Hi everyone.

I am a little bit paranoid. I'm thirty two, smoked for years, and yesterday developed a sore throat.

Now let me explain, this was unlike any sore throat I have ever had. It feels like someone punched me directly in the larynx, and hurts on the right when I swallow. My larynx is also painful to touch. This occurred suddenly last night, was seen today, and nothing showed up on an xray for soft tissues, and was referred to an ent on monday.

Any thoughts?
Thank you

could it be Strep throat?
I've never had it before but my daughter used to get it all the time...the doctor said i could tell if she had it (since she never complained) by looking in her mouth and seeing if it looked abnormally red at the back of the throat near the tonsils.

I get this quite often - in fact, roughly 3 or 4 times a year. Typically, this has been caused by either post nasal drip or some sort of irritation in my throat. Eventually, my throat will swell up and the lymph nodes on both sides will become huge. Strep tests will be negative and there typically will be no test that will find an infection (in fact, most of the time the mucus remains clear and will not turn yellow/green). Swallowing will become increasingly painful and will only go away after a week and a half or so.

This may or may not be the same case with you, but the punch in the throat thing is what I get all the time on my left side. Im sure your doc will prescribe you some antibiotics because its the usual go-to for things like this. It may provide psychological help, but they never work for me. Just hang in there - itll pass before you know it. Just take plenty of tylenol to dull the pain in your throat.

Hey all.

Thanks for the responses I got, I do appreciate both of them.

I was seen by an ENT specialist today, and had a inderect laryngoscopy, which by the way, would rate way up there on the top ten of things that really suck to have done, however..........

She informed me that I simply have GERD, which I have known I have for quite some time, but now is doing a bit of damage. So instructed me about my diet, etc., and suggested otc pepcid, and a recheck in three months.

So all is well, quite a relief to my worries.

Have a good night.

Wow,

I have GERD too, or acid reflux as they call it...for some time now....happens when i'm overweight or stressed....or just whenever it feels like it.

they have a lot of information on here about it...good luck.

Suzy