Ack! Not another case of Strep!

May 13, 2007 8:11 PM

I keep getting strep throat over and over. Is there any way to help keep from RE-acquiring it?

I've had strep twice within the past six months. But each time I get it, I'm antibiotics, I'm fine for a week or two, and then I've got Strep again. (Just looked down my throat, and -- there's little white patches forming again!) I change my toothbrushes out each time I get it, I change my bedclothes and bleach my pillows, I wash my work surfaces and sanitize the bathroom ... I can't seem to figure out how I keep re-aquiring it, and my ENT is starting to mumble about having my tonsils out and my regular doctor doesn't want to hear about it anymore until I do get my tonsils out.

At 27 years of age, I'd be dreading the recovery. Plus, I'm allergic to like EVERYTHING and don't want to lose the little bit of additional protection that the tonsils give you.

The other problem seems to be that my tonsils are normally huge -- have been ever since I moved to Texas. As in, they're so huge that they clog my throat and ride on my tongue.

I realize that you're not a doctor, and I'm definitely under the care of several. Is there anything that I can do to help it along that they don't know or aren't telling me, short of poppin' those tonsils?

posted by SpecialK to health & fitness (23 comments total)

If you're under the care of doctors, I'm sure you know better, but I'll ask anyway: Are you taking the full course of antibiotics or do you stop when you feel better?
posted by AaRdVarK at 8:13 PM on May 13, 2007

I got strep three times when I was 18 and had gotten it nearly every year for a while. I eventually had my tonsils removed and haven't had strep since. My tonsils were also huge.

Apparently tonsils are great at protecting you _unless_ the virus is able to make its way inside, in which case it lingers in your tonsils and will continue to reinfect you until you do something about it.
posted by null terminated at 8:23 PM on May 13, 2007

I've heard that pets can have it and keep re-infecting their humans...don't know if it's true or not.
posted by rcavett at 8:28 PM on May 13, 2007

AaRdVarK - Yes, I take the entire course of antibiotics. I'm also retentive about taking them at the same exact time, ever since the second time I got it and the doc blamed me getting it again on me taking the once-a-day pill at different times when I went to bed within a six-hour timeframe (I work from home at night, so I go to bed anywhere from 9pm to 3am) ...

And I thought strep was a bacteria, not a virus...
posted by SpecialK at 8:28 PM on May 13, 2007

rcavett - I have a dog, and my doctor is convinced that she's the cause -- the first time I had strep C -- but other people at work have had strep at the same time as I do, and I asked several vets at the veterinary hospital that most of my recent GFs have been students at and they said it's VERY unlikely.
posted by SpecialK at 8:32 PM on May 13, 2007

According to Wikipedia it is a bacteria.

Here is my ancedotal story: In my early teen years I got Strep throat pretty common (once every 3 or 4 months) and the doctor told me if I got it again in that timeframe they would have to remove my tonsils. Thankfully, it was many years before I got it again.

I suppose if you wanted a definitive answer you'll have to wait for ikkyu2 to come around.
posted by mmascolino at 8:35 PM on May 13, 2007

1. Strep is a bacteria, not a virus.

2. After getting strep / tonsillitis once a month for 5 months at age 30, in 2005, I had mine removed. Like you, I was fine on antibiotics, and I tried, in conjunction with my physicians several different antibiotic strategies (different drugs, higher doses, longer doses, etc).

If you're anything like me, you'll do this until you're tired of having a high fever and really frickin' sore throat roughly once a month. Then you'll get the things cut out, be absoluetely, irresolutely miserable in pain for a week, and then, you'll never think about it again, until some other poor sap posts to ask metafilter about this stuff.

