How long did you hide out in my system in order to systematically destroy my weekend and cost me two days of work? For God’s sake, the kid was out for over a week and had a doctor’s note saying he was ok to come back on Tuesday, but you still got me? What were you, the one resistant cell hiding out in his system in order to infect an unsuspecting person, or what?
And what’s with the fucking low profile? Are there some Jedi mind tricks that strep infections employ to make people say only that step involves “ a sore throat and trouble swallowing” ? I know now that this was a ploy to get me to not consider the possibility of being invaded by you until after it was too late to seek medical help. Cute trick just manifesting yourself as a fierce headache- which impaired my sight and cognitive skills to such a degree that I was forced to rely on b movies as entertainment- and a high temperature on Saturday. You just preyed on the fact that I’ve been exposed to strep a score of times without getting it, just to make me think you were the flu. Yeah, the fact that my temperature hovered around 102 despite my taking aspirin was worrisome, but I didn’t have a sore throat… then, once it was Sunday, the one day that it’s impossible to get a doctor’s appointment, you attacked my throat. The on-call nurse was very helpful when she explained that going in for a throat culture in the e.r. wouldn’t be covered by my insurance unless complications arose, so I ought to ride it out until Monday.
I think it figured into your master plan to infect me when my doctor’s office would claim, five minutes after they opened, to be solidly booked for the day and unable to spare the time to see me. However, I thwarted you by going to the urgent care, even though the doctor’s receptionist claimed to be clueless about the necessity for a referral or not; I hope the answer is not, since I didn’t get one, but that she didn’t know and didn’t ask anyone makes me think I probably got better service at the urgent care.
I thwarted you again by safely driving the longest ten miles of my life despite exhaustion and a peculiar sense of lightheadedness that was probably brought on by three days of not feeling like eating much of anything. I’d like to apologize to fellow motorists for perhaps not being as safe a driver as I should have been, but I didn’t have another way to get there.
It probably rankles you that I’m on the mend, but perhaps you derive some measure of satisfaction that the penicillin that’s killing you feels as though it burns holes in my stomach when I take the morning dose. Die, evil strep virus, Die!!
Hang in there, dude! I used to get strep once a year or so, and boy, did it suck. You did the right thing, especially if the fever wasn’t responding to aspirin; untreated strep can lead to rheumatic fever and eventual heart damage, or so my doc told me when I asked where my heart murmur could have come from. (She thought it was from the time in college where the stupid health center misdiagnosed me, so I got no drugs for a couple of weeks, until I got home and saw my regular doc.)
The good news: it usually responds to drugs in a day or two. Until then, you’re going to be pretty useless, though. Just enjoy the ice cream and cold OJ in the meantime…
When you take your pills, if they upset your stomach, eat a piece of bread or some other food with them and that should help. Strep is nothing to play around with so I’m glad you caught it in time.
Aww, my heart goes out to you. I had strep a few weeks ago…I went to the doctor, who put me on penecillin. The first day or two it just didnt help any…the third day, my throat closed up completely, and I couldnt breathe. Needless to say, I stopped taking it after that…
The worst part? I think I’m going into a relapse.
Pammipoo
WARNING!!!
STREP DOES NOT GO AWAY WITHOUT TREATMENT!
It may seem to, but in reality it goes deeper into the body to fester for a few years before coming out in nasty ways, like eating up a kidney, causing a liver abscess or any number of things.
If you are allergic to the medication than you NEED to go back to the doctor and get a different type. Strep is easy to cure but nothing to play around with.
Please go back to the doc if you did not when you had an allergic reaction to the pills. They’ll put you on an antibiotic that you are not allergic to.
or, Deep Throat Goes Disease-of-the-Week
Ha. Is the flu the next in the series, Knead?
Oh God … I had strep back in February of last year. I missed three days of work (granted it was only part-time, but lost wages are lost wages) and was a total mess from the medication. I was given a Z-Pak (I do not recall what kind of drug this was; I have a severe allergy to penicillin so I know it wasn’t that) and Tylenol 3 with codeine. It worked for taking away the pain, but it also worked for sleeping 18 hours a day, so it might not be for you.
Definitely get sleep, definitely get medicated, and definitely STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! 
Good luck to you, and I hope you feel better soon.
-Dirty
Z-pak is azithromycin. Good stuff, Maynard! It was probably the codeine that did you in, not the Z-pak.
Sincere wishes on your recovery. I had strep several times as a kid and again last year. I’d forgotten how much it hurts.
One time I had a strep infection that didn’t hurt my throat, but my legs. It quickly got to the point where I was so sore I couldn’t walk down the stairs at home but had to sit down and slide. Fortunately mom saw me and hauled me right to the doctor’s office. In a few days I was good as new, but I still don’t like to think of how that could have gone.