperature has been just under 100, so very low grade if any. My throat seems to look a little better today too. I just took the Advil to aid with the throat pain. So hopefully, things are going in the right direction now. The bloodwork probably will be in tomorrow to see if any cause comes up. The bottom line is that I am more relieved today since I am feeling a bit better. Thank God I didn't need an antibiotic thus far. That fear was really real this time. Thank you all for your valuable insight, experience and support. It means a lot to me.