I'd say it was worth it. BTW, my ENT physician, who cut out my tonsils, said mine were about as big as he'd ever seen.
posted by u2604ab at 8:36 PM on May 13, 2007

get your tonsils out. I used to get recurring strep, and I suspect you'll get a lot of people on here agreeing with me: once your tonsils start to suck from damage (strep, general colds, wear and tear), they don't do any good. I got my tonsils out when I was 17, and now that I'm 28 I have to say I get sick a lot less. I used to be sick with something all the time (my recurring sickness of preference, along with strep was sinusitis), but since the removal of my tonsils and my adenoids, I maybe MAYBE get sick once a year. Why don't you want to get your tonsils out? If you've worn them out, cut them out. It changed my LIFE.
posted by bash at 8:38 PM on May 13, 2007

I have a good friend who went through hell with the exact symptoms you describe. She got her tonsils removed @ 22 years old and can't imagine how she lived otherwise now.
Most (of course, not all) anecdotal stories I've heard regarding recurring throat issues have the same results where removing the tonsils solved most if not all of the issues.
Your EMT is talking about getting the removed. Your regular doctor has given you his answer.
I don't know about the allergenic side-effects, but all the evidence points towards getting your tonsils removed would alleviate a lot of the strep throat issues.
posted by jmd82 at 8:41 PM on May 13, 2007

Do it. Get it removed. If you're getting it more than 2-3 times a year, it's probably actually in the tonsils and they'll keep infecting you. It'll suck; you'll be unhappy for a week or two; but you'll stop getting strep. It's not nearly as bad a surgery as you might think, even if you have it at a late age.

IANAD, but I had a lot of strep and got my tonsils out, and I don't regret it for a moment. Even though I did end up back in the hospital dangerously dehydrated.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 8:57 PM on May 13, 2007

I'm older than you and I'm getting mine out soon, plus some rhinoplasty at the same time.

In the meantime, I'm staving it off with some regular gargling of salt water and cayanne pepper. I get a throat infection monthly. I'll go through periods where I won't get one for years, but then I'll have years where it's regular as clockwork. Gargle until you can get them yanked.
posted by adipocere at 9:00 PM on May 13, 2007

Millionth vote for scrap those tonsils. My doctor told me that tonsils of people who get strep and other throat infections get riddled with little holes that are breeding grounds for other infections. I wish I could have them out, but my case isn't as severe as yours. My sister had hers removed when she was young and it really changed her life. Her recovery was awwwful though...she was one of those kids who felt pain really deeply and she would not eat anything for what felt like a month. Definitely stock up on ice cream.

Also, if you're allergic to things, isn't allergy an immune system reaction? So aren't your tonsils, as a part of your immune system, a part of the problem when you're having an allergic reaction? I'm not a doctor...just an allergy sufferer. Your reasoning seems backwards to me.
posted by crinklebat at 9:21 PM on May 13, 2007

FWIW, do you live with a carrier? A person who gets strep throat and shows few or no signs of it? IANAD, or even anywhere close, but I used to get frequent infections as a young child, and it turned out one of my siblings almost always had a simultaneous case, but showed no symptoms and I was catching it from her. Maybe that's totally bogus, Ted, but we made sure not to share any drinks and etc, and I got many less cases of strep afterward. FYI I've had my tonsils and glands swell up to astronomical proportions, but they usually came down to normalish size. Never had them out.
posted by conch soup at 9:59 PM on May 13, 2007

Let them take them out. I got Strep and other sore throats multiple times a year, to the point that I really didn't know what it was like to not have pain, before I let them taken out.

I was 20 when I let them remove my tonsils. At 32, I have had less than 5 sore throats since then, and all of those were caused by allergies and subsequent drainage from that. Right after the surgery I was miserable (I couldn't even eat ice cream, as the cold burned.) Now, though, I am so happy I did it, and can't believe I suffered for so many years.

(my tonsils were so enlarged that it was causing breathing issues, and they are now in a jar at a medical school.)
posted by SuzySmith at 10:43 PM on May 13, 2007

Do you bite your nails?
posted by Scram at 10:44 PM on May 13, 2007

Crinklebat: There's a lot of evidence that the tonsils help absorb resperitory allergens before they make other parts of your body have an allergic reaction. At least, that's what I always heard.

I have a roommate, but he's never here. And we don't share glasses or anything else. I might *work* with a carrier, but I work in a large building at a university... kinda hard to tell if I do or not.
posted by SpecialK at 10:46 PM on May 13, 2007

I used to get strep twice a year. When I was in my 20s, I stopped getting it for the most part, but I still get a sore throat really easily when I have colds. I'm considering getting my tonsils removed... but mine aren't so large that they clog my throat and sit on my freakin' tongue. (Which is good, since I have a helluva gag reflex. Do they make you gag?)

