Tonsillitis: Viral/Bacterial Antibiotics or No

[JuliHawa]

OK here's the situation...

Monday: 4 yr old DS comes home from preschool with a belly-ache. That night he spikes a fever of 105.1 and complains of sore throat that hurts when he swallows.

Tuesday: Take him to dr (who doesn't prescribe antibiotics much, although DS has already had them 4 or 5 times in his life). She does rapid strep test. It's negative. She says it's probably viral.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: We keep him on tylenol & motrin inorder to keep his fever down and sore throat at bay. As soon as it's almost time for the next dose, his fever is back to 105 each time.

Friday am: Take him back to the dr. She looks at his throat which is now very red and swollen with white spots and she prescribes antibiotics. BUT when we get home from dr (at 3pm) I realize he has no fever and hasn't had tylenol since 10am. I call the dr. and ask if he still needs to take the antibiotics. She says if his fever comes back AT ALL to give it to him. It comes back to 100 for about an hour and then is normal for the rest of the night....

WOULD YOU START THE ANTIBIOTICS?

Thanks!

[~Adorkable~]

i guess the one thing i would do is ask them to tell you what you are taking it for. they may admit that it is a "hope it works" bandaid for what is actually viral. it can be both things that hit your tonsils.

if it is bacterial i would take them right away and take them all, coming from myself i had many cases of what they called strep throat and abx saved me, but if they rules that out, you need to find out what is it.

they can do a 24 hr bacterial growth test and can tell you if it is any bacteria and then how that would be treated. if its viral then just deal with the symptoms the best you can, boost the immune system and wait it out

here was a nice page that i just googled http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=41609