4 days ago i woke up shivering out of control (it was a comfortable 72 degrees and i had blankets) and i have had severely sore throat (cant even swallow saliva) and a few other symptoms. the day before that i had no idea or no indication that any kind of illness was about to hit me, but i was outside for a few minutes in below zero weather but went to bed feeling fine.

so now 4 days after that, i have an incredibly sore throat (all i have eaten in 4 days is milkshakes and eggs with water) a pretty bad fever (i wake up sweating or with chills ever hour or so). my biggest concern is that i also have to spit every minute or so... and yes my spit tastes funny, and yes my phlegm (think green snot in throat, pretty sure thats phlegm) is incredibly think and chewy. it just hurts too much to swallow it. twice now i have had times where all i was spitting out was blood in my phlegm that i could feel building up in my throat, and couldnt breathe if i didnt spit it out or suck it out.
i however drink at least 5 or 6 water bottles a day, and have continued to do so thru this sickness, so i dont htink dehydration is the issue. (i do sleep in a basement however with a big furnace which im sure makes the air incredibly dry.)

i told my parents that i need to see doctor and they keep telling me to wait another day, but i never get any better, tho i didnt spit any blood yesterday which was nice.
i dont think we even have health insurance...
how necessary is it to see a doctor??.. i have been using vicks chloraseptic which was given to me by a doctor last time this came up and the problems eventually went away... but if i go to the doctor do u guys think i will be guranteed a better fix to my problems?

thank you so much.

You obviously have the big ole bug that is running rampant this year. I have this virus/bacterial bug and waited 5 days before giving in to see the doctor. Ended up with severe "tracheal bronchitis" and was put on Z-Pak, a powerful antibiotic. Doc said it would be 2 weeks before I got over it. Also was given Hycodan cough medicine (synthetic codiene). Before going to the doctor I irrigated sinuses with salt water, Beconase antiflammatory nasal spray, plain Robitussin cough medicine at night before bed, kept vaporizor going to keep moisture in house. All of this was not enough for the infection to clear on it's own.

Do be careful you do not end up with pneumonia due to letting the infection go unchecked.

If you do not have health insurance and cannot afford an office call, go to one of the places that have free clinics.

I found that gargling with Cool Mint Listerine mouth wash in very warm water relieved the sore throat very well. At bedtime I took 1/2 teaspoon plain Robitussin. Robitussin keeps mucous thinned during the night.

I also take "Mucinex" over the counter pills with same ingredient as Robitussin, stronger. Mucinex helps thin mucous in your system. If you do not see Mucinex on the couter, ask pharmacist. They sometimes keep it in the back. It is not cheap but really helps thin mucous in sinuses, air passages so it can be coughed up and spit out.

The virus/bacteria bug is nothing to mess around with.

It also sounds like it could very well be strep, which you don't want to mess with either. Untreated it could cause kidney and heart problems down the road. Hope you feel better soon!

Nancy

ok its been 6 days since i started feeling symptoms, and i can say now that all my problems right now are just centered on my incredibly sore throat. my fever has pretty much gone away and i havent spit up blood in 3 days.

i have been eating 2 easily swallowable meals or snacks a day and continue to take ibuprofen and spray choraseptic... also take mulitvitamin and zinc like always.

the problem is that my throat is still rediculously sore. i have problems swallowing these tiny ibuprofen tablets and it still hurts to swallow saliva.

does this still sound like i have something eerious?

It still could be strep. I would try to have it checked out.

Nancy

I agree, sounds like strep. Even tho I have a virus/bacterial infection sore throat I can still swallow saliva.

Do not mess around with strep throat infections. You do not want kidney, heart damage.

so i went to my local immediate care center 2 days ago after reading that it probably is strep, and i waited 3 hours b4 finally getting in the doctors office, just for him to tell me i dont have strep and i dont have mono. he said i was good to go and it should get better soon (dont know how he could say that, i have had the sore throat for 10 days now) but i explained a bit more to him about how there was blood and how it always takes forever for my sore throats to heal. he finally said i probably have a bacterial or viral infection and put me on penicillin for 10 days. i am in day 2 now of the penicillin and havent noticed that big of a difference. thanks for your help guys, and yea im glad i dont have strep :)
get well soon to all you sick people out there ;)
hopefully ill be ready to get on with my life soon, missing NYE was tough.

You were wise to go to a medical clinic. As others replying, you don't want to let strep get the best of you. It can be a problem long after it has cleared up. At age 18, I too came down with symptoms, including a very sore throat, I felt tired, and lethargic as well. I was not keen on doctor visits, so I kept avoiding it, until I felt so terrible, I almost begged my Mother to take me. I didn't care for MD visits, and my putting this off, trying to hide it had some embarrassing drawbacks for me back then. One look at me and my doctor put me through the ordeal of "an accurate temperature taking" as my doctor put it, which read 103.4 degrees F! Then I was given two somewhat painful injections of penicillin .The visit ended after a bit more of an exam, and a prescription. I also got a throat culture-which when it came back was positive for strep. I followed the regimen of antibiotics, and it finally cleared up, and my health came back (so I thought).

Years later during a routine physical, it was found that I had microscopic hematuria-blood in my urine. After extensive and grueling tests, it was determined that the cause of this was from the bout of strep throat I kept ignoring from about 4 years earlier. To this day I still get reports from my occasional urine tests that there's still blood in my urine. So, the strep took its toll on my kidneys to some extent.

Hopefully you were spared any residual problems as a result of your sore throat.

my throat has seen absolutely NO improvement, now on 20 days since first symptoms began. i went to a different doctor 2 days ago and he said same thing as first doc, and this time gave me amox/clav (augmentin) and said i should be fine.

i think this is incredible... i have been in so much pain for 20 days, i think something is seriously wrong, and all doc can tell me is to wait it out and take more antibiotics... even tho taking them for 10 days b4 did absolutely nothing??

i cant sleep, i constantly wake up to choking on my own saliva it seems my throat is so swollen... i still dont eat any solid foods, i take about 8-10 ibuprofens a day, and spray chroloseptic about every half hour. can anyone else give me any more advice or at least some inspiration... i cant take this, my entire winter break was ruined by this stupid sore throat.

just a quick update, i found a lighting situation where i can see down my throat a little... and it looks like i have 2 HUGE canker sores on the right side of my throat behind my overly inflamed tonsils, and a bunch of pus on the other side. i think this explains all the pain... and i am just hoping the antibiotics take care of this. my throat looks really scary. i am still in an unbelievable amount of pain.

I've come up with the same ailment, it's been 4 days now and my sore throat is really being a pain, I can't sleep because is so hard to swallow saliva (so i'm up now typing this). My dad also has the same thing. You would think something like this would be all over the news, i've heard stories tons of people having it.

- Steve

Doctors are scratching their heads over this new bug that has taken over and making people so sick. Maybe they will come up with a remedy for it sooner or later. Must be a bug immune to antibiotics.

I have the same thing. Had a flu for 6 days last week.. got better for 4 days.. and now im sick again. Have the worse sore throat ever. I dont think its strep throat for me. I dont have running nose or anything like that anymore. The chills are gone. but my body feels numb occasionally. I think im getting better after i did what i did last week to get better.

The best remedy I used to get better last week and this time was boil water with ginger(grind it), tulsi (indian holy plant), and mint leaves (optional--great for throat). Then use a drainer and pour it in a cup and drink. It will make you feel better, trust me. Tulsi is a good herbal "medicine." I had it last night and my runny nose went away. So now i have sore throat which is getting better ..

goodluck and hope this help.