![]() ![]() Sucking on ice chips may also bring relief. Sometimes cold helps sooth throat pain, so if you want an excuse to eat ice cream, this could be a good one. Do not give throat lozenges to young children as they could cause choking. Throat sprays and lozenges may also help. Some over-the-counter medications may temporarily relieve symptoms like cough or congestion. Avoid citrusy liquids like orange juice, which can make the pain worse. Try a cup of hot water with a teaspoon of honey, or a mild tea. When done, make sure to spit out the water rather than swallow it. Dissolve a half-teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water, swish it around your mouth and lean your head back to gargle with it. While waiting for your throat to heal, Schairer recommends trying these tips to relieve the pain: Whether cold-related or strep, a sore throat can be very uncomfortable. Swollen lymph nodes (just below earlobes) SymptomsĬongestion/runny nose/common cold symptoms If your sore throat causes trouble swallowing, last longer than 48 hours and/or comes with a fever or rash, see your doctor. Viral sore throat will go away on its own, while strep requires antibiotics. Strep occurs more often in children than adults and can have serious consequences if not treated. You may have only one or two symptoms, but if you have any questions, contact your doctor for testing. While these are common symptoms, everyone is different. If you are concerned that you may have the coronavirus, contact your health care provider to get COVID-19 testing and follow-up care as soon as possible. Please be aware that some symptoms of strep throat are similar to that of COVID-19, which is still active in our communities. “After starting antibiotics, our patients typically notice a decrease in symptoms within a day or two,” Schairer noted. If it shows negative, your doctor may recommend a more extensive throat culture done at a laboratory, which would take a few days to learn the results. If the test shows positive, antibiotics can be started right away. Testing can be done and analyzed right in your doctor’s office. Since strep, if untreated, can lead to far more serious illness such as rheumatic fever or scarlet fever, I recommend going to the doctor to know for sure,” she said. “At-home tests can often give a false negative which would delay the start of treatment. While at-home tests for strep are available, Schairer does not recommend them. “Strep will not go away on its own, and if not treated with antibiotics, can develop into something more serious, especially in children, so don’t delay getting medical attention,” said Schairer. If the sore throat causes trouble swallowing, lasts longer than 48 hours, or comes with a fever or rash, see your doctor. “But everyone is different, and a person can have strep without these symptoms.” “Strep will often cause red and swollen tonsils, sometimes with white splotches, and/or tiny red spots on the roof of the mouth, which you may be able to see by shining a flashlight inside the mouth,” she said. Someone can catch the infection by breathing in or touching infected droplets from a cough or sneeze, or by ingesting the droplets through shared eating utensils. Group A streptococcus is the name of the bacteria which can cause several different types of infection, including strep throat, which is contagious. “Strep throat is far more common in children than adults.” “A strep infection can make it feel very painful to swallow, and often comes with fever of 101-degrees or higher,” said Schairer. ![]() “A sore throat is usually caused by a virus and will typically go away on its own as cold symptoms lessen, while strep throat is a bacterial infection that must be treated by antibiotics.”Ī viral sore throat is typically accompanied by other cold-like symptoms, such as cough, sneeze, runny nose and a hoarse or raspy voice. “It is not uncommon to confuse a cold-related sore throat with the more serious strep throat, but there are differences,” said Family Nurse Practitioner Rosemary Schairer, of Samaritan Internal Medicine - Corvallis. How can you know if your sore throat needs medical attention? As colder weather drives us inside and around more people, the common cold can more easily develop, and with it, a sore, scratchy throat. Sore throats can be a common complaint in winter. ![]()
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