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Post by gale w on Jun 13, 2016 19:15:13 GMT
Last week my daughter started to have a sore throat and coughing. Typical cold symptoms. Thursday night she noticed she had large white patches on both sides of her throat, and the back part was very red. The next day we went to the walk-in clinic figuring she had strep. The fast in-office test came back negative so they sent it away to have it tested for the other types of strep. In the meantime the dr prescribed a z-pack based on symptoms (low grade fever Thursday night plus the visible symptoms). She started the z-pack on Friday and by Sunday was feeling a lot better and the white patches are down to a tiny area. Today they called and said the tests were all negative. Is it possible that there was a false negative? Or that there might be a different bacterial infection that caused it? Or was it just a coincidence that she started feeling better (and the patches, which she obviously couldn't control, were smaller) right after starting the antibiotics? I hate to think she took them when she didn't need them.
It was the nurse that called and I asked all of these questions but she had no answers, other than to take the last two pills in the z-pack. Just kept saying acute tonsillitis which is just inflamed tonsils and could be from a number of different reasons.
eta: the dr ruled out thrush, tonsil stones and mono.
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calgal08
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,519
Jun 27, 2014 15:43:46 GMT
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Post by calgal08 on Jun 13, 2016 19:21:33 GMT
Tonsilitis (sp?), or is that the same as strep?
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Post by meridon on Jun 13, 2016 19:25:27 GMT
Thrush? Bacterial ovegrowth in response to the antibiotics?
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Post by gale w on Jun 13, 2016 19:33:28 GMT
Thrush? Bacterial ovegrowth in response to the antibiotics? The white patches got smaller after starting the antibiotics. |
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scrapngranny
Pearl Clutcher
Only slightly senile
Posts: 4,826 
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Post by scrapngranny on Jun 13, 2016 19:46:23 GMT
You can have white patches and have a viral infection. If you are felling better after 24-36 hours after starting antibiotics, then it could be strep. If you got a negative test, it could be wrong. Viral infections won't react to antibiotics and will clear up on their own, and it can take few days.
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Post by anxiousmom on Jun 13, 2016 19:48:59 GMT
I had strep a couple of years ago, positive rapid test and no white patches at all. Infections are weird.  |
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Post by pierkiss on Jun 13, 2016 20:05:33 GMT
Hand foot and mouth will give you white spots I believe.
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Post by grove420 on Jun 13, 2016 22:00:57 GMT
It could totally be a false negative. Doctors at the clinic where I used to work would not do a strep test unless the patient had been experiencing symptoms for about a week. It normally takes that long for the test to give a true reading. Our docs didn't want to charge patients for a lab test that would likely come back negative because they hadn't had the symptoms long enough for the strep to show up
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
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Post by scrapaddie on Jun 13, 2016 22:42:53 GMT
Tonsilitis (sp?), or is that the same as strep? Huh??? Read the last paragraph of the op |
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Post by gale w on Jun 14, 2016 0:21:00 GMT
It could totally be a false negative. Doctors at the clinic where I used to work would not do a strep test unless the patient had been experiencing symptoms for about a week. It normally takes that long for the test to give a true reading. Our docs didn't want to charge patients for a lab test that would likely come back negative because they hadn't had the symptoms long enough for the strep to show up That sounds very logical and may be a factor here. Normally I don't look inside their mouths so I wouldn't have seen the white patches until she had symptoms for a few more days. My younger dd had strep last summer but didn't present with any of the usual symptoms so I'm sure it was over a week by the time we took her in. She only had coughing. No sore throat or fever or anything (not sure about white patches). |
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Post by dealsamongus on Jun 15, 2016 1:45:35 GMT
I had mono when this happened to me
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AmandaA
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,502
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Post by AmandaA on Jun 15, 2016 3:46:11 GMT
DS has had 4 bouts of strep so far this year & one false alarm. As we have learned, you can have exudative tonsillitis that is strep negative. Our peds has told us that a rapid strep is accurate 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. And you can have a negative rapid, but a positive culture deepening on the timing of the swab. But if she is feeling better then it doesn't really matter what caused it unless you are on a countdown headed towards tonsillectomy and need to have every case proven and documented to meet criteria.
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RedSquirrelUK
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,899
Location: The UK's beautiful West Country
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Post by RedSquirrelUK on Jun 15, 2016 10:00:10 GMT
There are other bacteria that cause tonsillitis, other than strep. They aren't as common, but they do exist. If the infection cleared up after taking the antibiotics, then it is likely to be a bacterial infection.
Make sure she finishes the course of antibiotics, even if she's feeling better.
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Post by chirpingcricket on Jun 15, 2016 14:00:58 GMT
I used to get ulcers in the back of my mouth when I was a teenager. They were horribly painful. My mother would take me to the doctor; they would do a strep test, and I would not have strep. They advised gargling with the warm salt water, which was excruciating. And I would get antibiotics, but the ulcers took days to go away. Finally, science came out with that sore throat spray that numbs your throat. It made me feel like a human again, but I sometimes wondered what kind of damage I might be doing to my throat while it was numb and I was obliviously eating and drinking whatever I wanted. I know this post contains no answers. Just wanted to empathize with the white patches/sore throat patient.  |
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Post by gale w on Jun 15, 2016 19:06:34 GMT
Thanks everyone. She had her last antibiotic yesterday and is now just down to the nagging cough. Hopefully that will resolve quickly. She gargles with salt water a lot and is drinking lots of water.
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