I'm dying here. I haven't eaten since my ice cream dinner on Wednesday night and I can barely swallow the water I must drink to stay well.
I have Cepacol lozenges but I swear they aren't working. And I'm taking ibuprofen like it's going out of style, which can't be good.
Any tried and true remedies?
Re: give me your best sore throat remedy.
I usually gargle with salt water. It supposedly helps to kill the infection. It's not a pleasant experience when doing it but if you keep up with it a couple times a day for a few days you should see some improvement.
Feel better!
Have you considered seeing your doc for strep throat?
Other than that, I'm with you - though not quite as bad - mine is more that I've lost my voice, so I'm sore, but I can swallow. Feel better Lauren!
A teaspoon of honey.
Do you have a fever? Any other cold symptoms? If you have a fever and no cold symptoms, it might be strep, especially if you can't swallow at all.
Yep, I went yesterday - strep test was negative. I was actually hoping it WAS strep so I could get antibiotics and knock this_shit out, but no dice.
Hope yours feels better soon, too, Jocelyn!
Did they do the quick strep test or the culture? Ryan tested negative for the quick test and he went downhill fast. He went back and had a culture done and it was positive right away. Keep that in mind if you don't feel better in a few days.
Good to know, Laura! Must have been the quick test - only took like five minutes. Doesn't the culture take much longer?
I do have a fever though it's getting much better - Wednesday night and yesterday through most of the day it was 102-103. Today it's like 100-101.
Ugh. I hate being sick.
I think the culture does take longer because it has to grow in the little dish, but I know he knew it was strep before he left the office. It's a good sign that your fever is getting better.
Have you ever had mono? If strep continues to be negative, you may want to get tested. The worst sore throat of my life was with mono, and I wouldn't have guessed that was the cause.
Ibprofen always helps me with my sore throats.
Ok, so, since I'm pregnant and diabetic, there's not a whole lot I can take, but I've had what sounds like the same thing as you from Monday until now (I'm not 100% better, but I started feeling a little better yesterday).
Chloraseptic (sp) lozenges. LOVE.
Small sips of ice cold water (will help with the swelling), I know it's ridiculously painful to swallow, just something you have to do.
And gargling with warm salt water every 1-2 hours.
My dad has always been a big "gargle with salt water" person and I never believed it. I'd try it 1-2 times and it'd never make a difference, so I totally wrote it off. This time, I was completely desperate (going out of town), and one of my coworkers told me to try gargling with warm salt water every 2 hours - frequency is the key. Totally worked for me - I gargled religiously for an entire day every 1-2 hours - and felt better the next day.