I have a doctor’s appointment today. Thank GOD. Cause I’m beginning to think my throat will swell up and eat the rest of me.
I have a bad history with my throat, and whenever I get an infection, I totally freak out. I’ve spent most of the past two days in bed as much as possible (which isn’t nearly as much as I’d like to, what with the chillens and all), trying not to swallow. I’ve been taking airborne, vitamin C, echinacea, doing saltwater gargles, doing nasal rinses, drinking lots of water and lots of tea with honey and lemon. I’ve eaten soups all week.
The spring before Joshua and I got married, I had a terrible cold I couldn’t shake for over a month. I know sometimes it can take that long to get over it, so I didn’t think much of it. Until one Sunday, my chest started itching. I thought I developed a rash from the necklace I was wearing, so I kind of shrugged it off. Until that night, when I got home, and was getting undressed for bed, and noticed the same rash had spread to my stomach and legs and up my arms. I don’t get rashes. I found a doctor the next day and was able to get in for an appointment.
The doctor told me I had scarlet fever. I asked him what causes it and he told me that if strep is left untreated it will become scarlet fever. I had just thought I had a cold - I had no idea I’d been carrying around strep! He told me if I had gone one more week without going to the doctor, I’d have been in the hospital. That was pretty freaky.
Then, when Judah was only three weeks old, I got a throat infection so bad, I couldn’t even swallow without crying, which also hurt. I didn’t have a doctor in Dallas, and we didn’t know what else to do, so we went to Parkland’s Ambulatory Care Clinic. We waited for HOURS, and I got a strep culture, which came back negative, but I was put on a round of antibiotics. The problem with antibiotics and a newborn is that most of the new ones aren’t tested for their compatibility with nursing, so I was given a ten-day course of something that tore up my stomach and made me throw up.
About halfway through my dose, it quit working, so I had to go back in to Parkland, be seen again, and get another antibiotic that was safe for nursing. This one also tore me up, and tore up Judah as well. She then got diarrhea for three weeks after that from the drugs, and then we both got thrush. Thrush is a yeast infection that gets passed back and forth from the mother’s nipples and the baby’s mouth. It’s pretty common for moms and babies to get thrush after antibiotics treatment. And it’s very painful, too. We spent a month clearing that up.
So I get really nervous whenever my throat hurts. I do NOT want to have to take antibiotics if I can help it. But if it’s strep or something, then I’ll need them. I just don’t want to have to go through either one of those scenarios again.
I’m so nervous.
Did you get an appointment with Dr. L?
Barbara’s solution for Thrush is a mouth rinse of Mallox and Benedrill. Works every time. Not that an infant knows how to do mouth rinse. Thinking of you. The Poes
I did not know that strep would lead to scarlet fever- very interesting.
If it makes you feel better, there is something that is going around Dallas that you may have picked up when you were here- I had a terrible sore throat for several days and then got a terrible cold. It wasn’t fun, but I’m recovering. I hope yours is actually more benign.
I so hope you get to feeling better soon!!
what did the dr say?
well, we might have picked it up in Texas - we got back from our trip with both kids and Joshua sick, but I was fine. Then as soon as they got better, I got this throat infection. Now Judah is sick again and Joshua is on his way back as well. We’re just ping-ponging it back and forth around here.
The physician’s assistant I saw today (he wasn’t actually a doctor) said it was a viral infection. Of course,, as soon as I made the appointment, I started feeling better, but hey. They were able to do a strep culture right there, which was nice since I didn’t have to wait for results back from a lab, and it came back negative. So that’s good. All that for the low, low price of $77!
Why is it every time I finally make an appointment for myself or for Judah (haven’t had to take the boy to the dr. yet for sickness), after days and days of disease, it’s always just a virus? You’d think for close to $100 I could get diagnosed with radiation poisoning or bird flu something more exotic.
Not that I’m complaining, mind you.
luckily you are not an enemy of putin, and thus will hopefully not get radiation poisoning.
my other friend kristen had the same evil lingering-strep rash. such a pain!
glad you’re on the road to recovery!
Have you ever tried grape fruit seed extract or colloidial silver? The silver can be controversial. Both work like an antibiotic but do not disrupt your natural flora and fauna in the gut. I try to do grape fruit seed extract at the first sign of anything. They say it can kick viral stuff out quicker too. For a few bucks worth a try. OK for breast milk too. I too like you get lots of throat stuff… so does Brian. It keeps the doc away for me.
I hope you’re feeling much better! I do have to say, I feel less crazy about my terrible case of strep from a few months back. I’d never heard of ANYONE breaking out in a rash that itched like CRAZY from a really bad case of strep. You got lucky what that one — I did end up in the hospital.
we used grapefruit seed extract when judah got thrush. i swabbed both her and me with it. i didn’t know you could use it for colds and stuff - let me know how you do it. I hate the stuff, it’s really bitter!
put 10-15 drops in juice 3 times a day. usually takes 2 or 3 days to kick in, but when it does…awesome. yeah the stuff tastes horrid…. for kids i think it’s half the dose.
Have you tried Acidophilus (kyodophilus for infants) for both thrush, colds, viral infections and especially while on antibiotics? We use it for just about everything, but I initially bought the kyodophilus when I thought I had thrush w/Damascus. Glad to hear your feeling better!