Help, possible strep throat!

[Kathy McCain]

Hi again,

Well, I am being treated for strep throat. I started Monday. It has not yet been confirmed, ( will not know results for a wk) so I am taking generic Augmentin twice per day. If in fact this is strep, I'll be darned as to how I got it!! I have had a couple of sinus infections this year, and I know I have hay fever.....but strep throat?? When all my children were still home, I contracted this several times, so I am familiar with it. I did not have a fever this time or terribly ill. I noticed my throat felt weird, and one small white spot over the left tonsil.

My greatest fear since my valve replacement 3 1/2yrs ago, is endocarditis! Has anyone on this forum experienced strep since their surgery, and NOT contracted this?? What was you experience? I have a Medtronic tissue valve, which has been doing great so far.

Thank you again for any help you can give!

 

[Jkm7]

Sorry to hear you have strep throat and hope it is better soon.
What does your doctor say about chance of it spreading to your valve?
CERTAINLY hope that does happen and don't expect you are that much at risk seeing it is being treated promptly.

 

[Luana]

If it's any consolation, I got endocarditis without strep throat and long before valve replacement. You're taking antibiotics, so you should be fine. Strep is very common on skin; strep and staph (which can also cause endocarditis) are everywhere.

 

[Eva]

Kathy,

Many times, I thought I had a strep throat...I could not swallow, my throat felt sore, hoarsy, and with white spots on my little left tonsil. Luckily, it was always a viral infection which my doctor recommended to treat by drinking lots of fluids and gargling with lightly-salted warm water, which helped a lot.

Here is a quote from Mayo Clinic's website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/strep-throat/DS00260/DSECTION=symptoms

Quote: In general, signs and symptoms of strep throat include:

Throat pain
Difficulty swallowing
Red and swollen tonsils, sometimes with white patches or streaks of pus
Tiny red spots on the soft or hard palate — the area at the back of the roof of the mouth
.............

It's possible .....to have many of these signs and symptoms, but not have strep throat. The cause of these signs and symptoms could be a viral infection or some other kind of illness. Unquote

Hope you feel better soon.:smile2:

 

[Kathy McCain]

Sory to hear you have strep throat and hope it is better soon.
What does your doctor say about chance of it spreading to your valve?
CERTAINLY hope that does happen and don't expect you are that much at risk seeing it is being treated promptly.

My general practitioner said I did the right thing by promptly treating. He doesn't seem to think I am at a great risk. He asked me when I have my next appt with my cardio. I told him in Nov for an echo and consultation. His reply was "perfect, if there is any vegitation, or abnormalty it would show up, but I don't think that will be the case". Of course if I experience any type of symptoms beforehand I will contact my dr's.

 

[Duffey]

I've read on the forum that tissue valves are suppose to be less suseptible to infection than mechanical. I'm not sure it's true, but if it is, then it's a plus in your situation.

 

[Protimenow]

Many things can eventually cause endocarditis. Perhaps of more risk than strep throat is poor dental hygiene (which I'm often guilty of).
It sounds like you've done well to start with an antibiotic - but I'm not sure this is the best one for strep - but it'll probably help prevent many other infections.

One thing to consider, though, while you're on an antibiotic is that the antibiotic could change your INR. You may consider having it tested to confirm that you're still in range.

 

[Luana]

Kathy, the only symptom I had was a fever, if your fever comes back after antibiotics get seen asap and ask for blood cultures.

 

[Lynlw]

Kathy, Justin's had strep throat a couple times without getting BE. (Since his first surgery was at 10 days, prety much his whole life was post op) he's also had a badly infected/impacted wisdom that i was more concerned with.. as well as other infections, respiratory, cuts etc. I would think as long as you started treating you step throat (or any infection)
pretty early the chances of it spreading to your blood stream/heart valves are very low. IF it helps you at all, when Justin had his massive infection in his sternum and all the tissue under it..around his heart, it still didn't gt into his blood stream or inside heart.

Im surprised you have to wait so long for results, did they do the rapid strep test that takes a few min, to get an idea if it shoed up strep there or not? hopefully if it came back negative, it won't grow when they did the cultures.

