Tonsillitis

02-18-2011, 08:38 AM

Around 1/12/11, My throat started to hurt something fierce. I got to where I could barely swallow anything and my ears were really bothering me. It was a weekend when I finally went to a doctor so I went to a CareNow center. I was told that I have tonsillitis after the strep and mono tests were negative. I was given a steroid shot and a prescription for 10 days worth of Cefprozil. Also, I was given "Magic Mouthwash" but it was completely ineffective. It just made the rest of my mouth numb. I felt better by the next day and proceeded to finish my prescription. 2 days after I finished the prescription, the symptoms came back. I was kind of irked at CareNow for not permanently curing what I had so I went to My GP this time. He looked in my throat for a total of .2 seconds and said that it was my sinuses. He prescribed amoxicillin and told me to take Mucinex D. I did as told for a day and a half and my symptoms got much worse. I got to where I could barely talk, and when I did talk, it sounded like I was deaf or something. "Hot Potato" voice if you will. I was in immense pain so I went to the CareNow center again since they were at least effective in relieving the symptoms. They said that it was definitely tonsillitis and gave me a steroid shot and an antibiotic shot. Then I was given a prescription for 10 days worth of Cefdinir and Hydrocodone, which I didn't need to take. Again, I felt completely better by the next day and went on to finish my prescription. Again, the symptoms came back after 2 days. This time, I didn't wait at all to go to a doctor and hightailed it back to the CareNow. I told them what was going on and that I didn't need any tests this time, just antibiotics. The doctor prescribed me AMOX TR-K CLV, which is Amoxicillin and Clavulanate Potassium Tablets. This time, I did not feel better by the next day and actually feel worse than when I went to see the doctor. Luckily, I had 5 out of 10 pills of Hydrocodone left over from my previous prescription. My brother had kidney stones so I gave him 5. Now I'm out of Hydrocodone, I'm not sure if this Amoxicillin is doing anything, and I have no idea why I keep getting tonsillitis. I have a friend who is a doctor from the University of Texas and he said that maybe I have a Peritonsillar Abscess but he couldn't look far enough down my throat to give me a definitive answer.

Basically, my questions are:
1. Am I immune to amoxicillin or something?
2. Why do I keep getting tonsillitis? All of the information that I've found on the internet about recurring tonsillitis is talking about getting tonsillitis 3 times a year. I've already had it 3 times this month.
3. Tonsils out? Yay or Nay?

02-18-2011, 09:51 AM

1. Yes, you can develop a resistance to antibiotics - particularly if you take them frequently or if you don't always finish your prescriptions when you have been given something. Amoxicillin does squat for me because I've taken it so often.

2. It sounds to me like the infection is never going completely away, but is rebounding before it is totally gone. I am surprised they did not try you on a different drug (not penicillin based) by the third time round. You need to see someone who will that for you.

The other issue could be that your tonsils are harboring bacteria. Some people develop crypts in their tonsils, where the tonsils become ineffective at filtering the bacteria (which is what they are supposed to do). If your tonsils are cryptic and they are collecting bacteria rather than filtering it out for you, then that is when you can get recurring infections because the antibiotics just cannot get rid of everything there.

3. A tonsillectomy is extraordinarily painful as an adult (I just had mine out last week, as a matter of fact and am still suffering from A LOT of pain). If your tonsils ARE cryptic and always enlarged, then a tonsillectomy may be the only cure. However, given that your doctor has not yet tried you on a different class of drug and one of the better drugs, I would think that avenue should be explored first. I would say go back to the doctor again and ask for something that is not penicillin based. If they are unwilling to help you or if that doesn't get rid of your infection, you might want to consider seeing an Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) specialist.

02-18-2011, 10:47 AM

Thank you so much for the advice. I was already thinking about going to an ENT specialist but now I actually know what to ask him about. This was a lot of help.

Tonsillitis

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