This is a question that even I have to ask myself when I’m suffering from an irritating sore throat with a runny nose and a productive cough.  Should I ask my doctor for antibiotics or is this consellation of symptoms just the result of some pesky virus that won’t be affected by antibiotics and may even raise my risk of contracting a bacteria that’ll be resistant to even the most powerful of antibiotics?

As a new mother, I’m tempted to call the pediatrician for every runny nose, every sneeze and every tug at the ear BUT I don’t.  Most of the time, Rufus’ symptoms are very self-limited and don’t even last for more than a day.  But on the other hand, I’ve been medicating myself with Theraflu and menthol cough drops for the past several days without much improvement in my nagging cough and I’m beginning to wonder if I need antibiotics!

So before I went on my trip to Maryland to see the family with Rufus I got a Rapid Group A Strep test to see if I had strep throat.  The Rapid test was negative for Group A strep but it wasn’t until I returned from my trip that I finally got around to checking on the final throat culture.  What I found out was no surprise given my continued cough especially worse at night.  I found out that my sore throat was not due to a simple virus but due to another form of hemolytic strep species called Group F Strep. 

Now for a quick microbiology lesson of Streptococcus.  Streptococcus is a bacteria that is a common naturally occurring bacteria that you can find in your mouth and on your skin.  Occasionally a particular strain of streptococcus predominates and causes inflammation and irritation of your throat called pharyngitis.  There are several groups of Streptococcus and it’s the beta-hemolytic streptococcus groups that can cause rheumatic fever and potentially cause irreversible damage to your heart valves….thus the importance of identifying and treating a sore throat or pharyngitis due to beta-hemolytic strep.  Even without antibiotic treatment your Strep throat will get better but it’s the damage to the heart valves that we’re trying to prevent by prescribing antibiotics to eradicate the bacteria. 

Since I spend all my time working in the hospital I see the devastating effects of random and careless use of antibiotics by many doctors and patients to treat anything from the common cold to the flu.  Antibiotics–no matter how strong and powerful WILL NOT treat viruses!  You’d need an anti-viral medication and there is no such medication for the common cold.  Because I’ve seen the insurgence of antibiotic resistance over the past several years, I follow a strict self-imposed rule of NOT prescribing antibiotics unless I’m sure I’m treating a bacterial infection.

So when I first got the throat culture, the emergency room doctor wondered if I was already taking antibiotics for my sore throat and I told him NO!  I explained to him that I would wait to see what the throat culture showed before taking any antibiotics and lo and behold, I took my first dose of antibiotics tonight. 

When I was on my trip visiting family, I knew that the severity of my sore throat was not normal and that something more was going on and I was right.  Although I had to take frequent breaks I was still able to stick to my workouts but had to use a modified version of the Backyard Workout that I could perform in my mother’s living room.  Even with eating out every night, my workouts kept the extra pounds at bay and the scale thanks me. 

So now that I’m heading off to find another menthol cough drop I know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel for my sore throat.  I’m day #1 on a 7 day course of antibiotics to rid my throat and my body of any potential damage to my heart valves. 

To those of you who often wonder if you should ask your doctor for antibiotics for whatever infection you have, why don’t you first ask for a culture to be taken, so both you and your doctor will know exactly what you’re treating!

To your wellness,

Dr. Traci Ferguson…The Health and Wellness Queen

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 4:50 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.