Questions about strep and recovery

[Anonymous]

I've had strep 6 times in the past 13 months. I've gotten it many times over my life. My doctor said it's time for them to come out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you discovering the repeat infections, especially if it is only days later? Is she becoming symptomatic again, or are you going in for a throat swab to confirm the indection cleared, only to discover she still has strep? Is it possible she's a carrier and will always show as strep positive?

This is OP, she is becoming symptomatic again. That is how we are finding out about each new case. This Sunday, she said she didn't feel well and had no fever, but an hour later, her fever was 102. I gave her tylenol, and her fever was still 102. Urgent care gave her motrin, and her fever was still 102. She finally started getting better after a dosage of augmentin. There are times she is sick, and we have taken her in for a strep test, and the strep test has been negative both the short and long tests, so she is not 100% positive for strep. I do think that we will schedule with an ENT and look into getting her tonsils out. Most of my step brothers and sisters had to have that done, but I don't know of any of my blood relatives that have had to do that. I will have to ask my family. A tonsillectomy sounds a bit scary, but is starting to make sense.

I don't think she has PANDAS. I have read up on that quite a bit, and she has no tics of any kind. She is a bit anxious at times and has ADHD, but no sudden onset of tics. Her not wanting to go to school is nothing new.

Tics are absolutely not required for PANDAS. On the other hand, anxiety, ADHS, and school refusal can be signs of PANDAS. Often, pupils are dilated. If they put their arms out in front of them you can sometimes see what are called choreiform movements. How old is she? Younger children often show with sudden bizarre behaviors, and it is unmistakeable something is wrong. In older children the onset can be more insidious.

[Anonymous]

I used to get strep all the time as a kid, and then often enough as an adult. When my kid went to a ENT for ear tubes, I mentioned my strep. Wound up getting a tonsillectomy in my 30s. That was the most miserable 2 weeks of my life. Since then, I have not missed a day of work due to illness (for me - the kids still get sick!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you discovering the repeat infections, especially if it is only days later? Is she becoming symptomatic again, or are you going in for a throat swab to confirm the indection cleared, only to discover she still has strep? Is it possible she's a carrier and will always show as strep positive?

This is OP, she is becoming symptomatic again. That is how we are finding out about each new case. This Sunday, she said she didn't feel well and had no fever, but an hour later, her fever was 102. I gave her tylenol, and her fever was still 102. Urgent care gave her motrin, and her fever was still 102. She finally started getting better after a dosage of augmentin. There are times she is sick, and we have taken her in for a strep test, and the strep test has been negative both the short and long tests, so she is not 100% positive for strep. I do think that we will schedule with an ENT and look into getting her tonsils out. Most of my step brothers and sisters had to have that done, but I don't know of any of my blood relatives that have had to do that. I will have to ask my family. A tonsillectomy sounds a bit scary, but is starting to make sense.

I don't think she has PANDAS. I have read up on that quite a bit, and she has no tics of any kind. She is a bit anxious at times and has ADHD, but no sudden onset of tics. Her not wanting to go to school is nothing new.

PP here - I didn't recommend getting her tonsils out because she had PANDAS. Each time she has strep is increases her chance of getting it in the future.

[Anonymous]

I personally would consider having your daughter's tonsils taken out. I had strep throat 21 times between the ages of 5 and 8. Similar to your daughter, I would get it every two weeks or so in the winter of those years. It was beyond miserable. I had my tonsils a week after my 8th birthday and only got strep twice after that, and it was not nearly as bad as it was before the surgery. I hope your daughter feels better soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could consider a tonsillectomy. I'd do a consult with Dr. Earl Harley, ENT at Georgetown.

+1. We had a similar case with our DS and have had zero strep since Dr. Harley removed his tonsils.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't sound to me like she has PANDAS, but Dr. Harley is the ENT to see if she does. You should definitely get a consult with him. He's been involved with studies on repeat strep and PANDAS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dd gets frequent cases of strep. This winter, she got strep, then 2 days later, came down with strep symptoms again. In this case, it seems like the first case probably wasn't cleared up. After the 2nd case of strep, she was well for 2 weeks, then she got strep again this Sunday. Here are my questions.

1. When she gets sick with strep, the dr always says she can go to school after being on medicine for 24 hours. However, she is always too sick to go bad that soon. It usually take her a full week of staying at home to feel up to going back to school or her extracurriculars. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do about it?
2. Why does she get strep so often?
3. Should I look into getting her tonsils out.

