Sore throat question

Ok, so if one has white bumpy stuff in the back of the throat does that mean I should go to the doc and get an antibiotic? One side of my throat has the white stuff, the other side is just really really red looking. It hurt pretty bad yesterday and today it's not too bad so far. I did wake up feeling like something was 'growing' towards my chest though, kwim? I really don't want to go to the doc. You think it's just a normal cold?

White stuff is usually a sign of thrush i thought which would need medication, it could be some other sort of throat infection too so i'd get it checked out.

Gargle with warm salt water and see how it goes today. You may need to go in though. Could be strep.

A lot of the time white spots in your throat means strep, but I've had them and had it turn out not to be strep too. I usually wait a day and see if they go away and if they don't then I go to the doctor. The last really bad cold I had I had huge white spots in my throat, but it was just a normal cold. It did turn into a mild case of pnuemonia though. But I had other symptoms like coughing and sinus pain and stuff too.

Hope you feel better soon!

Is it like white mucuosy stuff? Last month I went in for something like that and it was tonsillitis. The white stuff was pus. Yuck!! I got on an antibiotic and it cleared up pretty quick. If it's white, raised "dots" then it might be strep...

Hope it gets better soon!

Well I went ahead and went in to the doc because the whole side of my neck was in pain. They did a strep test, won't know for two days and gave me an antibiotic because they said it looked like strep. There was white pussy yuck all over in my throat. The problem is now I can only drink liquids til the antibiotic works. I was drinking a shake for lunch and I normally have some cheese snack with it. I tried to eat it twice but it kept getting stuck in the back of my throat. I thought I was going to choke to death trying to get it to go down. It's not that sore anymore though. Weird.

Did they test for mono too?

Oh gosh no. I thought that was a kissing thing. What is mono? How do you get it?

You won't know for TWO days? That stinks! I just got tested and it took five minutes in the office. Anyhow, crossing my fingers for you that it's not strep. Feel better!

Strep is not usually associated with any chest congestion. And with strep, it feels far worse than just a bad sore throat- you get the chills, bad fever, body ache- you know you're sick. The white stuff in the back of your throat- that could go either way. I've had that with and without strep.
I never understood why drs do a throat culture, and prescribe the antibiotics before the culture comes back. Why bother doing the test then?

Yeah I know Jeanne. I normally don't take the antibiotics either until the test comes back. I decided to today because I have meetings up this week and can't afford to feel like crap. At least the antibiotic will make me feel good for a few days, lol. Sad, I know, but I'm desperate this week. It's crunch time for me and everything else I've tried to relieve the symptoms isn't working. I'm going to be out late two nights this week for work and well these drugs better work.

Normally I'd be right there with you....I'd be questioning my doc, but in this instance I needed something. I can't even swallow food, barely liquid .

Pockets of infection (the white bumps) can also be a sign of strep. I hope it gets cleared up soon!

Well,from the way you explained it,it sounds like tonsillitis to me..The reason I say that is because it sounds just like my sons throat looked..It was VERY nasty.. and he said his throat hurt but wasn't bad...Well,it was so BAD that they ended up having to take his tonsils out and that was the 1st part of August 2006...Did your Dr say why it would take so long to get the throat culture results back?? It usually only takes about 5 mins at the Dr's we use..Hope you feel better soon!!