Thursday, March 11, 2010

Road Rash Throat

My throat hurt so bad last weekend.

I'm typically not a whiner, but I'm going to go on about this for a bit. Because seriously - I have rarely if ever had a throat this destroyed.

I woke up Friday with a mildly swollen, mildly sore throat, and feeling kind of crummy. By Friday night I was totally wiped out. I didn't even go to Incrediboy's karate class (and I really wanted to, because he was getting his blue belt - a very big deal since blue is his favorite color - but I digress). When I woke up Saturday I was a dead woman. I was feverish and my throat was completely destroyed from my sinuses to my lungs - it felt as if I'd swallowed hot asphalt. I could not eat, drink, talk, or even swallow my own spit. When I looked in my mouth with a flashlight, my whole throat was nearly swollen shut - not to mention red as tabasco sauce and covered with white splotches.

Gross.

I laid in excessive misery until Monday when I could get in to see the doctor. I thought for sure I had strep. After an excruciatingly agonizing throat culture (I literally grabbed my doctor's arm and forced the swab out of my mouth before I even realized I was doing it - and I'm not normally that kind of patient), I learned I did NOT have strep. I was diagnosed with tonsilitis and pharyngitis - which is a fancy term meaning that besides my tonsils being all botched up, the rest of my throat was a completely infected swollen mess as well. So much so that along with a super-duper strong scrip for antibiotics, my doc also gave me a scrip for steroids.

I got my meds filled at the local market, and picked out an assorted array of throat numbing agents, some comforting flavored tea, and a can of soup for my first meal in 3 days.

On the pharmacist's suggestion, I didn't start the steroids right away. He advised taking them in the morning since they tend to make you jittery - and taking them in the afternoon could keep me up that night. I didn't want that. I took two antibiotics during the course of that day and was thankfully feeling much better by morning. God bless whoever discovered the healing properties of all those darling molds.

Since I was feeling on the mend, I decided to skip the steroids altogether. I'm not a fan of steroids ... They help jumpstart your healing initially, but significantly lower your immune system for about a year afterwards. I'm not real fond of that idea. Plus they screw you up with the jimmies while you're taking them - and more often than not swell you up like a tick on a hound dog. I figured if I don't need to, I'm not going there.

Tomorrow will be a week since I fell to the tonsil demon. I almost feel normal again, although my throat still feels kind of scratchy and weird. At least I lost a few pounds during the ordeal.

Now the Hub has come down with it. Bless his heart, the poor guy. I hope we can keep it away from Incrediboy.

3 comments:

Coffeypot said...

Sorry you had such a rough time. You gonna have those bad boys taken out? I've heard that once they start acting up, they will keep do so until removed. Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Glad you are feeling better. I still have my tonsils. Mine are HUGE. I'll tell you a little tonsil story of my own.

I'm bad to get tonsil stones. So, I did some online research and read that a Waterpik is good to remove them. I bought a Waterpik at Walmart. I was excited about blasting the tonsil stones out of my mouth! I fiddled around and thought gee this Waterpik doesn't have much punch. Well, I turned the sucker up to 10 and still the water was barely oozing out. I had it in my mouth feeling very disgusted when click...a piece of the handle hadn't been pushed in far enough and BAM! The water hit my tonsil like a jet. It hurt. I looked into the mirror and saw blood running out of my mouth, down my chin and over my neck. This caught me off guard and before I knew it, the sink was red and water was bouncing off the bathroom walls.

My tonsil bleed for hours. I tasted blood for another day afterward.

I haven't used the Waterpik since.

Take care of yourself!

Stacy said...

I'm so glad you are feeling better! I've been down that road many times in my life....and still they leave the tonsils in. Even the year I had strep 5 times didn't convince them to take them out. If there's a bright side, my tonsils act as sort of an advance warning system. I always know when I am going to get sick because they start hurting a day or two in advance of the other symptoms. :P

I hope Incrediboy doesn't get it, but if he does maybe they will remove his. It's sooo much easier when you are young.