In first grade, she got strep 7 times. In second grade, I think she got strep 3 or 4 times. This year in 3rd grade, she is either on case 2 if you think of the first case as one long extended case. Oh and before public school, she did attend preschool for 3 years. She did not get strep this frequently in preschool though. However, I remember her first case of strep was on her first birthday.

My 2 year old tested positive for strep. In the first 12 hours, she had a fever or 102, 103 which I treated with Tylenol. After 36 hours after taking the first antibiotics, she was her usual self. Our ped also told us she could go to daycare the following day. Although she ate and acted normal, we diligently finished the 10 day regimen, but only THREE DAYS later, she started acting sick, and tested positive for strep again! The ped told us it was the same strain and prescribed us Cephalexin 250MG. I threw out the first medicine so I don't know what it was that didn't work, but the ped told us she was prescribing something different this time.

1) The second time around, her fever maxed out at 101 and she's acting almost normal a mere 6 hours after taking the medication. I'm still supposed to finish out the 10 days right?
2) Does strep just go away with rest and no antibiotics? I'm afraid to create unnecessary resistance to antibiotics starting at such a young age of 2.
3) So what happened here?? What can I do to prevent this? My ped just kind of shrugged to that question and said watch what she puts in her mouth. But I don't know what she put in her mouth that caused this in the first place. She's at daycare most of her waking hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd gets frequent cases of strep. This winter, she got strep, then 2 days later, came down with strep symptoms again. In this case, it seems like the first case probably wasn't cleared up. After the 2nd case of strep, she was well for 2 weeks, then she got strep again this Sunday. Here are my questions.

1. When she gets sick with strep, the dr always says she can go to school after being on medicine for 24 hours. However, she is always too sick to go bad that soon. It usually take her a full week of staying at home to feel up to going back to school or her extracurriculars. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do about it?
2. Why does she get strep so often?
3. Should I look into getting her tonsils out.

In first grade, she got strep 7 times. In second grade, I think she got strep 3 or 4 times. This year in 3rd grade, she is either on case 2 if you think of the first case as one long extended case. Oh and before public school, she did attend preschool for 3 years. She did not get strep this frequently in preschool though. However, I remember her first case of strep was on her first birthday.

My 2 year old tested positive for strep. In the first 12 hours, she had a fever or 102, 103 which I treated with Tylenol. After 36 hours after taking the first antibiotics, she was her usual self. Our ped also told us she could go to daycare the following day. Although she ate and acted normal, we diligently finished the 10 day regimen, but only THREE DAYS later, she started acting sick, and tested positive for strep again! The ped told us it was the same strain and prescribed us Cephalexin 250MG. I threw out the first medicine so I don't know what it was that didn't work, but the ped told us she was prescribing something different this time.

1) The second time around, her fever maxed out at 101 and she's acting almost normal a mere 6 hours after taking the medication. I'm still supposed to finish out the 10 days right?
2) Does strep just go away with rest and no antibiotics? I'm afraid to create unnecessary resistance to antibiotics starting at such a young age of 2.
3) So what happened here?? What can I do to prevent this? My ped just kind of shrugged to that question and said watch what she puts in her mouth. But I don't know what she put in her mouth that caused this in the first place. She's at daycare most of her waking hours.

This is OP, yes you must finish the 10 days of antibiotics. She is not yet cured of her strep infection just because she is acting somewhat better. You need to treat strep with antibiotics and take it seriously. It can cause rheumatic fever, tics and even death. I posted on the other thread that Jim Henson died from strep.

Either her first case wasn't cleared up, or she was reinfected. You need to throw away her toothbrush and buy a new one and also sterlize her water bottles or throw those out as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you discovering the repeat infections, especially if it is only days later? Is she becoming symptomatic again, or are you going in for a throat swab to confirm the indection cleared, only to discover she still has strep? Is it possible she's a carrier and will always show as strep positive?

This is OP, she is becoming symptomatic again. That is how we are finding out about each new case. This Sunday, she said she didn't feel well and had no fever, but an hour later, her fever was 102. I gave her tylenol, and her fever was still 102. Urgent care gave her motrin, and her fever was still 102. She finally started getting better after a dosage of augmentin. There are times she is sick, and we have taken her in for a strep test, and the strep test has been negative both the short and long tests, so she is not 100% positive for strep. I do think that we will schedule with an ENT and look into getting her tonsils out. Most of my step brothers and sisters had to have that done, but I don't know of any of my blood relatives that have had to do that. I will have to ask my family. A tonsillectomy sounds a bit scary, but is starting to make sense.

