Anti-Biotic question! Urgent!

opaque66 · 03-08-2003, 08:04 AM

Hi,i'm 19 years old,male,light smoker for about a year. Recently i've been waking up with a stinging throat and my throat was/is red and a tad sore. But other than that i felt fine. But i went to the doctor to see what he could do about this annoyance. He told me i have Pharyngitis , an iflamation of the airways from my sinuses down my throat and i needed penicillin.
It's Penicillin VK 300mg. About an hour after i took the first one i started feeling MUCH worse. My nose is running non stop,my throat hurts,i'm sneezing and coughing. My eyes ache to no end. And i've got a fever(about 101.5).The pharmacist said it would take 48 or more hours to kick in and i'm only on like hour 30. Anways,my question is just,is it normal for Penicillin to make you feel much worse than you did before you started taking it? I rememeber being on this same medication a few months ago for another sore throat problem,and it did make me cough and when i've had it for strep throat it made it feel worse but then MUCH better after awhile. It's just never been this bad.
Also... how much damage will the occasional cigarette (like 1-2 a day) do to me while i've got pharyngitis?

PS. if this posted blank first sorry,my stupid enter button is stuck
Thank you for your time.
It's nice to know there's a place like this that i can come to when i'm worried.
PSS. It's 5am here and i can't sleep,thats how terrible i feel!!

keithsgirl · 03-08-2003, 09:13 AM

Well you have been waiting a while for a response. I'm a heavy smoker and the only thing ive ever had that smoking effected me with was bronchitis. ouch!! I wouldent worry about smokeing. However the pennicillen won't make you feel bad. Sounds to me like you have a cold to go along with the throat. Just take your meds. Also for the soar throat Old wifes tale gargel with strong hot as you can stand salt water about a cup.

Hope you get better soon!!

Jooner18 · 03-08-2003, 11:33 PM

You know it is possible to be allergic to penecillin. Have you taken penecillin for anything else before? I don't maybe you just caught this thing at a time when it was going to get worse anyways...I don't know just throwing ideas out.
Jooner

mlgable · 03-08-2003, 11:43 PM

It is most likely not the pencillin that is causing your symptoms because in addition to sor throat Pharyngitis can cause these other symptoms. additional symptoms are dependent on the underlying microorganisms
step throat may be accompanied by fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes in the neck
viral pharyngitis may be associated with runny nose (rhinorrhea) and postnasal discharge
severe cases of pharyngitis may be accompanied by difficulty swallowing and rarely difficulty breathing
As for your 1-2 cigarettes I don't think they are a problem but they may irritate your throat more so why not quit the cigarettes while you are on the antibiotics and use throat lozenges instead.

opaque66 · 03-09-2003, 01:07 AM

Yes, i have been on penicillin several times before. Also for the past couple of months its felt like something is caught up in my throat around where my tonsil used to be on the left side of my throat. Which is getting annoying. Any idea what that could be? And as for quitting the cigarettes before i got sick i had set an official quit date for this comming monday.