strep- alternatives to abtx?

[Vaquitita]

I have strep for the first time, my attempts to get over it didn't work (though I probably tried them too late) and am now on antiobiotics. Which I avoid, but I didn't know what else to do and was in so much pain. Since infections treated with abtx often reoccur, I want to be prepared. Or if my kids should get it.

Here's what happened: Woke up early early Monday morning with a very painful sorethroat, bodyaches and fever. This continued through Tuesday. By Tuesday night all symptoms other than the sore throat were gone. Wednesday-Friday I went back to most of my normal stuff (I've got 3 kids). It was at this point I started saltwater gargles 1x a day, I also tried taking Emergen-C but it was so painful to swallow that I didn't take all that much. Friday night I was feeling worse again. I spent the weekend trying to rest while dh took care of the kids 75%. Bodyaches and fever came back some too. I increased the saltwater gargles to 2-3x a day (and added a few drops of GSE), took Echinacea, forced a bit more Emergen-C down (but still nowhere near bowel tolerance). I tried taking Tylenol a few times, but it had no effect on the pain. Starting on Saturday, but didn't become really obvious till Sunday, the gland on the left side of my neck became very swollen and painful (though the rest of my throat seemed to stop hurting). Monday morning I felt horrible. The pain from the swollen gland went down my jaw and up into my ear. I could barely open my mouth to look down my throat, when I did I could see the left side and the roof swollen and everything dark red (my mom said she could see white spots too). It was so swollen I couldn't speak easily, everything slurred together.

I had been sick for 8 days and was now in worse condition than ever. I've got 2 kids and a baby, and there's no one to come take care of all of us so I can just go to bed for 2 weeks. So I hauled myself into the dr, she did a throat swab which tested positive for strep A, and gave me a perscription for Amoxicillan (and vicadin, which i turned down). She also gave me the advice to start drinking very warm beverages to encourage the puss to drain, which I must say, really helped. I started taking the abtx that night (also some childrens liquid Advil which enabled me to swallow broth and tea), I took it all day yesterday. I woke up this morning with almost no pain and the swelling greatly reduced, I can talk again!

Now that I feel better, I started researching strep alternatives. And of course I keep running across abtx aren't necessary, they make the infection reoccur, etc. Which is just making me feel worse about taking the antibiotics which I don't like taking anyway (I do plan on taking lots of probiotics once I'm done with the antibiotics). I don't know if my infection was getting better on its own or if it went untreated too long so it had to be abtx. I think the alternatives I tried were too little too late. But I want to be prepared for next time. What should I have ready?

At first sign, take vitamin C to bowel tolerance?

warm saltwater gargles, how often?

coilloidial silver throat spray?

echinacea?

GSE gargles, how often?

Thanks for reading my lengthy post. :-) And for any suggestions.

[omri]

I had problems to Strep & staph too.

I have studied herbs and have even tried several for healing.

I recommend you purchase Coptis herb,  you can purchase this in Chinese herb shops

and it is call Huang Lian Su (pronounced hwang lyen su Tablets ).

The dose is 4 to 5 tablets for a 150 lb. adult. which can be taken twice a day.

Also as an added booster purchase Chuan Xin Lian Tablets ( pronounced

Chuan shin lyen tablets in bottles of 100 tabs also at Chinese herb shops.

The dose is a 4 tabs twice a day.

These are both safe drugs.

You'll be amazed because the coptis - bacteria do not develop a resistance

to this and it will actually make antibiotics work better because as I said

it does not develop resistance.

[mbravebird]

After using GSE, colloidal silver, and oil of oregano for repeat ear infections and not seeing any difference, we tried olive leaf extract and it worked right away. I'm a new fan!! OLE also doesn't kill beneficial bacteria (you can add it to yogurt without affecting the culture!), so that's a big benefit, too. We used the liquid Barleans, which is particularly potent.

[Vaquitita]

Success!!! My son developed a fever and a sore throat, I immediately began giving him vitamin C and echinacea and colloidial silver. My mother-in-law suggested propolis, so I gave him that too. At first I was giving him 750mg every hour, after a day and a half he reached bowel tolerance and I lowered it to 500mg every hour, 24 hours later he again reached bowel tolerance. At this point his throat no longer hurt, he was playing like normal and his appetite` was back! I'm still giving him a little bit of vit C, but he seems totally over it! Yay!

[ssh]

If untreated, strep throat can sometimes cause complications such as kidney inflammation or infection and rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever can lead to painful and inflamed joints, a rash and even damage to heart valves. Kidney damage can happen if an infection or inflammation isn't treated. Here's a link http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000503.htm .

I'm not big on antibiotics. My 5.5 year old has never been on them. But strep is one thing I'd use them for.

[lilabet]

I think taking antibiotics yourself (treating a serious illness correctly!) and not giving them to your child was cruel and foolish. I assume you mean "until he had diarroeah" by "bowel tolerance" - was that kind and loving to an already sick child? Gentle?

Nope.

And btw as the pp says, strep can cause all sorts of really really bad things.

You do know this is the sort of thing people would class as child neglect, right?

[nursingmommaof2]

How is your son doing now, OP?

[ameliabedelia]

OP...glad to hear that the natural remedies worked for your son!  Yay!!

To answer your question, I would take SAP to bowel tolerance and do a herbal antimicrobial (ie. garlic or GSE or olive leaf extract or oil of oregano) several times each day.  At least 4-5.

I've never used colloidal silver, so I can't help on that.

If untreated, strep throat can sometimes cause complications such as kidney inflammation or infection and rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever can lead to painful and inflamed joints, a rash and even damage to heart valves. Kidney damage can happen if an infection or inflammation isn't treated. Here's a link http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000503.htm .

Treating an infection naturally is still treating it.   Natural remedies DO work and oftentimes better than antibiotics and w/o side effects.    They dont' always work, but then antibiotics DON'T ALWAYS WORK either.    And, if they didn't work, I'm sure the OP would have taken her child to the dr. if necessary.

OP...I would continue with the Vitamin C/colloidal silver/propolis for at least another few days.  Keep in mind that with antibiotics, usually it is 7-10 days, you continue after you feel better.  I don't know that natural remedies need to be continued that long, but I would continue at least for a few days.

[abemom2]

Nice to know what the natural stuff for strep are. It seems like I had untreated strep and in my thread above you can read my story, but it definitely damaged me bad, so do whatever you can to treat it. Don't ignore it - whether you'll be treating it naturally or with medicines.

[hippiemom]

 Great to try natural remedies, but with strep, if you are not seeing improvement after 24 hours, do seek medical care.  It can escalate and cause severe damage/other conditions that are much worse.  

I went in with my daughter once, who tested positive for strep, and then I tested positive for it too, though I had NO symptoms.  The doc put her on antibiotics {she was feverish and in lots of pain}, but not me.  I was told that it can come in different levels of severity and some people just get over it.  Others get hit harder and you have to treat.  We both cleared up, and I never developed even a sore throat.