I don't think she has PANDAS. I have read up on that quite a bit, and she has no tics of any kind. She is a bit anxious at times and has ADHD, but no sudden onset of tics. Her not wanting to go to school is nothing new.

Tics are absolutely not required for PANDAS. On the other hand, anxiety, ADHS, and school refusal can be signs of PANDAS. Often, pupils are dilated. If they put their arms out in front of them you can sometimes see what are called choreiform movements. How old is she? Younger children often show with sudden bizarre behaviors, and it is unmistakeable something is wrong. In older children the onset can be more insidious.

This is OP, and my dd is 9 years old. I have never seen her do any choreiform movements. Her ADHD appears to be partly genetic because my dh has ADHD. I think she hates school because she has ADHD. I don't think these issues are related to strep for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you discovering the repeat infections, especially if it is only days later? Is she becoming symptomatic again, or are you going in for a throat swab to confirm the indection cleared, only to discover she still has strep? Is it possible she's a carrier and will always show as strep positive?

This is OP, she is becoming symptomatic again. That is how we are finding out about each new case. This Sunday, she said she didn't feel well and had no fever, but an hour later, her fever was 102. I gave her tylenol, and her fever was still 102. Urgent care gave her motrin, and her fever was still 102. She finally started getting better after a dosage of augmentin. There are times she is sick, and we have taken her in for a strep test, and the strep test has been negative both the short and long tests, so she is not 100% positive for strep. I do think that we will schedule with an ENT and look into getting her tonsils out. Most of my step brothers and sisters had to have that done, but I don't know of any of my blood relatives that have had to do that. I will have to ask my family. A tonsillectomy sounds a bit scary, but is starting to make sense.

I don't think she has PANDAS. I have read up on that quite a bit, and she has no tics of any kind. She is a bit anxious at times and has ADHD, but no sudden onset of tics. Her not wanting to go to school is nothing new.

Tics are absolutely not required for PANDAS. On the other hand, anxiety, ADHS, and school refusal can be signs of PANDAS. Often, pupils are dilated. If they put their arms out in front of them you can sometimes see what are called choreiform movements. How old is she? Younger children often show with sudden bizarre behaviors, and it is unmistakeable something is wrong. In older children the onset can be more insidious.

This is OP, and my dd is 9 years old. I have never seen her do any choreiform movements. Her ADHD appears to be partly genetic because my dh has ADHD. I think she hates school because she has ADHD. I don't think these issues are related to strep for her.

I agree--doesn't sound like PANDAS. But go to Harley anyway for a consult on a possible tonsillectomy.

[Anonymous]

I suffered from strep several times a year when I was a child and teenager. It was horrible. Finally, when I was 20 I had my tonsils removed. I am now in my thirties. I NEVER had it again. I would take your daughter to an ENT and start a discussion about removing her tonsils.

[Anonymous]

This is OP, and dd has strep again. We are going to take her to an ENT and see about whether she should have her tonsils out. She finished her augmentin on Tuesday and had strep symptoms again on Sat, and she tested positive for strep at urgent care. The dr felt like all the strep was not killed from her last infection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, and dd has strep again. We are going to take her to an ENT and see about whether she should have her tonsils out. She finished her augmentin on Tuesday and had strep symptoms again on Sat, and she tested positive for strep at urgent care. The dr felt like all the strep was not killed from her last infection.

Are you changing sheets, pillows, toothbrush, sterilizing her toys, crayons, etc!
I'm sure you are, but just putting that out there. Also - do you have a dog that could be carrying it (or is that possibility just a myth)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, and dd has strep again. We are going to take her to an ENT and see about whether she should have her tonsils out. She finished her augmentin on Tuesday and had strep symptoms again on Sat, and she tested positive for strep at urgent care. The dr felt like all the strep was not killed from her last infection.

Are you changing sheets, pillows, toothbrush, sterilizing her toys, crayons, etc!
I'm sure you are, but just putting that out there. Also - do you have a dog that could be carrying it (or is that possibility just a myth)?

Oops, didn't mean to put a "!", that made my question sound rude.