Need Advice Strep

Strept is not something to mess with much. The child will automatically get rid of her symptoms after about 10 days, but without medication the strept stays in her body. When it raises its ugly head again she most likely won't have a sore throat, the infection may very well come alive as Scarlet Fever or Rheumatic Fever. Those are two diseases that can possibly have life-long effects, i.e. heart or arthritis in swollen joints.

My granddaughter just recovered from Scarlet Fever. She had had what they call "silent strept" so her throat wasn't sore. She had been sick with flu-like symptoms and fever, but no one thought about strept until she broke out with the Scarlet Fever. She was one sick child. Her parents felt terrible for not catching the first infection.

Even though home remedies are sometimes as good as any medicine, I wouldn't suggest trying them with this particular infection.

J.

you definately need an antibiotic. that can end up worse and send him to the hospital. someone mentinoned and antibiotic shot, if he has never had antibiotics i would not reccomend that. My daughter was 6 when she first needed and antibiotic and we opted for the old fashioned amoxicillin and it is a good thing because after 7 days she had a severe allegic reaction to it so it was good she didnt have the shot. but get him medicine. i am all for the home remedies but not in this case.

My mom used lemon tea, she would cut a lemon in half, put it in a pan with little water and let it boil and let it cool and drink it. I do warm salt water gargling but I don't know if he can do that without swallowing it. Good Luck

Good morning L.,

my advice to you...go to the doctor!!!.. Strep is nothing to mess with and is very painful. Hard to swallow even liquids. Could cause dehydration. If that happens off to the hospital you will go anyway. So what do you have against antibiotics? Ask your dr for a "z pac" its a 5 day treatment and will do the trick. "zithromax" is the name of it.
Good luck.
L. b

Strep is one of those things you don't usually want to mess around with. If you suspect or know that your child has strep, antibiotics are usually a good idea. Untreated strep can lead to scarlet fever and other complications. I am not an alarmist and not the type to go to the doctor a lot and only use antiobiotics unless nothing else works, but strep is one of those I don't try to deal with on my own.

Dear L.:

Strep is one thing that I do NOT recommend alternative remedies for. It can lead to ruematic fever, where the heart and joints are infected. The bodies immune response can lead to rhuematoid arthritis. This and heart damage can lead to life-long problems.

Many illnessess are best treated by letting your body fight it on its own, but strep is not one of these. Please treat strep with antibiotics.

Jen

Good morning,
Strep is definitely one of those illnesses that needs antibiotics because of the harm it can bring later. It is also very contagious. For just a sore throat, have you heard of Apple Cider Vinegar? Do not get the kind in the grocery store that looks clear. Get one that has not been exposed to heat in the processing. Bragg's is the one we buy from health food stores or even in the organic foods of Tom Thumb or Whole Foods. It has the "mother" in it which is natural. There is a recipe on the bottle of how many tablespoons of vinegar and honey with water. You can gargle or drink it right down. It is a natural antibiotic and has over 100 uses. It is the most natural concentrated source of postassium which is a natural muscle relaxer. I could go on and on but do some research on it and you'll be amazed! It soothes a sore throat right away. I hope this helps.
Annette M.

My initial question is, are you sure it's strep throat? Sore throats can be caused by various things, including a cold or allergies. Some home remedies to sooth a sore throat include gargling salt water, drinking warm beverages/soups, or drinking cold beverages/ice cream. Over the counter medicines for colds/allergies can also relieve throat pain by reducing drainage from the sinuses.

Strep is a bacterial infection that can lead to more serious illness if the infection is allowed to continue. Plus, your child will be contagious without antibiotics and could pass the infection to other people, especially people with suppressed immunity like the very young (i.e. your 3 month old), ill or elderly. IMO, for your child's sake and the sake of those around him, including you, he's better off with antibiotics. Stick to home remedies to help relieve the extremely painful symptoms. But if you decide not to get him antibiotics, be kind to those around him - don't let him go to school or play with other children until the infection is gone.

I LOVE HOME REMEDIES. I use honey for cough and camphor for headaches.... however if strep is not treated (read KILLED by antibiotics) in a timely fashion, two different complications can develop.

1. It can attack the heart.
2. The strep toxin can cause muscle complications.

Please take your child to the doctor.

Forget about home remedies for strep and take your son to the Dr. asap. Strep can develop into other things that are very serious as mentioned by someone else.

One more thought before removing the tonsils. When I was younger my step-sister kept coming down with strep (like 8 times in one year) and the doctor cultured the whole family to see if someone was carrying the virus. They found out my step-mom was carrying the virus but had no symptoms. So my sister would take the antibiotics and get better just to get infected again. Something to look into before surgery. Hope that helps.