Seriously, listen to your doctors and the posters above. Your naughty little tonsils are reinfecting you and you need to teach them a lesson that involves you being on a liquid diet for a week or so. Your tonsils aren't helping you at this point, they're making you sicker. A number of people in my family that had chronic throat infections had little, if any, recurrence after their tonsils were removed. Get 'em out!
posted by bedhead at 10:52 PM on May 13, 2007

Let's first clarify what you mean by "then I've got Strep again." Do you mean that you go to a doctor, get a rapid strep test or strep culture that is confirmed as positive? Or do you mean that you have little white specs on your tonsils, and so you think that means you have strep?

Those little white things on your tonsils could be a sign of a strep infection, or they could simply be tonsiliths--bits of food and junk that get stuck in the pits of your tonsils (which sound like they're naturally quite large) and then finally get expelled, making your tonsils tender and foul-smelling.

If you have multiple confirmed strep cases, then the antibiotics you are getting aren't working, or something else is going on.

Tonsilitis is not the same thing as "strep throat." Streptococcus pyogenes, the bacteria that causes strep throat (Group A beta-hemolytic strep aka GAS), can cause tonsil inflammation, but all that inflames the tonsils is not strep.

(On that note, I should mention I had multiple frequent episodes of tonsilitis back in Chicago during the cold winters and opted to get them out, and I too have anecdotally felt like I'm much less likely to get sore throats as frequently as I used to.)

On Preview: Amen to Scram--nail biting and nose picking will not help you in your sore throat problems, either.
posted by gramcracker at 11:52 PM on May 13, 2007

gramcracker makes a good point - are you being diagnosed with multiple cases of strep throat or are you just seeing white spots when you have a sore throat and assuming it's strep? If your tonsils are that big on a regular basis, you could just have acute and/or chronic tonsillitis, which probably contributes to your vulnerability to strep infections (IANAD, just a repeat strep throat sufferer).
posted by bedhead at 11:58 PM on May 13, 2007

I used to get strep through... monthly. To the point where I almost got held back in the 9th grade due to the number of days missed.

I haven't been treated for it as an adult since I started gargling generously (+++) with warm salt water and/or Listerine at first sign.

Of course I also got older which changes the susceptibility, but still... 36 days a year sick to none is something that I still pay attention to.

Your allergies are what's causing it (imho). A little post-nasal drip can get out of control fast.

If you can't control it, get your tonsils out. Don't trust meFites, get a second opinion. Mention your allergies to the Dr. They'll give you an honest opinion.

Is the recovery worse than spending the rest of your life with monthly strep (And antibiotics)?
posted by Ookseer at 12:30 AM on May 14, 2007

i used to get a lot of throat infection, not so much strep throat, but regular tonsilitis mostly. my anecdotal evidence suggests that fasting helped me. a lot of doctors are not into fasting, but people who are into it say that when you fast your body systems that are usually "distracted" by processing food start to clear up certain chronic health issues. supposedly you experience some symptoms of the conditions while they're being cleared up, which is what happened to me. i started fasting for a week every six months, and at first while i would fast my throat would feel kind of sore, but then clear up when i started eating again. after three or for times of this i stopped having the sore throat symptom, and i also haven't had any sore throat diseases in the several years since (even when my partner had a really bad case). of course, maybe this is all psychosomatic or something, but as long as it works that is good enough for me.

also on the wacky alternative medicine kick, gargle with something like salt water, salt and cayenne, or grapefruit seed as soon as you start to feel the first hint of symptoms, and do it repeatedly for the next several days. no guarantees, but if you're thinking of having surgery you might want to consider any other options first.
posted by lgyre at 9:55 AM on May 14, 2007

Yet another voice in the tonsilless chorus. I had mine out as an adult and yes, the recovery is awful, but it's worth it. I got a second and then a third opinion from doctors, eventually decided they knew what they were talking about, and have never regretted it (not even when I was unable to talk the day after the surgery and could communicate on the phone only by using a squeaky dog toy).
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:40 AM on May 14, 2007

Tonsils out! Got mine out at 21 and have been much, much less prone to strep.
posted by CwgrlUp at 7:48 PM on May 14, 2007