 

[sarahsunshine]

Like Justin, most of my stepson’s life has been post-op! (9 days was op #1 I think). Since I’ve known him I think he’s had strep on a pretty much annual basis and never got endocarditis. Keep eating healthy, get lots of sleep. Gargle with salt water and do a saline rinse as much as possible (do you have a Neti pot?). Drink lots of hot tea with unpasteurized honey. Wash your hands frequently. All those things will help you out whether it’s strep or not.

Sorry you aren’t feeling well. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[Kathy McCain]

Many things can eventually cause endocarditis. Perhaps of more risk than strep throat is poor dental hygiene (which I'm often guilty of).
It sounds like you've done well to start with an antibiotic - but I'm not sure this is the best one for strep - but it'll probably help prevent many other infections.

One thing to consider, though, while you're on an antibiotic is that the antibiotic could change your INR. You may consider having it tested to confirm that you're still in range.

I do have a tissue valve so that is one thing I don't need to be concerned about. I sure do appreciate your post though! Thanks for the info.

 

[Kathy McCain]

Kathy, the only symptom I had was a fever, if your fever comes back after antibiotics get seen asap and ask for blood cultures.

Hi Luana, It's strange, but I didn't have a fever! I have been reading about tonsil stones. The dr really didn't mention this, but if it's not strep possibly that's what it is?

 

[Kathy McCain]

Hi Luana, It's strange, but I didn't have a fever! I have been reading about tonsil stones. The dr really didn't mention this, but if it's not strep possibly that's what it is?

I see, you mean for endocartitis.

 

[Kathy McCain]

Kathy, Justin's had strep throat a couple times without getting BE. (Since his first surgery was at 10 days, prety much his whole life was post op) he's also had a badly infected/impacted wisdom that i was more concerned with.. as well as other infections, respiratory, cuts etc. I would think as long as you started treating you step throat (or any infection)
pretty early the chances of it spreading to your blood stream/heart valves are very low. IF it helps you at all, when Justin had his massive infection in his sternum and all the tissue under it..around his heart, it still didn't gt into his blood stream or inside heart.

Im surprised you have to wait so long for results, did they do the rapid strep test that takes a few min, to get an idea if it shoed up strep there or not? hopefully if it came back negative, it won't grow when they did the cultures.

Thanks Lyn for the post. Your son has really been through it, much more that I can even imagine! God bless

 

[Kathy McCain]

Like Justin, most of my stepson’s life has been post-op! (9 days was op #1 I think). Since I’ve known him I think he’s had strep on a pretty much annual basis and never got endocarditis. Keep eating healthy, get lots of sleep. Gargle with salt water and do a saline rinse as much as possible (do you have a Neti pot?). Drink lots of hot tea with unpasteurized honey. Wash your hands frequently. All those things will help you out whether it’s strep or not.

Sorry you aren’t feeling well. Hope you feel better soon!

Thanks for the post Sarah! Hope you're son is doing well. Take care

 

[Luana]

If you don't have a fever, I kind of doubt it's strep throat.

 

[piglet]

Hi Kathy,
Sorry to hear about the sore throat. Because of my RA meds that suppress my immune system I'm always worried about getting endocarditis again. Sounds like you did the right thing by seeing your doctor right away. If you are on antibiotics it's ubnlikely you'll get endocarditis even if it is strep, and I'm sure your doctor will be hypervigalent because of the VR.
Hope you feel better real soon and try not to worry, stress weakens your immune system ((((HUG))))

 

[Kathy McCain]

Thanks piglet for the words of encouragement! So very true about the stress factor!

I received good news. The throat culture came back negative! The drs office said to continue with the medication though. When I asked about the white spot, and sore throat, they really did not say what else it could be.

I have read about a calicification, which is called toncill stones. Never heard of it before, but that could be it. Unless they start giving you symptoms, you really don't need to do anything about them.

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone that posted on my thread!!!!!!!!! I don't post all the time like I used to, but I do think about the good people on this forum. You can always find words of wisdom, and comfort here!!

Thanks again, and God bless

 

[Lynlw]

Glad to hear it was negative. hope your throat feels better soon.