We went through strep chaos last year! My 7 year old son had it 7 times in 9 months, and we were sent to an ENT to have his tonsils and adenoids out. He hasn't been sick since. After the 2nd bout with it, he actually stopped getting symptoms. His doctor was worried how many times he had had it and we didn't even know. Our pediatrician told us that with throats, they will eventually heal themselves, but the issue with strep is that it can turn into Rheumatic Fever which is far more serious. So while I understand wanting to naturally handle the situation, this is not one of this times. Your child needs antibiotics to safely heal from strep and if he keeps getting it, be prepared for an ENT visit. Our doctor told us the rule of thumb was 6 times in one year and then the tonsils come out. Good luck!

Hi L.:

I highly urge you to take your child to the doctor immediately for antibiotics if you know he is + for strep. It is very contagious and can make your son very sick if he goes without antibiotic therapy. You are also putting the rest of your family at risk. You should also throw away his toothbrush and get a new one once you start treating. If strep has been an ongoing problem with your son, ask your pedaitrician about an ENT (ears, nose throat) consult. This physician will examine your son's tonsils and adenoids, and determine if removal will help with future infection. He may not be a candidate if he has had one or two episodes, but 4+ a year would put him in this category.

R. Elkin, MOT, OTR/L, CKT

Collidal silver is a natural antibiotic you could try. If you go to Family Health Market or Sprouts, they have people trained who can help you as well.

Get to an ENT. You need to have his tonsils removed.

L.,
My son had years of ear infections and tonsilitis, often diagnosed as Type A strep. I got so good at diagnosing it myself and finding lesions on his tonsils that the pediatrician would call in antibiotics prescriptions just by me calling and telling him that Ed had another infection.

Part of the related problems were that he had tubes in his ears twice and suffered some hearing difficulties during some of his formative language acquisition years. This were overcome but it took some speech therapy.

The answer for us was a tonsillectomy. When the surgeon made the first incision, pus spurted out all over. The tonsils had been so weakened by repeated infections that they couldn't fight it well and became a harbor. We didn't do this until my son was about 11 years old but I wish we'd done it much sooner. He started growing better right after that and has never had another strep infection since. (Same as my brother years ago.) My son's a healthy and happy 27 years old now.

Other reasons I, personally, would advocate for surgery would be to get your son off antibiotics (taking them all the time leads to antibiotic-resistant germs) and to make sure some undiagnosed strep doesn't slip under the radar. Untreated strep can lead to rheumatic heart and/or kidney disease.

I hope you find this information helpful. If you decide it sounds good, keep talking to your doctor until he agrees to the surgery, or at least get 2 or 3 doctor's opinions. An ongoing history of repeated strep infections should justify surgery. Whatever you decide, be a vocal and active advocate for your child's best interests.

C.

You might want to get Recipes for Nutritional Healing, by Drs. Balch and Balch. You can find it at Amazon.com or possibly at the Cupboard natural food store in Denton. Barnes and Noble may have it as well, but Amazon has the best prices. The authors are husband and wife. He's an M.D., and she has her doctorate in nutrition. Both drugs and nutrition are addressed in this book. I've used it for over 30 years, and just purchased the new edition, too. Good luck, S. Myatt

L.,

Strep has to be treated with antibiotics. If strep is not treated, it could eventually become Rheumatic fever which is a serious condition.

Here is some info from Dr.Greene's website:
What is it?
Strep throat is a bacterial infection of the throat. It is the most common infection caused by Streptococcus bacteria. Most sore throats, though, are caused by viral infections that are not improved by antibiotics. There are many strains of strep; some of them produce toxins that can lead to a scarlet fever rash. This rash is thought to be an allergic reaction to these toxins. Untreated, strep throat can sometimes lead to rheumatic fever. Kidney complications are among the other possibilities.

Hi L.,

I think its great that you want to try home remedies I do it all the time and they work. Now just general info: Inflammation in the body's attempt to eliminate digestive toxins so look to allergies (biggest in kids is wheat, dairy, sugar and corn) both food and environmental (pollutants, smoke or even perfumes), also think is he having any emotional or psych. blocks (things at school & home).
Treatments to try: Alot of rest and quiet activity (hard with other kids I know) to strengthen him, make food simple like soups and keep him hydrated warm water (stay away from sports drinks and juices they are all sugar), teas and gargles are good(sage, oregano, thyme, marjoram, lemon, raw honey), massage neck with essential oil like tea tree, lemon and ravensara.

