Tonsilitis? Or a sore throat?

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Woke up this morning with youngest on the bed moaning about a sore throat. we went downstairs and I looked down her throat. it was nice and swollen with nice white spots. ick. took her to doctors today around 10 o' clock. she has medication and she perked up a bit. hoping she is better by tomorrow as we are going away! she is on medication for the next week . I honestly think it is a bit long for a 5 yr old, but it is what the doctor says.

Most courses of medicines are a week long, do keep giving the compete course of medicine.

Given the white spots I would agree with the diagnosis, and therefore do give the whole course of antibiotics.
A course of antibiotics at any age is usually about 7 days (always have been for DS age 4, except once when he needed 14 days!).
Always finish the course.

ANtibiotic courses are normally a week - DD had a few while actually a baby (ear infections) so age has nothing much to do with it. THe relationship between a sore throat and tonsillitis is akin to that between a cold and flu. Real tonsillitis can make you feel worse than just about any minor ailment, so ensure she takes the full course (as Homebird says of you don't it could come back worse as only the more resistant bugs would have survived - it also threatens the overall effectiveness of antibiotics if people don't complete the course). However, she will probably feel fine after about 6-8 doses so your holiday won't be affected.

Please are sure you give the entire course. I've suffered with tonsillitis on and off for years and if you don't the likelihood is it will come back.

Avoid dairy products as the coat and irritate the throat. Plenty fluids and paracetamol will help relieve some of the pain also.

Another one saying give the full course. DS2 developed chronic tonsillitis which kept coming back until he had them out around age 3. You really want to knock it on the head if you can and keep on with the course even if she seems better.

I've had tonsilitis many times. Yy to taking whole course. Also will probably feel better soonish once antibiotics start working but might feel quite poorly for day or two.

Antibiotics can also affect tummy so give live yoghurt once she's over it.

Agree calpol too.

Don't underestimate how crappy it can make you feel. Worst bout was when I was 20..flatmate took me to Out hours gp who said I wasn't far off being hospitalized. Another kid she'd seen recently had ended up with blood poisoning as the tonsilitus had gone untreated.

Dd is 6 and had ten days of penicillin over Christmas and the GP came daily. They ummed and aahed about hospital on Christmas Eve. That was tonsillitis. She was v unwell.

Why would you think the bacteria would be killed quicker in a 5 yr old than a 25 yr old?

Antibiotics are generally a 7 day course, regardless of being a 5 year old or a 50 year old. Not finishing the course is a cause of antibiotic resistance and also the bacteria can come back and you could get ill again. Please finish the course!

ok thanks guys she is sleeping now so I will give her a bit of chicken soup when she wakes up. we will make sure she finishes the course. I think she is on the penicillin currently and then she will be taking calpol if she is still unwell. she has a high temp though but I think after the soup she can have some calpol for the temp. thanks for the info

I don't understand, what is it you think is, or is not, unreasonable?

She may be better with an ibuprofen based painkiller as opposed to Calpol. I know it's harder on their tummy but tbh Calpol didn't touch the pain of my daughters tonsillitis. Hope she's feeling better soon.

thanks
is vomiting normal too?

You can give both calpol and ibuprofen, alternate so that the pain doesn't have chance to 'breakthrough' and using both types of painkiller is proven to work better against fever than either on its own.

But please write down times or develop a system so you know which you need to give next- this is the reason why docs don't tell you to use both, it's very easy to get confused and give the wrong one so you take too much of one.

Oh, vomiting could indicate a reaction to the antibiotics. I didn't vomit when I had tonsillitis, but I did when I had a bad reaction to antibiotics.

I vomited with tonsillitis as I couldn't cough. Just make sure she's drinking as much as she can, more important than food.

Yup, most kids I know who've had tonsillitis have vomited.

I have had tonsillitis a few times with each bout getting worse than the last.
The last time I had it I was particularly bad. The doctor said that with the AB's that they prescribe can cause vomiting whilst getting into your system but not to stop taking them.
I did just that 6 hours after taking them. vomiting with a severe already infected throat is not fun!!

White spots are strep throat, I had it all the time when I was little and it hurts terribly.

Vomiting is normal for throat infections.

Good luck.

Another one seconding taking the entire course. I have had strep throat - a really serious one, 14 days on antibiotics. And yes, they did make me vomit. Strep throat is serious and so is tonsillitis, please complete the treatment.

Tonsillitis can make you feel v v poorly. Trust me I know, I used to get it 2 or 3 times a year as a kid and have been hospitalised twice with it.

Lots and lots of fluids too. Drinking / swallowing will be the last thing your child wants to do, but it's important. Also you can by soluble paracetamol at the chemist to gargle with (don't swallow if he's on calpol as well) and salt water too to kill infection.

Vomiting is very common. I posted earlier about DS2 and his chronic tonsillitis. He would vomit several times with every bout. That joyous moment when you are cuddling an unwell child and they vomit all over you. Don't worry to much about food but do keep her fluid intake up. Once the AB get working the vomiting will stop and she will start to want to eat.

We used to write a 24hr medicine dose timetable and stick it on the fridge so we could tick off when one of us had given DS2 his pain relief or AB so we didn't get confused.

Vomiting, my son vomits if the medication is an erythomycin type, he has had to have prescriptions changed a few times. Try giving with some yogurt, if she keeps on with the vomiting, the doctor may have to change the medication to a different one. My mother also cannot take erythomycin type meds. One problem with the vomiting is, enough of the medication doesn't stay down to cure the infection. Excuse my spelling, too lazy to look it up.