So to recap address food allergies, intestinal health, stressors, give warm drinks. Try chiropractic, homeopathy or other alternative practitioners that can help you with those above. Also with the rheumatic fever with b hemolytic strep the attack rate is about 3% so do your own research about what you should do, arming yourself with information and asking questions is the best way to make the right decision for your children. Also you should know that if your son has trouble breathing, or does not improve with home remedies, starts to drool, 1 side of his throat gets enlarged or has a rash within 2 weeks of infection you should go see your pediatrician. There is a place for meds but its not with every sniffle, fever or cold that is the body's immune system maturing and getting rid of things. "Germs" are everywhere the world is not sterile and we are exposed all the time how you react depends on your overall health. Hope this helps. Also what I do for my sore throats is suck on a piece of garlic (biting it a little and just letting my saliva mix with it and swallow, knocks it out in 1 day) don't know if kids are willing to do this but adults can.
Also from personal experience I have had my step son for almost 1 year and he would always miss school and get sick in the past (he supposedly had add, allergies..) but knowing what I know from my profession I took him off dairy, wheat and sugar and oh my GOD he was night and day. He went from always being sick and making low D's and F's to making all passing grades A-C and he has gotten a fever once since he has been with us and it only lasted 1 day. No more allergies, asthma, athletes foot or other problems no missed school days. Natural things work but its also a family affair getting the junk out of the house and eating more fresh meats, fruits and veggies is the way to go! If you have any questions feel free to send me a message.

I have to agree with the other Moms. He definitely needs the antibiotics. In fact, he can have an antibiotic shot to recover alot quicker but I know most doctors prescribe oral antibiotics which are just as good but don't kick in as fast.
Strep is very painful and the sooner he starts treatment, the better he'll feel. Hope he feels better soon!
Good Luck~

Be sure and throw away the toothbrushes!!!! or at least boil them to sterilize them. People never think about this, and they keep re-infecting themselves when they brush their teeth!!

A quick test at the doctor's office will tell you if your son has strep. If so, I think antibiotics are the only real solution. Be careful not to wait too long as strep can turn into more serious infections if not treated properly. Good luck!

To be honest I would get the antibiotics because you would feel awful as would your child if the strep took over his bloodstream and he went septic.

Dear L., how about gargling with lemon juice? I, myself went through a period of time in my life when it was one strep throat infection after another. With an allery to antibiotics, one medication after another failed to rid me of the infection. One day, my doctor threw her hands up in the air, and said,"Go home! Gargle with lemon juice!" So I did just that! Never again did I have a strep throat infection. That happened 37 years ago and I can repeat myself...never again did I have a strep throat infection! Hope it works for Joshua. Sincerely, D.

Try echinacea. I had strep so often as a child, that we couldn't afford (nor did my mothe rlike the idea of) constant antibiotics. If she started me on echinacea at the first sign of sore throat it never would progress. If not, I almost always turned into strep!

Maybe someone has advice on how to prevent strep. Once a child gets strep they definately need antibiotics to stop the infection. You don't want to leave it alone as it can easily become life threatening.

Strep throat is some awful stuff and I think the only way you can get rid of it is antibiotics. It can spread and make you really sick especially a child. They have to to a swab test to know for sure it that is what it is.

Last year my 10 year old sister had strep so much that she almost didn't get to move to the next grade because she missed so much school. She was on antibiotics and still it kept coming back. My mom gave her about half a shot of red wine and no more strep. This is totally your call though since I know giving minors alcohol is not popular. You could try it with mouth wash or something though.

Good luck!

for most everything else I would suggest homeopathy; however, strep if not aggressively treated goes into the heart. Go for the antibiotics and then just as aggressively get him to eat yogurt that you have added extra pro-biotics (buy capsules and break them open, stir well).

My 5 yr old grandson was never sick as a toddler. He also drank decaf green tea w/ honey and ate yogurt like most kids eat cookies. Since starting school however, we have had so many bouts with virii and strep. My answer has been to keep vanilla mint listerine and make sure he gargles 2x a day. I soak his electric toothbrush in bleach and lukewarm water for 20 minutes weekly. He has sinus problems due to cedar and pollens. So even with post nasal drainage tender throat he drinks peppermint tea or lemon tea w/ honey. He says it helps.

How about a humidifer.

Dear L., I am a teacher and I saw a case when a student had strep and the parent did not treat with antibiotics. The strep seemed to go away with home remedies, but what had really happened was that the strep had traveled to his heart. He missed 3 months of school, had heart valve damage and had to be on long term antibiotics as a result. Ask your doctor what to do to prevent it, rather than trying to treat it with something other than antibiotics. Don't let your child end up with damage to a vital organ. Take the antibiotics and do everything you can to prevent it from coming back.

Yes I have a friend who has a 7 yo daughter that was always getting strep and he started giving her Limu which is a super food with Fucoidan and within 3 days her strep went away and she hasn't had since or been sick. e-mail me if you want more information @ ____@____.com also works really well on allergies/asthma.